too much cleaning help?

amother

Tue, Sep 16 2014, 10:42 pm

BH have a hOuse am a sahm..two kids...3 yr old and 21 month old..due very soon with number 3 bH...just hired cleaning help three days a week...seven hours each day...im feeling like maybe its too many hours but am being advised to wait until child three arrives...how much cleaning help do u have? I dont generaly have the help assist with the kids but may b helpful if I want to nap or run out when I have the newborn. Thoughts? Tia!

UQT

Tue, Sep 16 2014, 10:54 pm

Gosh, each person's life is so different its hard to compare. That said, 7 hours sound much, if she's not going to be helping you with the kids. My cleaning lady can do the whole house in 4 hours (although it's great to have an extra hr for cleaning the freezer/polishing the silver rotation jobs).

amother

Tue, Sep 16 2014, 11:35 pm

It depends on the size of your house and your "standards". For example I have my cleaning woman twice a week for 7 hours each. The house gets cleaned, she helps me with food prep and the laundry gets ironed and put away (I wash it), but I wish I could have the third day so things like furniture polishing, window cleaning, baseboard dusting, etc... could happen every other month instead of two to three times a year. I have health issues so I'd rather use my limited energy to mother my children than to scrub mouldings so it's not like I'm doing those things myself. Friends of mine who have cleaning help only 3-4 hours a week can't imagine what mine is doing in her 14 hours lol. Of course they are either a) super balabustas whose cleaning ladies do only heavy cleaning like scrubbing toilets and they do most everything else or b) more 'easy going' about dirt and general organization than DH and I are (My DH's standards are even higher than mine which is why he happily pays for the cleaning lady twice a week, knowing that I physically can't keep a perfect house, even though I'm a SAHM)

mommy3b2c

Tue, Sep 16 2014, 11:39 pm

Doesn't sound like too much to me. Three babies? You can use all the help you can get. Use her for cleaning, food prep, childcare... You'll see neither of you will be bored!

Ilana Tamar

Tue, Sep 16 2014, 11:43 pm

mommy2b2c wrote:

Doesn't sound like too much to me. Three babies? You can use all the help you can get. Use her for cleaning, food prep, childcare... You'll see neither of you will be bored!

THIS. Can't say it enuff. Especially that part about neither of you being bored.

Emotional

Wed, Sep 17 2014, 12:24 am

In my opinion, if you can afford it, there is no such thing as too much cleaning help. There is always laundry to fold, dishes to wash, a closet to organize... if the house is really truly gleaming, she can help you peel vegetables and cook for Shabbos/yom tov (supervised, of course).

mom in france

Wed, Sep 17 2014, 7:45 am

amother wrote:

If u really feel its too many hours in one go, how about having her more often but less hrs each time. Personally thats what I would prefer, so she can clean up the house each day, and do laundry as it piles up...