Which housekeeper to hire?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The first one. With 20 years experience I'm sure she can work around children.

Yes I think you’re right. It’s more than the noise and smells bother the kids and we want their rooms to be ready so they can start homework and the kitchen to be finished so I can cook

Do your kids really need their rooms cleaned every day?

No they definitely don’t need their rooms cleaned every day. It’s this weird dynamic with hiring a housekeeper, most are actually house cleaners that deep clean but don’t do family laundry, and they seem to work at a different house each day so each client is one day a week. Then there are housekeepers who are often full time, or they do a part time schedule. It’s hard to find anything in between so we need to commit to a minimum number of days or hours each week to get the coverage we need. DH and I both work FT and we need someone to come every day but not necessarily for a full day. I’ll tell you one thing that’s interesting about these two candidates, the more experienced lady who can only come in the afternoons gets more done in her four hours than the other one who’s here for 8 hours. So maybe that’s the answer I needed!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When you say the first one can come in the afternoons do you mean like 1230 or 3pm? Very early afternoon I would do that, if it’s mid or late afternoon I wouldn’t. Do you really need 40 hours per week of this? Do you have separate childcare?

She has another position in the mornings so she’d get to our home around noon most days.

OP - we don’t need 40 hours but some of these candidates will only commit it it’s a full time position. We have a sitter who picks the kids up from school and gets homework started then either DH or I are home by 6. Any other ideas or solutions please let me now. We have three kids in the same school but different daily schedules and oldest in MS so none of them drive.

[Anonymous]

I would contact a staffing agency.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When you say the first one can come in the afternoons do you mean like 1230 or 3pm? Very early afternoon I would do that, if it’s mid or late afternoon I wouldn’t. Do you really need 40 hours per week of this? Do you have separate childcare?

She has another position in the mornings so she’d get to our home around noon most days.

I’m this PP. I would hire this one personally. Maybe have her do 12-4 or 12-5. She might be ok with less hours if she has a morning gig already. This gives her at least 3 hours of being there when the kids are not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When you say the first one can come in the afternoons do you mean like 1230 or 3pm? Very early afternoon I would do that, if it’s mid or late afternoon I wouldn’t. Do you really need 40 hours per week of this? Do you have separate childcare?

She has another position in the mornings so she’d get to our home around noon most days.

I’m this PP. I would hire this one personally. Maybe have her do 12-4 or 12-5. She might be ok with less hours if she has a morning gig already. This gives her at least 3 hours of being there when the kids are not.

You can hire a morning housekeeper if needed.

[Anonymous]

If you are hard pressed for someone immediately then the best option here is obviously the first one.

However I would suggest you keep looking in order to get more of what you really need.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When you say the first one can come in the afternoons do you mean like 1230 or 3pm? Very early afternoon I would do that, if it’s mid or late afternoon I wouldn’t. Do you really need 40 hours per week of this? Do you have separate childcare?

She has another position in the mornings so she’d get to our home around noon most days.

Then what the heck is the problem with the kids’ rooms and the kitchen? You won’t be home for hours after she arrives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When you say the first one can come in the afternoons do you mean like 1230 or 3pm? Very early afternoon I would do that, if it’s mid or late afternoon I wouldn’t. Do you really need 40 hours per week of this? Do you have separate childcare?

She has another position in the mornings so she’d get to our home around noon most days.

Then what the heck is the problem with the kids’ rooms and the kitchen? You won’t be home for hours after she arrives.

The kids do homework in their bedrooms, I cook in the kitchen

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When you say the first one can come in the afternoons do you mean like 1230 or 3pm? Very early afternoon I would do that, if it’s mid or late afternoon I wouldn’t. Do you really need 40 hours per week of this? Do you have separate childcare?

She has another position in the mornings so she’d get to our home around noon most days.

I’m this PP. I would hire this one personally. Maybe have her do 12-4 or 12-5. She might be ok with less hours if she has a morning gig already. This gives her at least 3 hours of being there when the kids are not.

Thank you. She’s come in at noon each day this week and she’s very efficient which helps a lot. The kids have been off so I’m sure it’s more work but she’s quiet and works efficiently. So we’ll keep going with this schedule. Thanks for your input

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When you say the first one can come in the afternoons do you mean like 1230 or 3pm? Very early afternoon I would do that, if it’s mid or late afternoon I wouldn’t. Do you really need 40 hours per week of this? Do you have separate childcare?

She has another position in the mornings so she’d get to our home around noon most days.

I’m this PP. I would hire this one personally. Maybe have her do 12-4 or 12-5. She might be ok with less hours if she has a morning gig already. This gives her at least 3 hours of being there when the kids are not.

Thank you. She’s come in at noon each day this week and she’s very efficient which helps a lot. The kids have been off so I’m sure it’s more work but she’s quiet and works efficiently. So we’ll keep going with this schedule. Thanks for your input

The other option is to employ her temper rarely as a stopgap, let her know that it is a stopgap, and you will guarantee position through a certain date. Make sure she understands that you will give her four weeks notice. Look for someone who will come in during the morning right after the kids leave. The other alternative is to find out whether she can switch her morning job to the afternoon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When you say the first one can come in the afternoons do you mean like 1230 or 3pm? Very early afternoon I would do that, if it’s mid or late afternoon I wouldn’t. Do you really need 40 hours per week of this? Do you have separate childcare?

She has another position in the mornings so she’d get to our home around noon most days.

I’m this PP. I would hire this one personally. Maybe have her do 12-4 or 12-5. She might be ok with less hours if she has a morning gig already. This gives her at least 3 hours of being there when the kids are not.

Thank you. She’s come in at noon each day this week and she’s very efficient which helps a lot. The kids have been off so I’m sure it’s more work but she’s quiet and works efficiently. So we’ll keep going with this schedule. Thanks for your input

The other option is to employ her temper rarely as a stopgap, let her know that it is a stopgap, and you will guarantee position through a certain date. Make sure she understands that you will give her four weeks notice. Look for someone who will come in during the morning right after the kids leave. The other alternative is to find out whether she can switch her morning job to the afternoon.

Thank you. We hired the more qualified candidate and it’s working well. We’d much prefer if she was here in the mornings but interestingly she gets more done in 20 hours than the last lady was doing in 40+ hours, and they both charge the same hourly rate. My guess is that she’ll switch to mornings with us at the right time

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When you say the first one can come in the afternoons do you mean like 1230 or 3pm? Very early afternoon I would do that, if it’s mid or late afternoon I wouldn’t. Do you really need 40 hours per week of this? Do you have separate childcare?

She has another position in the mornings so she’d get to our home around noon most days.

I’m this PP. I would hire this one personally. Maybe have her do 12-4 or 12-5. She might be ok with less hours if she has a morning gig already. This gives her at least 3 hours of being there when the kids are not.

Thank you. She’s come in at noon each day this week and she’s very efficient which helps a lot. The kids have been off so I’m sure it’s more work but she’s quiet and works efficiently. So we’ll keep going with this schedule. Thanks for your input

The other option is to employ her temper rarely as a stopgap, let her know that it is a stopgap, and you will guarantee position through a certain date. Make sure she understands that you will give her four weeks notice. Look for someone who will come in during the morning right after the kids leave. The other alternative is to find out whether she can switch her morning job to the afternoon.

Thank you. We hired the more qualified candidate and it’s working well. We’d much prefer if she was here in the mornings but interestingly she gets more done in 20 hours than the last lady was doing in 40+ hours, and they both charge the same hourly rate. My guess is that she’ll switch to mornings with us at the right time

Glad to hear it worked out!

[Anonymous]

OP here. So in December we hired the most experienced housekeeper, even though she was only available part time when we wanted full time. We agreed to a set school that 22 hours a week.

She does a great job, when she shows up. But she often comes a few hours late or not at all. She never lets us know ahead of time that she has a schedule change which is annoying as it’s hard to plan around. We pay her via a payroll service based on a time sheet but still it’s frustrating when I come home some days and the kids sports gear isn’t ready or the kitchen still looks like a mess.

I told her we’re relying on her and asked that she let me know ahead of time if she’s not coming but today two hours late with no heads up.

WWYD?

[Anonymous]

I would talk to her and tell her all the positives of what you appreciate about her but then get to -- how you're relying on her & when she no shows, the kids can't get ready for their sports & you don't even know until it's late. Tell her that I'm sorry but it's not going work if she does this once more.
I don't understand the kitchen thing but to each his own. Do you just leave everything from the night before?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would talk to her and tell her all the positives of what you appreciate about her but then get to -- how you're relying on her & when she no shows, the kids can't get ready for their sports & you don't even know until it's late. Tell her that I'm sorry but it's not going work if she does this once more.
I don't understand the kitchen thing but to each his own. Do you just leave everything from the night before?

Thank you. This is good advice. We run out the door at 7am for three drop offs so she cleans up after breakfast and does meal prep for dinner