At what income do you not have a cleaning lady?
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Anonymous
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$250K, dual income, house cleaner every other week.
To be honest, I sometimes worry about the lessons we're teaching our kids - or not teaching, as it were. I would not want to go to weekly or more, because we need to do some level of our own work. But, that said, I'd give up a lot before I'd give up the cleaners. I"m not a naturally neat nor disciplined person, so having the help definitely improves our house. This winter, we missed one session because of snow, then missed another because two family members were sick - which means we went 6 weeks without cleaners. While I vacuumed and swept and we all picked up and did some cleaning, I was desperate for them to come. We actually did not invite anyone over that last weekend before because we just felt the house was not presentable. |
Anonymous
| We make $150K and don't have a cleaning lady, but it's more a matter of logistics than income. I'd have to have the flat surfaces picked up first before she could clean, and there are five people working against me on that one. If I get to the point where my house is reliably picked up, I will hire a weekly cleaner THAT DAY and drop other things, if needed, in order to pay for it. I would LOVE to have someone come in. |
Anonymous
| $120k. No cleaning lady. |
Anonymous
| $300k HHI, no cleaning help. I keep thinking I'd like to hire someone but keep putting it off. Researching and vetting people is a PIA. I guess if we ever have kids we'll hire someone to clean. But for now, we're doing fine without help. |
Anonymous
| 300K HHI, just dropped cleaning service after using one for ten years. I kind of love thinking about how much we've NOT spent just in the past several months. Full house clean every 2 weeks was $186. Service was fine but not great. Now we do it ourselves with "help" from 4,6,8 yr olds. It takes a couple of hours on Saturday or Sunday but I am good with that. |
Anonymous
| We have a cleaning lady that comes once a week. But I don't talk about it so I have no idea how that compares to my friends' cleaning situation. Who cares? I had a cleaner when I was single and making 80. Then I didn't have one when we were new parents paying off debt and making 200. Now we make 400 and can afford it again. |
Anonymous
| $300k HHI here. No cleaning help but recently reached the point where kids take care of all cleaning. It is a good skill for them to have. |
Anonymous
+1 I wouldn't want someone in my house without me or my husband home (partly because we have wily pets that are escape artists), but I also would feel strange being home and doing other things while someone else cleaned up my mess. But I was raised with a very strong sense of the least you can do in this world is clean up after yourself -- no matter who you are, how smart, how pretty, how talented. But I understand that it creates jobs for people. And I also get that when you have two working spouses and kids, that there are only so many hours in a day. And yeah, if someone works 60 hours a week and wants to spend the only free time they have doing some quality activity with their children, it makes sense to outsource the other stuff. So I get why people have a need for house cleaners. But I also know people who have worked as house cleaners. And it's hard work for not that great wages (either they work for a company and the company pays low wages, or if they are in business for themselves, they have so many other expenses -- the cost of being licensed and bonded, taxes, health care, transportation, equipment -- that they are really working hard for what profit they make). It's not like some other trades where you can say that even though it is blue collar, they are making money hand over fist. And I've heard firsthand that people talk down to them. My overall impression is that they are not given a lot of respect, even from the same people who swear up and down how they couldn't live without having a house cleaner. |
Anonymous
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We make 160k when I am working full time, 100k when I am being a SAHM and about 130k when I am working pt.
We have never had a cleaning lady and never will. |
Anonymous
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Our HHI is $165K and we don't have a cleaning lady (have two kids, one in full time daycare).
We could probably afford it but have other things we'd rather spend our money on. |
Anonymous
| I believe that's true. What you don't realize is that at $150,000 a year for a household total is in the top 3%. |
Anonymous
| Oh, and we're at 150k and we don't have a cleaning lady. I just don't want to have to pick up for the cleaning lady in that timeframe it has to happen and then have to deal with issues about what's done where or what. We're just going to have too many issues to make it a lifesaver, I know it. |
Anonymous
| People who don't have a cleaning lady house's are never really clean. |
Anonymous
| 180 - no cleaning lady but likely will get one. I actually LOVE to clean, but can't with two little little ones underfoot. Asking my husband to take them, out of the house for 3-4 hours twice a month isn't really doable (they are A LOT of work on an outing). |
Anonymous
| Our HHI is about 300k, and we don't have one. We never have. I do keep saying we should get someone to come in every other week or so. We both work full time, and we have two very little kids - 2 and under - who aren't of any help. Now, we usually clean for an hour or so when we get up on Saturday morning while kind of spending time with the kids. But I feel like we do the absolute bare minimum. Our house is definitely not as clean as I would want. |