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Wendi DeGrandpr
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| Posted: Feb 23 2008 at 7:48am | IP Logged
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hi - just wondering if anyone has a mother's helper / babysitter / cleaning help. I am in the process of looking for someone to come in once a week to help with light housework and to watch my two youngest (5 & 7) for a few hours.
Just wondering if you have this type of help what is the going rate? I haven't hired a sitter or had help in the house for years so I really don't know what is reasonable.
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Wendi
Mom to four blessings
"We can do no great things - only small things with great love." Blessed Mother Teresa
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Rachel May
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| Posted: Feb 23 2008 at 10:44am | IP Logged
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We have a cleaning lady who comes every two weeks. She charges $90/time to clean a 4 bedroom/2 living room/office/3 bath house. In Hawaii, we paid $120/time.
With 2 kids, I would pay about $5/hour for a sitter who lets me leave the house. I would pay less if I were at home. Right now with 6 and no babies, we pay a 16yo $10/hr and drop to $5/hour if we're gone after 10 pm. We never are. 
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Rachel
Thomas and Anthony (10), Maria (8), Charles (6), Cecilia (5), James (3), and Joseph (1)
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Lisbet
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| Posted: Feb 23 2008 at 11:04am | IP Logged
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Rachel, If you don't mind, what is included in that cleaning? Is it a deep clean? And how much do you have to do inbetween?
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Lisa, wife to Tony,
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mellyrose
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| Posted: Feb 23 2008 at 11:05am | IP Logged
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I think the area you live in will have a lot to do with going rates.
Last year, while pregnant, I had cleaning help. I paid her $20/hour. She came 2 hours/week and did as much as she could in that time (usually cleaned the kitchen, swept and mopped kitchen, bathroom & living room floors, cleaned boys' bathroom and changed sheets) She usually had a set rate for a full cleaning, but we negotiated the $20/hour and limited cleaning because that was what I could afford.
I really miss my cleaning help!! She had a baby a few months after I had Lydia, and I don't have the extra in the budget anymore anyway :(
A couple years ago, I had a mother's helper. She was a homeschooled teen and we paid her $6/hour to watch my 2 boys 4 hours, once a week. Her mom dropped her off and I took her home. She watched the boys only -- didn't do any housework. I was usually home, but sometimes did run out for a quick errand while she was here.
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Michaela
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| Posted: Feb 23 2008 at 11:47am | IP Logged
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mellyrose wrote:
| I think the area you live in will have a lot to do with going rates. |
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True. It's about $35-$50 an hour here.
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Rachel May
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| Posted: Feb 23 2008 at 12:36pm | IP Logged
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Lisbet wrote:
| Rachel, If you don't mind, what is included in that cleaning? Is it a deep clean? And how much do you have to do inbetween? |
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She fully cleans the bathrooms, mops the floors, and vacuums around the litter box and rakes it out  . She straightens and dusts and vacuums all the carpeted rooms, staircase, even my disaster office (I declutter into there and leave piles of things all over the place. After she leaves, I'll go in and everything is neat and dusted and vacummed. Amazing!) She wipes down the kitchen table and water dispenser, cleans the HECK out of the kitchen, including the oven, stove top, and toaster oven. She mops floors downstairs too and throws all the trash. And best of all, she is very good humored about James constantly trying to "borrow" the vacuums and rags. 
I asked her not to do sheets since I like the kids to do that themselves. And even though we do straighten before she comes, she always finds more to do.
That all takes her about 4 hours, and she uses my vacuum and some of my cleaning supplies.
Between cleans I don't do much. I vacuum under our kitchen table  quite often and other downstairs rooms occasionally, keep the kitchen swept and wiped down, and that's about it. The kids wash the sink and toilets and mirrors in 2 of the bathrooms daily. Right now, I'm taking advantage of the fact that she comes to do the usual stuff so I am decluttering, shampooing carpets, cleaning out closets, etc.
I would like to use her like training wheels and ease back into a flylady-style cleaning system after the baby comes so that eventually we can do it all ourselves. She's a wonderful luxury, but it pinches  to even pay what we do, and I feel like she's underpaid.
HTH! 
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Rachel
Thomas and Anthony (10), Maria (8), Charles (6), Cecilia (5), James (3), and Joseph (1)
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Sarah in SC
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I am completely blessed by the merry band of maids that come do my entire house (except for the bonus room, which should be renamed disaster area/dumping ground) for $98 a visit. (They price by square footage--I have about 2700.)
They make beds (if they're unmade--will put new sheets on if I leave new ones out), clean all bathrooms top to bottom (I have 3), vacuum, dust, do the whole kitchen including the burners, microwave, etc., and "deep clean" one area each time, which is on a rotating schedule. So one time it might be "bathrooms" that get baseboards wiped, cabinet fronts cleaned, etc., and the next time it could be the kitchen, the next time bedrooms, etc.
It has SAVED me this year. Since the horrible HG pregnancy with Luke, then the c-section recovery (totally unexpected--he was VERY breech)--those sweet ladies have saved me in more ways than I can count. It's worth EVERY PENNY.
Now if I could just figure out a way to barter for an au pair.......
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Wendi DeGrandpr
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| Posted: Feb 25 2008 at 11:39am | IP Logged
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This is a great help - thank you all for your input. Maybe what I need is a sitter for the kids and seperate cleaning service - I'm not really sure. I think I need to sit down and REALLY evaluate what it is that bothers me if left undone in the house. The kids all have chores and do basic cleaning. Vac everyday (we have two large dogs and a long haired cat), and wipe down bathrooms everyday. Well, they are supposed to do it everyday but with "life" in the mix it is probably more like everyother day. It seems like we never get to the deep cleaning unless it is a day set aside from our routine and I don't like to do it on the weekends as it is the only time dh is home.
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God Bless,
Wendi
Mom to four blessings
"We can do no great things - only small things with great love." Blessed Mother Teresa
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anniemm
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I don't know if you have a lot of money to spend on babysitting/cleaning...maybe you do, and if so you can disregard this idea! I would NOT be able to spend $100 a cleaning at my house. However, when I read this post, I thought of a friend of mine who has a great system for this. Once a week, on a Friday, she has 3-4 Catholic, female college students come over. She first leaves her 3 small children with them while she has a Holy Hour. When she returns home, she feeds the children and the young women lunch and then they help her clean the house-whatever is necessary that day. That way, there are typically 5 women in the house and the children and cleaning are manageable. She pays them, I'm not sure how much, but I don't think a lot. I think she also offers for them to do laundry at her house (a huge savings for students paying 75 cents a wash).
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Nina
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| Posted: Feb 28 2008 at 5:07pm | IP Logged
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Eventhough we can afford it,I don't like the idea of someone that I don't know taking care of my house.Maybe I'm being too neurotic  .Also,I am worried about ID theft.Our Senator sent us info that household help accounts for some ID theft overall.
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cathmomof2
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| Posted: March 05 2008 at 5:45pm | IP Logged
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I don't have anyone myself, but a cousin once told me a great idea if I ever needed someone. A college student. If you are near a university, maybe start there. The price is right. They wouldn't charge as much as a pro, and there are a lot of willing college gals out there who are great and who would probably love to be around a family.
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4Real Forums : Mothering and Family Life
Topic: household help
