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Original poster

"You don't have a cleaner now, do you?"

39 replies

emkana · 19/02/2006 20:18

...is what MIL said to me today, in a shocked voice, when she found out that I have a cleaner for two hours a week.

Yes, I am a SAHM, so I could do it myself. But we can afford it, I still do enough other houseworky stuff as it is, and I don't spend much money on other luxuries.
So there's nothing wrong with that, or is there?

OP posts:
Kayleigh · 19/02/2006 20:19

Nothing wrong at all. In fact, good for you.

doormat · 19/02/2006 20:20

nah live and let live
do as you please
it is not hurting anyone

cupcakes · 19/02/2006 20:20

I'd have one if
a) we could afford it
b) I could put up with someone going through my house
My mum used to have one occasionally and I think she always felt a bit self conscious.

CountessCodsacnut · 19/02/2006 20:21

Not at all I would be more horrified if you didn't

Beetroot · 19/02/2006 20:21

i always say 'i dint get a degree so that I could become a cleaner' 'blush'

dinny · 19/02/2006 20:21

ha ha, she probably thinks you are a right madam by the sound of her!

she's only jealous!

RedRidingHood · 19/02/2006 20:22

No - its hard enough to keep things going with kids - if you can afford it why not!

purplemonkeydishwasher · 19/02/2006 20:22

Good on ya emkana!! I am

bobbybobbobbingalong · 19/02/2006 20:23

My cleaner is fantastic - the best $30 a week. I would go without most material posessions to have her.

It's not as if in 2 hours a week she is doing everything, just keeping it hygenic. My MIL is a little scornful of my cleaner - but her house is a series of piles of stuff she hasn't got around to doing - I couldn't live like that.

doormat · 19/02/2006 20:23

offer her the job

kittyfish · 19/02/2006 20:23

I would love to have a cleaner. I loathe housework and feel only jealousy that you have one and I don't.

kitegirl · 19/02/2006 20:23

No - I would get one if I wasn't so anal and insist on doing it myself (madness!)

Kidstrack2 · 19/02/2006 20:23

oh i would love one, nearest thing i'm having is a dishwasher(currently me) that we are getting as an early wedding present from dp parents, but if i could afford a cleaner i would have one

brimfull · 19/02/2006 20:23

my mil doesn't know I have a cleaner adn I'm a sahm.Too scared to tell her

Cam · 19/02/2006 20:49

We should swap MILs Emkana, as mine can't believe that I don't have one. Both her daughters (one a married SAHM and the other a single career woman recently engaged) have had one for ever. MIL has always had one.

I did have a gardener for 7 years though until he retired.

Passionflower · 19/02/2006 20:53

I'd love one but my house is never tidy enough for a cleaner. They'd sack me

moondog · 19/02/2006 20:57

I don't need a cleaner (obsessively tidy) but even though I am an sahm,my 19mth old goes to nursery 2 days a week.
(Actually,with another kid and a dh almost permanently abroad,I need it to stop me having a breakdown.Some people think I am strange however.)

moondog · 19/02/2006 20:58

I don't need a cleaner (obsessively tidy) but even though I am an sahm,my 19mth old goes to nursery 2 days a week.
(Actually,with another kid and a dh almost permanently abroad,I need it to stop me having a breakdown.Some people think I am strange however.)

iota · 19/02/2006 21:04

I don't have a cleaner, but I do send the ironing out and I'm a SAHM

tribpot · 19/02/2006 21:10

Absolutely nothing wrong with it at all. I'm sure 30 years ago they were asking SAHMs why they needed a washing machine if they were at home all day. Not likening a person to a machine, of course, but why not take a little help if it's affordable?

nooka · 19/02/2006 21:16

I see it as aiding the economy! Love my cleaner - she's fab! We kept her even when dh was a SAHD (and he is the obsessively tidy one in our household!)

JennyLee · 19/02/2006 21:43

cool , if I had the cash I would have a cleaner, it helps othe people by giving them an income too.

WharfRat · 19/02/2006 21:47

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Twiglett · 19/02/2006 21:47

nothing wrong with that at all

I have a cleaner for 3 hours a week .. and she does all the ironing too .. and I'm a SAHM

mckenzie · 19/02/2006 22:01

whenever DH and I do some budgeting, I put having a cleaner on my list of 'essentials' along with gym membership and buying my fruit and veg from M&S!

I bet your MIL is just jealous emkana