c/d: hiring a housekeeper

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Today I learned that one of my coworkers and her roomate hire a housekeeper to come and clean their (admittedly large) 2 bedroom flat. She probably wouldn't class herself amongst the bougiouse (I know for a fact she is barely middle class for this city), so I was surprised. However, my wife has flirted with this idea at least a few times over the past year when we've looked around and realized we haven't had time to thoroughly clean kitchen floor in, say, six months (and that's being generous). The debate: we have a small apartment. But we have three cats. But hiring someone else to clean your shit is just lazy. But who wants to spend their only time away from work dusting? Etc....

Do you have a housekeeper? Would you ever get one?

― kyle (akmonday), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 01:54 (twenty-one years ago)

I really don't intend for this to turn into a big debate about classism, though I now realize that probably will.

― kyle (akmonday), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 01:56 (twenty-one years ago)

No, in one word.

― x j e r e m y (x Jeremy), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 01:59 (twenty-one years ago)

Granted, I find electric vibrating toothbrushes an emblem of contemporary Western decadent-decline; the height of laziness and unnecessity.

― x j e r e m y (x Jeremy), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 02:00 (twenty-one years ago)

how do you feel about those oral b brush up finger things?

― kyle (akmonday), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 02:03 (twenty-one years ago)

They're great as marital aids, IMHO.

― x j e r e m y (x Jeremy), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 02:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Yuppie Scum!

― adam. (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 02:08 (twenty-one years ago)

No shit!

― kyle (akmonday), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 02:09 (twenty-one years ago)

I really have to do this one day.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 02:12 (twenty-one years ago)

Granted, the fact that I've publically stated the attractiveness of vaginal insertation of a dental device probably explains why I'm currently single.

― x j e r e m y (x Jeremy), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 02:12 (twenty-one years ago)

It's like hiring a babysitter. If you can afford it and want to spend your time doing other things, I guess it makes sense. (he says after washing the living room windows)

― jim wentworth (wench), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 02:12 (twenty-one years ago)

if i was rich i'd have a housekeeper and a personal chef in five seconds

― s1ocki (slutsky), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 02:14 (twenty-one years ago)

I just want a washing machine and a dishwasher.

― adam. (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 02:35 (twenty-one years ago)

i want a garbage disposal

― kyle (akmonday), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 02:37 (twenty-one years ago)

I want a woman to do it, dammit!

― x j e r e m y (x Jeremy), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 02:39 (twenty-one years ago)

my house has a housecleaner. why? it's a simple cost-benefit analysis: i can spend an hour of my time being more productive than $12 / hour. so i'd rather spend my spare time actually relaxing, rather than doing work.
i cook 6/7 nights cos i enjoy it...i don't enjoy cleaning. it's a matter of degree: ever paid for someone to do your washing? ever took a taxi rather than walked?

i find the knee-jerk reaction to this kind of stuff so depressing. this was a hot topic in 1890, you know, then 1920, and finally, middle class american women read magazine articles about the ethics of this in the 1960s...

― paulhw (paulhw), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 02:40 (twenty-one years ago)

Frankly I just don't anyone else prying around my stuff. Also, it's not THAT hard to vacuum, jeez.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 02:46 (twenty-one years ago)

Pay me and I will come around and do it. Seriously. But only if that one cat leaves me alone.

― adam. (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 02:48 (twenty-one years ago)

I have to admit I'm tempted to hire someone, even for a one-off big spring cleaning job. I'm a messy slob, and I hate housework, and though I manage, I'm always so busy and tired it never gets done as well as it might were I a housewife or something.

So yeah, I think if you're time poor it could be a nice idea. Not a MAID exactly, think of it like the cleaners who come to yr office after work. But for yr house.

― Trayce (trayce), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 03:06 (twenty-one years ago)

Ned: its not just vacuuming! God theres tons more to housework than that. When do I find time to scrub the kitchen tiles clean? To clean the toilet, bath and shower? To tidy up all my scattered books and CDs and dust all the shelves? TO wash up all the pots and pans that dont fit in the dishwasher. TO take out the garbage and sort the recycling?

etc etc etc. Yeah I get some of this done but not all, and the place is constantly shabby as a result.

― Trayce (trayce), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 03:07 (twenty-one years ago)

(Also, I am a hoarder, so my flat is crammed with books, mags, CDs, computers, computer bits, monitors, clothing, boxes of crap, and more crap)

― Trayce (trayce), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 03:10 (twenty-one years ago)

I tend to hoard as well, Trayce, but I admit I am a neat freak so it's all in shelves and things already, I don't scatter much. Usually dust once a week, the community recycles for me (Costa Mesa has their own little program), etc. So I dunno. *shrug*

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 03:17 (twenty-one years ago)

I think I'm just so messy it all kinda sneaks up on me :( I HATE IT! Also, living in a 2 bedroom flat with a cat and 2 people being indoors smokers really doesnt help, euchhh.

― Trayce (trayce), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 03:19 (twenty-one years ago)

If you plan to run for office, make sure you get documentation!

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 03:29 (twenty-one years ago)

I'd have more embarrassing things to cover up, believe me

― kyle (akmonday), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 03:49 (twenty-one years ago)

Heh yeah I think a housekeeper would be more horrified/embarrased by my mess than I would be of them finding stuff, for sho.

― Trayce (trayce), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 03:50 (twenty-one years ago)

I once lived in a massive house that was shared by 8 people. A housekeeper was an UTTER essential.

I would have no problem with hiring a cleaner, except coming up with the cash. I worked (illegally) as a cleaner when I was a teenager, so maybe that affects my view on it.

― Super-Masonic Black Hole (kate), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 11:57 (twenty-one years ago)

Though seriously, I think I might hire a butler first, if I had the money. I've always wanted a butler. Butler, then housekeeper, then battallion of maids, in thar order. If it's good enough for my granny, it's good enough for me!

― Super-Masonic Black Hole (kate), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 11:58 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't need a housekeeper, I have a husband.

― Leon Czolgosz (Nicole), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 12:06 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't have one of those any more. Plus, he kept the vaccuum cleaner (that *I* bought) in the divorce. :-(

― Super-Masonic Black Hole (kate), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 12:07 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.poeforward.com/mrperfumery/deadgirls/future/pool/1920/davis/davis01alice.JPG

If only to stop conversations about whose turn it is to clean up what.

― suzy (suzy), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 12:30 (twenty-one years ago)

I doubt I'd ever get one even if I could afford to. It's my mess (and my family's) so I/we clean it up. I don't want a stranger in my house even if they *are* making it sparkle. And if I started feeling I didn't have time to keep on top of it then I'd look at what was eating up my time - if I can't spare an hour to clean the kitchen and bathroom then there's probably something wrong.

But I don't care one way or another if other people have them.

― Archel (Archel), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 12:59 (twenty-one years ago)

Frankly I just don't anyone else prying around my stuff.

These are the sam words my husband used when he noticed our cleaning lady cleaning our house. Now that the cleaning has left (and the one after her as well), he realizes that
1 She didn't pry, she was too busy snorting the dust of the shelves
2 I am not very good at cleaning. I am but I rather work in our shop.
3 Now that we don't have a cleaning lady, I lament the fact it's so dirty. hah

So uh yeah we need a new one.

I was surprised to read/learn about people, even unemployed, hiring a cleaning lady. Not that I find it *bad*, just surprised me since I figured it was such a bourgeois thing to do. (Yes, I realize I categorize myself as bourgeous by saying this but then we run a shop 7 days a week so cleaning is sth I rarely have time for.) But looking at myself I realize some people just hate cleaning. So why not hire one?

― jesus nathalie (nathalie), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 13:06 (twenty-one years ago)

(I also need to hire an editor for my writings.)

― jesus nathalie (nathalie), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 13:07 (twenty-one years ago)

We had a cleaning lady when I was small, after my dad left, because my mom couldn't do yard work and housework and her job all at the same time . Her mother had a nervous breakdown (and wound up in a bin for three years) when my mom was six and she and her nine-year-old sister had to do most of the housework and the babysitting for their two brothers who were four and 18 months. She was not about to do that to us, but we were always told to tidy up before Una came to clean.

I do, however, need to hire a decent window-cleaner.

― suzy (suzy), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 13:14 (twenty-one years ago)

She didn't pry, she was too busy snorting the dust of the shelves

Sounds like she was confusing the dust with something else.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 13:42 (twenty-one years ago)

Even if you're not rich, I can see why some people would want to hire someone to sanitize the bathroom and kitchen maybe like once a season...but other than that, it's really not that big of a deal to clean the house.

I'm actually a lazy slob, but used to get paid cleaning houses when I was in school--once you take the initiative, it doesn't take that much time and effort to do some basic cleaning.

Currently I live in a rent-control apartment across from the projects in Brooklyn and my roommate wants to get a cleaning lady (he grew up in a bourgeois Long Island family)...his primary justification is that he "doesn't know how to clean". DUD!

― waxyjax (waxyjax), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 14:04 (twenty-one years ago)

Hiring a cleaning person is the same as hiring anyone else (say someone to do yardwork or fix your car) as far as I am concerned (just don't go through an agency that charges you $50 an hour and pays their non-union, non-white cleaning person $5.)

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 31 August 2004 14:16 (twenty-one years ago)

there's obviously someone in need of work if you can find someone to do the job, you think by denying the opportunity at employment you're somehow doing them a favor? Employing people who want jobs = classic.

― guyf, Wednesday, 1 September 2004 08:10 (twenty-one years ago)

i wish i had a robot house keeper. it would have a built in mp3 player/jukebox. and when it was done vaccuuming or scrubbing or whatever it would do a little robot dance synchronized to the beat of the music.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Wednesday, 1 September 2004 09:05 (twenty-one years ago)

one year passes...

I seriously need a window cleaner. It's something I could do myself but it takes hours. And I almost fell out the last time. I'll do the inside, yeah, but I'd rather someone else risked their neck and did the outside.

― Rumpsy Pumpsy (Rumpie), Thursday, 18 May 2006 09:45 (twenty years ago)

Hooray our South African guy is going on about this :(

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Thursday, 18 May 2006 09:50 (twenty years ago)

Living in an apartment block with a body corp means windows and gardens ain't my concern - someone turns up randomly to wash windows, trim plants and vacuum the outside stairs. I stand by my last posts tho - I could really use someone to come in and do one of those onceover spring clean jobs now and then. I can't be arsed.

― Trayce (trayce), Thursday, 18 May 2006 10:07 (twenty years ago)

I feel that people should either take the time to tidy up after themselves, or else live in an untidy hell hole.

― DV (dirtyvicar), Thursday, 18 May 2006 10:25 (twenty years ago)

Why?

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Thursday, 18 May 2006 10:28 (twenty years ago)

I recently discovered that one of my colleagues used to employ an "au pair". In fact she employed 17, over the course of 5 years. But she didn't have any children - she just wanted to someone to wash, cook and clean for her while she pursued her power career. "You mean you had a servant," I said, but she would have none of it.

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Thursday, 18 May 2006 10:37 (twenty years ago)

I have almost in the past and would still consider hiring a housekeeper. Probably once every other week for things like mopping, scrubbing bathroom,etc. It's hard to do these things when you both work and would also like to have a life.

― Miss Misery xox (MissMiseryTX), Thursday, 18 May 2006 11:46 (twenty years ago)

When a flatmate brought this up, I was anti it, but outvoted. But it was just kneejerk classism. We have a lovely cleaner who does two hours a week to wash the floors, do a once over in the bathroom and restore the house to normality. House is not tense about who's job it is to clean, place is tidy and we employ someone who needs work. I cannot see a downside if you can afford it. And its £5 a week to me!

― Pete (Pete), Thursday, 18 May 2006 11:52 (twenty years ago)

My good friend has a hellish power job with after-hours schmooze obligations and an hour commuting each way, and would have no time to enjoy her flat if she had to undertake jobs around it that were anything bigger than 'tidy up after self as you go'. Her weekends are also almost always booked. Her cleaner does 4 hours a week on stuff like floors and dusting that would go undone for weeks at a time in any cleanerless house.

Where I come from it's not uncommon for a neighbourhood woman to take cleaning gigs between jobs, cheque in hand, because nobody likes those agencies and if you read Barbara Ehrenreich they clean bugger all anyway.

― suzy (suzy), Thursday, 18 May 2006 12:28 (twenty years ago)

if you read Barbara Ehrenreich they clean bugger all anyway

You could at least hide the books to test this.

― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Thursday, 18 May 2006 12:30 (twenty years ago)

I don't understand the problem with dusting that goes undone for weeks on end.

― DV (dirtyvicar), Thursday, 18 May 2006 12:48 (twenty years ago)

My mom used to have a cleaner in once every 2 weeks when she had her own business - that plus 3 teenagers (schooling+working), 2 fluffy cats, single parent? It was kind of essential. We did minor cleans, of course, but major deep cleans are pretty involved and take time to do properly.

I like leaving certain things to the pros if I have the option. (We were hardly approaching rich. at all. My mom also had health issues. And is pretty particular about house cleanliness. She has taught me much. I've been meaning to start a thread about house cleaning, actually.)

― rrrobyn (rrrobyn), Thursday, 18 May 2006 12:53 (twenty years ago)

We have an unspoken agreement in my home that no housework gets done after our evening meal. I'm normally home between two-thirty and five anyway which gives me plenty of time to square up, but every house needs a right good going over from top to bottom every once in a while.

― Rumpsy Pumpsy (Rumpie), Thursday, 18 May 2006 13:45 (twenty years ago)

After all us kids moved out to live with my dad, my mom applied for a foster child so she would have someone to do the dishes (seriously, she is one warped individual). I got on the phone with the state agency so they would know what she was up to.

I've had cleaners come in on a sometimes-weekly/sometimes-biweekly basis for the heavy cleaning (floors, massive bathroom disinfection, windows) when my kids were young and both of us were working. Otherwise all you do is either clean or moan about how you need to clean, which is no good. We are currently trying to convince my in-laws (who are in their late 70s) to have someone in to do the heavy work as both of them are having serious physical health issues.

― Jaq (Jaq), Thursday, 18 May 2006 14:00 (twenty years ago)

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