am I the only person without cleaning help?

[Anonymous]

Both of us work and we can no longer afford cleaning help, with a kid in college and 3 more at home. My house is a pigsty, even with kids pitching in to help. Sometimes it really bother me, other times not so much. My kids are NEVER sick and I've managed to convince myself it's the antibodies they've developed from our messy house, or maybe I've just lost my mind.

[Anonymous]

OMG-yes. And I have fewer kids than you. I am not one of the super-rich on this forum, but I do work FT and there's no way I'm going to spend my weekend scrubbing bathrooms and kitchen floors (assuming I can afford it). It's the best $200/month I spend. If I was a SAHM, I probably wouldn't do it b/c I'd feel too guilty. But, this is my money we're spending, so hell yes. And, it has removed a source of conflict in our marriage as well. Why would your husband object? In many countries other than the US, it is considered rude not to hire help if you can afford it. It is how money flows to those who don't/can't have a regular, full-time job.

I have one friend who still doesn't have cleaning help, and I think she's nuts.

[Anonymous]

We both work outside the home and have two kids. I would consider myself to be middle-class and we have someone clean our home. We are good about picking up after ourselves so really only use our cleaner once or twice a month (more if company is staying over). I can tell you that the $100 we spend for a day of cleaning is well worth it. I can enjoy my family on the weekends and not be exhausted from doing chores. Luckily our cleaner does laundry which I think is the biggest timesuck.

[Anonymous]

Your cleaner does laundry? I've never heard of that. I would love for my cleaner to help with this - I agree that it's the biggest timesuck (though I don't hate it as much as scrubbing bathtubs!).

[Anonymous]

We have one and LOVE it. I seriously want to cry of happiness when I come home from work to a clean house. I figure with a kid we don't go out anymore like we used to so all that money we used to spend on dinners and drinks out is now going to paying for cleaing.

[Anonymous]

Of course you're not the only one. Christ. I can barely afford daycare. It's all cutesy to say that a cleaning person is "cheaper than a divorce" but newsflash! That kind of luxury is not the reality for everyone.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I absolutely think it's a luxury item. But I'm willing to cut back on other things for it...DH was on board the second he walked in to a shiny clean home when we did a trial run.

[Anonymous]

Worth every single penny!!

And I'm a SAHM who doesn't feel guilty at all about it - I fully admit that cleaning is not one of my strong points.

[Anonymous]

We both work, 2 kids, never had a cleaning person. We actually don't mind cleaning, and the kids help too. I think my house is reasonably clean - in fact, today it sparkles b/c the kids took an extra long nap, so I got to wipe down things I don't usually get to

I honestly don't mind cleaning. It's part of our weekly routine. I guess if I hated it I would pay someone to do it for me, but for the time being we only contribute to 401k and have no other retirement plan beyond that, and the kids' 529s are minimal, so that's where money left at the end of the month is going. Even if someone gave me an extra $200 each month I don't think I would choose a cleaning service to spend it on. I know it's outside of the norm here, but it's us.

[Anonymous]

I work full time (nights), DH works days. I'm home with DS during the day and I "clean" while he naps on days that I haven't worked the night before. We do okay. I like the idea of hiring someone once a quarter to really get down and do what I don't have time to do but I'm never happy with the work that's done so it really bothers me to spend the money.

[Anonymous]

No, but my house is a wreck. I want to but get hung up on the legalities and don't want to pay taxes. Plus I'm so hopeless at cleaning, the one time I had a cleaning lady I didn't know what to tell her to do.

[Anonymous]

I love my cleaning lady. I have several friends who don't have someone to clean for them and I think that they are ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

We don't. I'm a SAHM and while money is tight we could afford it if it was a priority for us. But it's not. I have issues with it from a class/race perspective, and we hired a service to clean a rental and I was underwhelmed with the results. It took some work but we came up with a cleaning schedule that works and is not burdensome. It really helps that we live in a small house.

[Anonymous]

I don't have one because I feel that I do a better job and I don't want to give someone keys to my house.

[Anonymous]

Who does the cleaning at home? Does the burden fall on you? If so, I think it's your call. If DH does some or all of the cleaning, then it's a bit trickier. (And notice I didn't ask whether DH "helps" with the cleaning - it's his job too, darnit!