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.

I think people should generally clear up after themselves as they go along, and before they go to bed make sure everything is in its place, cleaned the bath after use etc., then they wouldnt need a cleaner, its only cos they fucking lazy to start with they need one

I had a cleaner when working full time and was just me and ds. She came in once a week for 3 hours. £120 per month. God send. I had one because I wanted to spend my time off with my ds instead of using one of the two days cleaning.

Wrong thread gonzo? Or did you just want to share that with the benchers?

I like you already

Oh ffs - it's ME that's in the wrong bloody thread!

Excuse me

stealth - leicester

MrsDevere - you would love the device I've just bought. It's like a giant electric toothbrush with different size heads. I have given my grouting a good seeing-to with the pointed brush.

I have a cleaner but I reserve the really fun jobs like cracks and inside drawers.

... for myself

YABU - I would love to be able to afford a housekeeper if I could. I would feel now shame at all. Infact I would have a house keeper and a cook. So I could spend time with my family.

I have a cleaner and an ironer and for Christmas after watching too much Downton I want a butler and a Lady's maid and a housekeeper

jamie, I NEED one of those - what is it called?

Sonic Scrubber, from the spiritual home of cleaning obsessives Lakeland

I don't see why there is any shame in it. My employer has stuff it needs doing and pays me to do it. I have stuff I need doing and pay someone to do it. I pay proper wages, pay if we are away and don't need her to come etc. I will give her extra at Xmas. She does a fantastic job and I really appreciate her. My house is now spotless - not a dust bunny to be seen. And I was brought up in an overcrowded council house.

Thanks!

May I ask what other thread this thread was inspired by? Coz I haven't seen wohm parents being told to get a cleaner and I assume it isn't anything I said.

I am a lazy SAHM with a cleaner, and I don't feel guilty about it although I feel very sheepish admitting to it in public. At least I recognise & take responsibility for the fact that my house would be a tip without someone paid to get it up to scratch for all of 10 seconds once a week (before DC get home). I'd enthusiastically rummage around in the bargain value box at Tesco for hours or go without Sky/fags/lottery cards/wine/holidays/pop concert tickets/hair cuts/leg waxing/new clothes/pets to have a cleaner.

My parents both worked full time & we always had a cleaner, too; even after my mother retired she preferred to do voluntary work rather than clean, as would I. The only bad part is that I probably would have learnt to clean my own house better if my own parents had had to do it.

Jamie thank you for bringing that to my attention, I am in the process of doing my pre-Christmas Lakeland order and that is now in it!

I am a SAHM, and I have a cleaner. I hate housework and find it hard to do with an 8 month old crawling round my ankles.
My cleaner is lovely, and does a much better job than I have time to. In return I pay her well and get to spend more time with my children.

Has anyone ever managed to sack a cleaner? My current one is good; but I had to move house to escape the last one and the one before that (who broke something every single week) dumped me.

They needed the job and I just couldn't bring myself to do it.

Oh dear, vixsatis!

Why the need to escape? What happened?

i am a sahm and have a cleaner. money v.v.v.v. well spent - £13 a fortnight, hardly going to make us bankrupt and we're not exactly loaded.

i spent too much time doing housework when ds2 was a baby and didn't want to do the same with ds3. in return i have spent so much time with ds3 that i have a v.clingy baby who screams the house down if not attached to me in some way pretty much all day.
i still dream of having a nanny or au pair. preferably foreign so she can help my kids get french/spanish/croatian/hungarian gcse's a few years early.

Jamie I do indeed covert one of those lakeland sonic srubbers.

Imagine the way it can cut through the dirt in the grouting.......

Mrsdevere - I am debating whether to go for the shame of asking dsis to buy me one for Xmas or to pay 7.50 to have it shipped to Belgium......

misty - about as far away as it is possible to be within the definition of "midlands"

she turned up, eventually for a change

I wouldn't admit I needed a cleaner and thought it was a ridiculous thing to spend our money on ... I was wrong. I couldn't admit that I couldn't cope (physically) with housework, childcare, life etc and actually DH pulling his finger out and forcing us to sort it out has made a huge difference to our lives. I still hate the idea but feel better as we do pay a decent wage and she does the stuff I can't (too heavy, low etc)
Getting help isn't always a luxury it's sometimes a necessity and many of those who need it the most wouldn't dream of asking in the first place.

What a snippy OP!

I work from home and I earn £25 - 30 ph.
I pay my cleaner £8 ph.
So if I took 2 hours out of my day to do the cleaning it would cost me £75. If I pay someone else it costs me £16.

AND as I do now work from home (mostly to fit round DS SN) having a cleaner was a non-negotiable part of my set up because even though I am in the house, I am doing paid work or study - not wifework.

I don't see my cleaner as a luxury but have cut back on other areas to afford her because she's an essential part of the team that keeps my business going - just like my accountant. (I presume it's OK to have an accountant OP?)

I have been thinking of Xenia - where IS Xenia? So the argument is all our daughters should aspire to be doctors or lawyers. Great. But then you need childcare and cleaners and housekeepers to pick up the "slack". Xenia never elaborated whose daughters - or sons - should be doing THIS work. foreign ones probably. Cleaning is a prime support function for people like childcare is. It's not a nothing job.

portfino ask for it as a present. The chances are dear sis will think 'i cant just buy her a scrubbing brush for christmas!' and buy you something else as well.

Yippee.