[shy_bear]

The majority of us mom's stay at home on our street. I am the only one without a cleaning lady. I have been tossing around the idea of having someone come in monthly; that is all I could afford. BUT it seems silly; I do stay home and only have one child with me. Granted we are in therapy up to 4x a week, I have laundry coming piled to the roof, and I have gotten lazy as I have gotten older. Does anyone else use a cleaning person and not work outside the home???

[loveajax]

My SIL is a SAHM and has a cleaner who comes every two weeks. I work outside the home (four days/week) and have one come every three weeks. To be honest, I would give up almost anything but my cleaner....I am so happy when I come home every third Thursday and my house is spotless (of course, it stays that way for about 2.4 seconds!).

You have a lot on your plate. Maybe you can hire one to do a "one time" clean and if you are happy, set up a schedule. Good luck!

[devildogwife]

I understand with all of the therapy appointments. Cameron has a ton too and if we could afford a cleaning lady, I'd totally hire one.

[jalapeno]

Yes, I have one that comes once every other week. Some things just seem to never get done otherwise. It's actually motivating for me to have her. I feel like I have to "clean" the house before she comes so that she'll be able to get to the things I really want her to work on. And I'm getting more organized because of it. So it works out well.

We don't splurge on much. I dare say I'm considered on the "cheap" side. But this definitely improves the quality of our lives and lessens my stress.

[Stormster]

We have someone come every two weeks. We have whittled our budget down and I too will do almost anything before giving her up.

I cook three meals a day and have a kid who runs around while eating. The floors are unmanageable (all hard wood) and the kitchen, while cleanish is never quite clean clean. So for me it's all about surfaces and floors and the kichen appliances. I am fine with everything else....almost prefer to do my own laundry and the beds. I used to like them to do the beds but I now do as much of the stuff I like so they will spend more time on the floors. I also host a lot of playdates.

I need her and just last month DH wanted to cut it and I "found" the money by reducing the grocery budget and doing some other stuff.

It's a must for me! (the only one left!) oh and I think you know I"m a SAHM.

[portlowski]

I am a SAHM and a cleaning person is not in our budget BUT due to recent health problems my aunt has kindly paid for someone to come in every other week. IT IS HEAVEN! I am hoping once I have my transplant and start working (PT) again that I will put it in our budget. I can't tell you how great it is.

I don't want to start into a political discusssion but due to my feelings about fair wages etc. we use a person who was recommended by friends and do not go through an agency. Maid services do vet people and bond them but they also take most of the money.

[SupaModel]

I am a SAHM and we have a cleaning lady that comes every Tuesday. I LOOOOOVE her and can't imagine life without her. She also use to Nanny DS for me as well. I say go for it!

[mondk]

I only work 2 weekends a month and we have a wonderful gal who comes every other week. She does the bathrooms, mops the linoleum, and does all my laundry. We pay her $15/hr. and usually I help so it isn't like I'm sitting there eating bon bons while she cleans around me.

I'm hoping if our budget is okay with dh making less money we can go back to once a week (that is what she started with) so she can help me deep clean...like washing windows, curtains, and ironing, oh and washing all the mini blinds in the house.

Blessings, Michelle

[Stormster]

Originally Posted by mondk

I only work 2 weekends a month and we have a wonderful gal who comes every other week. She does the bathrooms, mops the linoleum, and does all my laundry. We pay her $15/hr. and usually I help so it isn't like I'm sitting there eating bon bons while she cleans around me.

I'm hoping if our budget is okay with dh making less money we can go back to once a week (that is what she started with) so she can help me deep clean...like washing windows, curtains, and ironing, oh and washing all the mini blinds in the house.

Blessings, Michelle

Part of the reason we need one (your post reminded Michelle) is that we only get to clean in five minute spurts....can never do an hour or two of deep cleaning unless one of us takes DS out of the house. So it works out well because she comes during his EI and I always take him to the diner for lunch that day so we give her a little extra time and when we get back to our clean house.....well, let's just say it's better than Prozac LOL.

[aclee]

We were going to get one with Mike's raise this fall. Unfortunately, no raises at his job. He got a nice bonus, but we put that all toward CC's and stuff. I want one, and if I could find a little part time gig where the boys wouldn't be in daycare, I would have one too. DH and I are just super focused on trying to live debt free, and do our budget monthly (that's how he gets paid), and he just went back to school, which is like 4K ever three months, so right now when I think about working in a cleaning lady I have to tell myself no. The money is (or could) be there, but I just feel like the CC's need to be at zero first.

So we live with dog hair tumble weeds...

I don't think there is anything wrong with a SAHM having a cleaning lady. When DH goes to work, he doesn't clean it and wash the floors. He keeps it neat and then a cleaning crew comes in at night...

[Stormster]

Ha! Cute. But honestly people who work usually have the kids at daycare so the house isn't quite as USED by the end of the day!

[shy_bear]

I also have dog hair everywhere; no matter how many times I sweep the hard wood there is dog hair!!! I wouldn't say our house is unkept; it is full of clutter! With 3 kids we have a lot of stuff! Hubby is possibly retiring from the military in 3 yrs so we also are trying to pay off our debt b/c I am not going to go to work b/c of A. so we still need to be able to live off of his income. He also is in school. There just don't seem to be enough hours in the day; and I rather take A. to the park than clean the bathroom...

[jp4ga]

I am a teacher so I work with the kids schedules. So I am a SAHM during the summer months. I have a cleaning lady come in 1x per week. She is wonderful to have when I am working. Last summer hubby wanted to discontinue service during the summer that lasted 1 week. Sure I could do all the work during the summer, but I want to spend more time with the kids. If you can swing it with your budget, I think you would enjoy the time it frees up for you to spend with your kids and spouse.

[mumofone]

I'd love to have one, but I'd probably clean before she got here...you know, just so it doesn't look quite so bad. lol

I stay at home with the kiddos, 2 in school and 2 home. It doesn't take long before the house looks like a cyclone has hit it.

The dog hair is unbelievable. I sweep the floors daily and mop every second day.

We have so many appts., playgroups, etc., and it honestly is hard to find time to clean.

[Fran27]

I would have loved one before we moved because for some reason that house was VERY dusty and we had dirt everywhere after 2 days. Now, I don't really feel the need for one anymore. We pretty much clean when the kids are in bed and on week ends when we're both home... but we never really cared about having a spotless home.