HHI $250K, 2 WOH parents, 2 kids (preschooler and infant)

No cleaning service b/c I want the kids to be able to develop those skills. I grew up in a house with a live-in nanny/housekeeper. When I went to college, I had no idea how to do laundry or dishes, much less clean a house. I take care of the daily maintenance after the kids go to bed. We (DH, DD, and I) dedicate an hour or two each weekend to do a deeper clean. The areas of deep cleaning rotate every other week to keep the weekend chore list short.

HHI $150k, 2 FT working parents, 1 toddler.

Never had a cleaning service, probably never will. Cleaning/organizing is relaxing to me. Growing up, Saturday mornings were family chore time. For a couple hours we'd all be doing our tasks--cleaning, laundry, lawn care, whatever it was. It's when some of the best parent/child conversations happened, because what else are you going to do when you're folding laundry together?

Anonymous wrote:We are friends with a single-child couple making $100k with a live-in nanny that also helps with cleaning and cooking. They living in an apartment and scrimp on everything else. It's how to make sense of the madness, I understand.

We have two kids and didn't have a cleaning lady until it became obvious that our new house was simply too large for us to clean on our own. We made high six figures when this happened.

They have a live-in in an apartment?

Anonymous wrote:
Oh, my poor dear, you sound so disconnected from reality.

I never had a cleaning lady and probably never will. We are millionaires - which in our world is not saying much these days, but in the REAL world is rather a privileged status!

Most of my friends have cleaning help. But I don't feel the urge to do everything my friends do, you know.

But you do feel the urge to brag about your wealth, compare yourself favorably to your "friends," and be condescending to anonymous strangers. Charming.

HHI $160, 2 full time jobs. No cleaning lady. Combo of us using our money for other things and wanting to teach our kid how to clean up his own literal and metaphorical messes. There are days, though, when I really do wish I had someone to clean!

Anonymous wrote:175k here. No cleaning lady and we could definitely afford it. I enjoy cleaning, laundry and especially organizing. I pick different tasks and I rotate them. I've been cleaning windows inside this week. Kinda satisfying to see progress.

Do you work? I work FT with travel and frequent evening events. My DH works PT and is getting an MBA PT. I am fed up with working 60+ hours a week including commute and then spending my weekends working the whole time in the home - cleaning, laundry, shopping, cooking - it's never fucking ending. I never have time to simply relax and have fun with DH or DS. I am putting a cleaning service in the budget b/c it a small price to pay for more time with my family and more sanity. Something else can be cut somewhere else. I refuse to have a dirty and disorganized home b/c it causes me stress. So I am handing the worry of that over to someone else and IMO it will be money well spent.

200+ and we clean the house ourselves.

My mom doesn't work anymore (retired) and she has a cleaning lady come once a month.

HHI is $225k. Both work FT. No cleaning lady. One child, one on the way. I have never found it onerous to keep our house clean. Takes maybe 2 hours of the two of us working at the same time to clean 4 bathroom, the kitchen, and sweep/mop/vacuum the floors. We give the pre schooler a swiffer and she "helps" by dusting the baseboards.

I make a little more than $90K. No housecleaning help other than the people who live with me (family).

Anonymous wrote:HHI 300K. SAHM with HS aged kids (3). I have 2 person team come twice a week. 16 man-hours total. I also work alongside them - so 24 man-hours total. They charge hourly and will do any household task you give them - cleaning, laundry, deep cleaning, decluttering, food prep, organizing, recycling, picking up laundry, grocery etc.

I can get a lot accomplished with them and they keep me sane. I pay $200 a week for them. Worth every penny! We live extremely frugally except for this one luxury. If I did not have them I would have been spending money on therapy or a divorce lawyer!

Exactly!! Our housekeepers are keeping my marriage healthy. We make about 160K a year and have a crew every week. $400 month, totally worth it.

We are friends with a single-child couple making $100k with a live-in nanny that also helps with cleaning and cooking. They living in an apartment and scrimp on everything else. It's how to make sense of the madness, I understand.

We have two kids and didn't have a cleaning lady until it became obvious that our new house was simply too large for us to clean on our own. We made high six figures when this happened.

We didn't have one when I was SAHM and DH made about $120K. I suppose we could have found money in the budget for it but it wasn't important to me. I saw cleaning as just part of my responsibilities as a SAHM. We also never had one when I was growing up -- mom was a SAHM until I was in high school and when she went back to work we all just cleaned together on Saturday mornings. And, I never had one when I was single. That seems like such a waste of money. How hard is it to clean a single person's apartment?

When I went back to work, however, we got a every-other-week cleaning lady, at an income of $220K.

+500k HHI, Live in housekeeper. I'm a SAHM with 2 teenagers. Before you assume I'm lazy, I left a wonderful $200k/yr career to care for my parents when they could not live on their own anymore. Late stage cancer and alzhiemers that require 24 hr care. I'm more of a SAHD (daughter).

Anonymous wrote:I am divorced with two kids and earn 80K. No alimony, so-so child support. No cleaning lady. . . no way. And my house is dirty all the time.

I am in a similar situation and have never had a cleaning lady.