How do you afford a housekeeper?

[SouperNoodle]

I guess this is aimed at families like mine that have a good income but are by no means raking in the cash.

DH and I spend our lives working. With his job and me raising the kids and the constant cleaning and tidying, we're just shattered and getting more and more frustrated that we don't have much down time.
I genuinely think that if we had a housekeeper then half our work would be outsourced so we'd get more time together/relaxing with the kids and life would be that bit easier.

So if you have one, how do you afford it? Roughly how much does it cost you?
Is it worth it?
I wouldn't want a live in housekeeper so I'm aware it would be a bit more expensive.

I honestly don't know where to start.
(Fuck the daily mail)

**I meant to add my parents pay £15 per hour.

The DCs currently attend nursery 2 days a week as I have weekly commitments so we do pay that and it is expensive but quite manageable.
I'm planning to go part time (4 days a week) when I go back to work so someone to come 2-3 mornings/afternoons a week would be perfect.

The most cost efficient way to buy in help / outsource chores is to find a cleaner who is prepared to be flexible about what to do and who has the nous to do what needs to be done.

Hitting the jackpot means finding a cleaner who comes for three hours twice or more often a week and who is prepared to give more hours as required and can turn their hand to a very wide range of things. Ideally had good contacts amongst local trades so can get plumbing issues resolved.

Our 'wonder''s original brief was to keep our house 'ready for a visit from my mother' which she has accomplished brilliantly and just branched out from there, doing whatever needs to be done. There have been a few areas where she is not happy and so we have found ways round them all, mostly by buying in a service she can easily organise for us.

My concern with employing a housekeeper from the outset, is that they might expect to have staff, at least a cleaner, someone to do ironing etc rather than expecting to do the actual work themselves.

I would think you would need 150k income minimum. My cleaner is £16 an hour

@theton we have that sort of income and there's no way we could afford a full time housekeeper with 2 kids, holidays, general house upkeep, activities etc. We also live in the north.

We have a cleaner, and do other "outsourcing" but a housekeeper would require us to cut back on something else

it would also depend on when you got on the housing ladder

Hello OP! This is great advice:

That woman from Sort Your Life Out will come to your house to sort everything - declutter, organise etc. Dilly Carter. www.dillycarter.co.uk/

She seems amazing.

Plus a decent cleaner for at least 4 hours a week... mine strips and changes the beds and puts the bedding in the machine. Which I LOVE!