to think posters who say ....

[troisgarcons]

"get a cleaner"
"get an au pair"
"get an ironing lady"
"a nanny is only 24K per annum"

Really need to get a grip with reality and realise those people who work might actually need to work and dont have excess cash to pay for domestic staff? So it's often a stealth boast comment designed to make those who are stressed out actually a whole lot more inadequate than they are already feeling.

I realise this a foreign concept to some. The "having to work" thing. But if you are cash flush and able to employ a Lituanian doormat maid you would have already covered that base and installed her in the garage. Quite possibly you wouldnt be posting on here to vent your speen and admit you are having difficulty coping.

Please can one of you have a look at my bank statement and tell me where I can find £100 a month to pay a cleaner. Please! Because atm I can't.

Ooh perhaps we could eat the dog - would save on vets bill and dog chow and might do a few months of Sunday roasts.

We did have a cleaner for a few delirious months. In fact we had a series of them. First one developed a heart complaint, second one stopped coming because she got another job, third one was from an agency, charged a fortune and then told us that our house was too messy and needed twice as much cleaning as we were prepared to pay for And anyway once I had paid out some of our hard-earned pennies twice a week and come home to a spotless house, it took perhaps 60m tops for it to get back to it's usual state. Not a bargain at all.

I meant we're equally bad at doing household stuff. We are excellent at sharing the not doing

I wouldnt get a cleaner. It would be bloody pointless.

Imagine this
Cleaner comes in at 9.30 and tidies, hoovers and dusts, maybe puts a wash on?
DC5 wakes up from nap at 10.30 and untidies, throws crap about and covers his clothes in something horrible.

Dont get me started on what would happen when the rest came home.

I would be paying someone to make my house look clean and tidy for approximately half an hour 3 times a week.

If someone can afford a cleaner of course they should have one if they want. They are providing someone with employment.

I do agree that some posters do not have a scooby about how out of reach cleaners/aupairs/nannies are to other posters.

Will I get drummed off MN if I admit that I love cleaning.

I am just off to do some now.

Thursday is 'downstairs' day.

Dust to be busted, floors to be steamed, blinds to be wiped.

Ahhhhhhhhhhh

(disclaimer I have good shitty crappy reasons to be like this. It may be a bit menkle but it means at least I have a clean house)

I have a cleaner

She improves my life way way beyond the financial cost.

I don't think I have ever met someone who likes cleaning - is it the after effect you like or the actual scrubbing part?

An aupair can be one of the most cost effective forms of childcare. I priced up all the options & £90 a week for live-in help was cheaper than anything else I could find. For that I got 30 hours of help a week, so that covered after school care for the DCs every day & the DCs ironing & a tiny weeny bit of cleaning.
You don't have to be rich to have an aupair at all, you just have to have a bedroom to house them in. I lived in a 3 bed terrace for most of the time I had an aupair, so the DCs had to share a room. I had one car & a moped. I'm sure you can guess who drove the moped (& it wasn't the aupair!!!!!).

Oh I do agree tho that most can't afford it. Of course they can't.

I am lucky to have the choice and would rather go without something else. But am lucky that that is possible.

I am a cleaner in a department store...I work weekends & I see nothing wrong with it...I am a SAHM during the week & do all household duties aswell as my husband chipping in too. I feel if a working family can afford help..of whatever degree...that is their choice. I however do not need or warrant help as I doing all care for my DS..family & home.

Mind you, where are all the posts telling people to get staff?

I don't think I've ever seen even ONE

Oh they are deffo there - I was on a thread yesterday where the advice given (including by me) was to get a cleaner - if the poster could afford it.

Fair enough as far as I'm concerned.

yy - if can afford, but op is saying they can't?

I want a Lithuanian in the garage.

Surely it's my RIGHT?

yy - but the OP is a bunch of crap.

hullygully

OP = Original Post, not Original Poster - I don't think troisgarcons is a bunch of crap.

Or do I?

Mwa ha ha ha

(no, I don't I'm just joking)

I'd rather have a Romanian in my loft.

Well shirly if I tell you, you will deffo write me off as a loon.

So anyway.

When I clean I get an andrenaline rush. I get that whole endorphine thingy going on. I also feel a bit teary and stuff.

Hang on there is more....

I didnt used to be like this. I was a total slattern who wondered where all the dirty washing was coming from and what that brown stuff on the floor was...

But then a couple of things happened. DS2 arrived aged 8 weeks old and with him a mob of social workers, physios, contact workers, OTs blah blah blah in my house most days. The long buried working class chip emerged and I 'wasnt going to have any of that lot judging my house keepin'

Then my DD got sick and her immune system fucked off. Even though she was more at risk from internal infections than external, i got it into my fevered brain that if I cleaned the house all the time I might just keep her alive. Her illness also bought its own quota of nurses, physion, Ots etc blah blah.

So I cleaned everyday, top to bottom before 8am everyday. Apart from when we were in hospital and then I cleaned the ward

So 5 years after losing my lovely girly girl I am still at it. I am not as menkle but I think my brain just triggers something weird when I start cleaning. Its like having a glass of wine and makes me feel all sort of wooooooo for a bit.

Bet you wished you never bloody asked now dont you!

yes it is. what is the point of it?

what is the point of anything

unless you can have a Lith in the garage.

I haven't even got a garage.

so far to go

NOOOOOOOOOOO Shirl! Romanians are all insane. True fax.

Actually, the more I think about it, the more I really disagree troisgarcons.

Of course there are some people for whom money is seriously tight. But alot of families think nothing of spending £20-30 if not more on takeaways a week & yet they can't afford a cleaner. If you can spend that much on a takeaway or a meal out once a week, then you can afford a cleaner - you choose not to!

Yes, a degree of sensitivity is required & if a poster is saying they are absolutely brassic & every penny coming in is spent on bare necessities & bill paying, then it is not helpful to suggest domestic help. But, I don't think there is much of that going on.

Oh darling.

Seriously, you've made me cry - damn you!

I am refusing to accept your resignation.

I get stress-related OCD & my job is like therapy..! I find it relaxing & I too enjoy doing housework!
No straight jacket required...I will go quietly!

You're coming to the meet DeVere aren't you?

I am totally bring you a nice feather duster.