Homeworking, how is it/was it for you?

[Winnie]

Reviewing all the options at the moment I wondered how many of you have worked or do work from home, and what your experiences were/are, good and bad. Thanks in advance...

Bells1 - I am surprised that you think cleaning is more physically demanding than looking after children, especially if you say you looked after a couple of 2 year olds, I cant see you would get much time to sit down or take your mind off the job for one minute. Luckly I look after a nearly 8 year old and an eleven year old, ok they do most things themselves, but I still have to be behind them every minute to get them to school on time, stop them fighting, get them to all their activities on time and I take my 9 month old along with me.

Joe, I actually have one 2 year old. I was just thinking that with looking after children, you can sit in the garden with them while they play, play in the park, watch the occassional video, do art work and so on. I agree that it seems unfair that cleaners earn more but I think its the number of hours per day they are able to work and the travelling cost and times that is key. Obviously there's no comparison in terms of resposnsibility and so on though.

Personally, I would certainly rather spend 6 hours looking after my son than 3 hours solidly cleaning!.

Our cleaner gets £9 an hour and our fully qualified nanny £7.00 gross. The nanny works 12 hours a day though, the cleaner does 6 hours a week. The nanny also gets holidays and so on, the cleaner doesn't. Also, surely having a cleaner is to an extent a luxury while the price of childcare tends to reflect what women working away from the home can afford.

Presumably there wouldn't be such a shortage of cleaners in central London and elsehwere if people didn't generally think cleaning was more exhausting / less enjoyable than childminding. I sure know which one I would rather do.

We pay our cleaner £25 for four hours. She is not a cleaning pro, but a student, so we all felt that was fair all round. She has been on a post-A Level bender recently but it's so nice to have someone friendly, reliable and willing on board.

I agree, I hate house work, but would clean if I needed the money. I do think it is different when you are looking after someone elses children than your own. I do get time when I am looking after my son on his own. I think just having the responsibilty of someone elses children puts the pressure on before you start. I find it easy looking after children thats why I enjoy it and accept that the money could be better.