Life has become ridiculously busy for us. With a new business, a husband that now works from home with me, and 3 kids in homeschool, some things start to lack. The biggest thing that we’re lacking is keeping up with the household cleaning duties. Even with us paying the kids to get things clean, there are still items that aren’t getting enough love. It might be time for a housekeeper.
I know. This is a website dedicated to sharing how to live a full life on less, and hiring a housekeeper would be another line to add in an already full budget. Not to mention those that may judge us for adding this “luxurious” thing. But, what can I do. When should I hire a housekeeper? I sat down to answer this question for myself, and hopefully, you can get some insight for your own home, if you’re struggling with this decision.
When You Can Afford It
This is key. If you feel that this won’t be doable for you, then you have to be OK with letting it go. Here’s the kicker: most of us can afford to have a housekeeper. It’s the frequency of the housekeeping sessions that’s the real factor. You may only need someone to come help with the cleaning once a month, which would be way less than a per week cleaning session. So, you can probably afford it, but take a minute to figure out how much help you’ll actually need.
When You Are Having Health Issues
Health is so important. Self care is so important. But, why do we always ignore both? If you are dealing with serious health issues, or just extreme exhaustion like me, you need to look into getting help. Having your house cleaned twice a month may increase your quality of life, and it will help you concentrate on getting better. If you have kids that are old enough to do the cleaning, you know you’ll still be running behind them to see if they cleaned to your liking. You don’t need that stress either. Let a professional take care of it.
When Your Kids Have Busy Schedules
Kids have their own social lives and after-school activities. That’s the way the world works now. Add on school days, homework, and actually sleeping from time to time, they may not do the best job of cleaning the house. They’re busy, you guys. Give them the option of having this chore or commission taken care of. If you kids are older, and have jobs of their own, give the option of pitching in to pay for the housekeeper, or doing the chores themselves. I bet they’ll pick the former.
When You Are Never Home
Remember how I mentioned that your kids are busy? We’ll if they are busy, you must be too. How can you clean your home if you’re never there? If you’re always out and about, shuffling kids from here to there, doing your OWN thing, you need to re-evaluate this small item on your to-do list that can be done by someone else.
When You Work From Home
To be honest, I think that all work at home moms and dads need to add housekeeping as a business expense for them. Yes, I’m talking to me, as well. We do so much with our businesses as entrepreneurs, and it seems very silly that we add this to our long list of personal items that need to be done daily, weekly and monthly. If you work from home, get a housekeeper.
I hope these reasons helped you answer the question — when should I hire a housekeeper? They’ve helped me let go of the guilt I gave myself when thinking about hiring a housekeeper, and I hope it does the same for you too.
I love the idea of a housekeeper if it works with the budget. We all need a little help in our lives, and let’s face it, business-owning moms are stretched way too thin.
Absolutely, Aubrey. Moms, in general, are stretched way too thin, but we feel so guilty allowing ourselves to do affordable things that will alleviate some of the stress.
We just got our house clean for the first time in October and OMG it was fabulous! I can’t wait until she comes back next month. Our house cleaner has monthly and quarterly contracts. It’s definitely affordable.
I love this, Anitra! Thank you for mentioning that it’s affordable at the monthly rate. We get it stuck in our head that getting help with our home is for “rich folks.” We have to push past that.