s/o s/o working moms - how much help do you hire?

[basil]

We have a house cleaning service that comes every 2 weeks...and landscapers that do the yard in the summer.

My major problem with keeping a nice house, though, is clutter and laundry. The housekeepers push my clutter into a pile to clean around it, but that makes it even harder for me to go through it. So my house is clean but messy all the time!

Similarly, I have a mental block against putting the laundry away. Somehow it just never ever gets done. So I'm always running around looking for stuff in the pile on top of the washing machine or the guest bed, etc.

I'm thinking we need a weekly or twice weekly person to come help with laundry and organizing. If stuff were organized, I think I'd be so much better off! We have looked for this person and had so much trouble finding them though. We have had housekeepers who stole from us, who refused to fill out the W4 so we could pay their SS taxes, who didn't actually clean stuff they said they did, etc.

How often do you have help with housework? How much would you like? Where do you find people who will reliably and honestly do this sort of work?

[meggie t]

One option is to hire an organizer to do the initial organizing and then hire weekly housekeeper/cleaner to maintain. Getting a system in place first is important. That's going to involve you as well, so you can work with the organizer to help them figure out what works best for you.

I have hired organizers in two different homes and it is well worth the time and money. It really is life changing if you maintain the system. As you probably know, some organizers are better than others so interview and ask friends for referrals.

[AnnieW625]

We used to have a house cleaner that came 2-3 x a month, but we had to let her go for the time being, but she was costing is about $255 a month ($85 per visit) and while we loved having her we figured we could use the $255 in better ways, like saving.

I occasionally have to hire a sitter to watch my kids so I can go to a junior league or school meeting if my DH is out of town. That costs about $30 an evening if I hire a sitter from 6 to 9, and provide take out for my kids, and the sitter. I lucked out and my high school sitter's mom won't let me pay her more than $8 an hour, and we have a great Little Caesar's Pizza near us with $5 pizzas. If the meeting is at school then the school provides care at $5 per kid, and we will usually have take out that night as well, so I spend about $20.

DH does the bulk of the yard work, and I will pitch in if needed. We wash our own cars and thankfully can limit dry cleaning to about once every two months.

I still prefer to cook weeknight meals at home vs. going out even if it something quick like Mac n cheese, sandwiches, or pancakes/waffles and bacon or eggs.

Eta: my worst habit right now is not putting the laundry away. My life would be easier with a nice large closet where I can hang everything.

[khalloc]

I dont have any help, apart from a teenage babysitter who might come 1 night a month and babysit while DH and I go to dinner.

I do my own laundry, clean the house, take care of kids when school isnt in session. DH does his own laundry (trained him to do his own early on). He does alot of housework himself too.

I'd love to have a housekeeper come in once a week and do the things that dont always get done (dusting, cleaning walls, baseboards, windows) but its just not in the cards for me right now. Maybe later this year.

DH would never hire someone to do the lawn. he does all that himself. I guess it was just the way both of us were raised. He doesnt hire anyone to do anything. I take that back, he did finally hire someone to cut down 3 huge oak trees last fall, but originally he wanted to do it himself and I convinced him not too. LOL

[pastrygirl]

We have a cleaner that comes every two weeks. She works around clutter, so I have to make sure to clear the floors as much as possible. Desk and counter tops are another story! I clear the island, but every other flat surface is piled high with junk. Our formal dining room is a disaster. We clean it out every couple of months when my in-laws visit, but I'd love to just not get it messy in the first place. I'm guessing my husband views it as "my" job, but I view it as "his" stuff... so it never gets cleaned when it's small enough to manage.

The closets need to be cleaned/organized. We have at least three that are full of junk. I love the idea of an organizer. I'm pretty good at staying organized; I'm just not good at organizing years' worth of junk and piles. I don't even see it anymore.

Laundry... I do every person's laundry separately, once or twice a week. I often let the baskets stay full for a week or two until the kids run out of clothes in their room. I try not to, but I also have that block!! I try to fold/sort their laundry and then they are in charge of putting it all away. During the summer, I was 100% on top of this, and we had laundry days twice a week. Now I remember to ask them once or twice a month. I let my husband put his own laundry away, though he rarely does it. He just dresses out of his basket. Our laundry is in our closet, so it's not a big hassle to wash and put into baskets. You'd think I could just reach across the hallway to hang up his stuff, but nope. I can't seem to manage it! I'd love to have someone else come in and do laundry, though I don't think we'll ever pay for it.

ETA:
My husband does all the snow removal, which can take 2-6 hours depending on the storm. We can't hire it out because no one ever does a good enough job, and we are screwed if the snow isn't completely cleared.

My husband usually mows/clears leaves, and it takes 2 hours/week. He's planning to hire it out this year.

What I'd really like is a chauffer!! Someone to drive one kid to an activity while another kid has something else, etc.

[wellyes]

Putting laundry away is a bear. I know so many families who struggle with it. It's not just you.

[echoesofspring]

We have housecleaners who come every other week. It's a splurge but it's worth it for our sanity, and I figure I can make much more $ in the time they are here than I pay them. I do really work to use their visit as an opportunity to get a handle on the clutter and it's discouraging how much time I spend putting things away. Dh does a little bit but nothing like I do. We always resolve to 'clean as we go' after they are here, but it inevitably slides. Hopefully when the kids are a little bit older things will be better.

Laundry is a bear and I've actually considered that if I ended up at a demanding job I may look for a mommy's helper, etc. to help with it and food prep, etc. There was a comment in on of the other threads were someone said they'd rather be doing (career) work than house work and it was a bit of an epiphany for me. Right now I try to do load of laundry a day and the once a week I watch a show and fold, fold, fold. Then maybe it gets put away. Sad that I consider that my 'me time' but I really do kind of treasure it as an excuse to watch tv.

[Philly Mom]

We have a house cleaner come once a week (sometimes we pay extra to have her fold laundry) and a yard person come weekly from spring-fall including a spring and fall clean up. During the winter, if there is more than a couple of inches of snow, I also have someone plow our driveway. It is very long and a hill. This morning I shoveled an inch of slush before work. DH is traveling. It took me 30 minutes and I had to leave the kids alone inside. Luckily DD2 was still in her crib. I would LOVE to have the resources to pay someone to do our laundry at least once maybe twice a week. Instead, we use that money to pay for extra help for me when DH is traveling. We often have piles of laundry but DH is pretty good about putting his mind to it and folding everything. Of course, then I have to put my clothes away. Ughh

[Mikey0709]

RIght there with you Khalloc - -

I wish we had some help, or could afford to hire some. My husband and I both work full time - - he also puts in hours of overtime.

No help :(

I think I do laundry every day of my life... and I kinda dread when it's time to start maintaining the lawn for the season - cause that takes a few hours a week from my husband.

I wonder if i'm the majority or the minority????

[gatorsmom]

Well, I'm not technically a working mom but I volunteer at school and the nonprofit of which I'm on the Board of Directors. AND my DH travels 50% of his time. I say get as much help as you can. It can take years and trial and error to find the right people to help you but it is so worth it. I always check references. I usually insist on 3 references from previous employers. It has saved me from hiring the wrong person several times. Also, I ask around for personal recommendations and suggestions. We found all of our help now from networking.

Until 6 months ago, I had a college student help me with my laundry. She was working part time as a nanny for my old nanny who told me about her. She was fantastic. I washed the laundry for her and then she would come one day a week and sort, fold, hang and put away our laundry. It took her 2 hours. Sometimes she did other things around the house. Now that work is done by me and my 2 oldest boys on Sunday evenings. But I miss her!

Our old landlord is a trained chef that started his own food- related business. He is close to retiring and selling his company but offered to make dinners for us for the week. He does the planning, shopping and makes the food and we pick it up twice a week. I still have to shop for the kids' lunch foods, breakfast and snacks for our family but I can grab that stuff at Target. We tried a couple of meal delivery services and it didn't work for us. Instead I can focus on relaxing with my kids when they come home from school. And I have time now to keep my house organized.


I also have a housekeeper who comes each week to clean. She does a different floor each week.


In the winter we made a deal with our neighbor. He can use our plowtruck to clear snow for his church's parking lot as long as he also plows our driveway. This helps because DH travels so much. It's already hard enough getting the kids out the door for school on my own, but add in having to clear snow (off our 1/4 mile long driveway) and I'd never make it.

I say farm out as much as you can. It gives someone else an income and takes stress off mom and dad which is great for the family. jmho

[hillview]

housekeeper 3 times a week (:bag) she does laundry too
dog walker every day
nanny/babysitter who is a better housekeeper than kid minder every day (she does whatever laundry and dishes are not done)

ETA we redid our closets and I purge often so clutter is less of an issue -- paid off big time

[HonoluluMom]

I would love to hire someone to help with housework, but I can't afford it. So, I do everything. :(

I try not to let things sit or else the mess will just overwhelm me.

[TxCat]

Weekly housekeeper who was a referral from our nanny and is amazing. She finds projects that I haven't even thought of.

Full-time nanny. She also does the girls' laundry, folds all the laundry (I do mine and DH's and sometimes the girls', and leave it in the guest room to be folded). DH and I each put away our own laundry and the nanny puts away the girls' laundry. She also does light housekeeping and organizing.

Twice monthly yard work - mowing grass, cleaning up leaves, clearing walkways and driveway.

We found everyone via word of mouth.

[squimp]

I dont have any help, apart from a teenage babysitter who might come 1 night a month and babysit while DH and I go to dinner.

I do my own laundry, clean the house, take care of kids when school isnt in session. DH does his own laundry (trained him to do his own early on). He does alot of housework himself too.

I'd love to have a housekeeper come in once a week and do the things that dont always get done (dusting, cleaning walls, baseboards, windows) but its just not in the cards for me right now. Maybe later this year.

DH would never hire someone to do the lawn. he does all that himself. I guess it was just the way both of us were raised. He doesnt hire anyone to do anything. I take that back, he did finally hire someone to cut down 3 huge oak trees last fall, but originally he wanted to do it himself and I convinced him not too. LOL

We have this problem, too. I think it means we are fundamentally thrifty, which has been a good plan to date. Mentally, we are still in grad student mode. But it does affect quality of life where you have to spend big chunks of the weekend cleaning the house, mowing the yard, pruning, weeding, etc. I am trying to let go, but it is hard.

[boolady]

We have a cleaning lady who comes once every other week. That's it. DH enjoys doing the yard work/gardening, and our yard is quite small, and we are just in the habit of throwing in a load of laundry as soon as we walk in the door from work several nights per week. When I get home with DD, and go upstairs to change out of my work clothes, I bring a basket of dirty laundry down with me and start it immediately. It washes and dries or gets hung on a drying rack while we eat/do homework/DD showers/etc. We tend to fold it as soon as it comes out of the dryer, and DH is really good about putting his and DD's things away almost immediately. Sometimes, if we go to bed before the dryer is done, we fold it and put it away the next night.

Hillview mentioned purging, and I can't tell you the difference not having clutter has made to us. We have gotten pretty good at quickly reviewing mail to keep/recycle/shred the night it comes in, and at having a "home" for things in our house. Every morning, on his way to his car, DH takes any recyclables from the previous 24 hours out to the garage. The night before the cleaners come every other week, I go through any magazines and catalogs that may have accumulated on my nightstand or elsewhere, and we give the mail/bills pile an extra go-through and shred/recycle anything we've missed. We don't tend to hold onto lots of DD's routine schoolwork, and the things we do want to save go into a huge schoolwork portfolio we keep on our third floor. DH is actually quite neat, but has a tendency to stash things in an "out of sight, out of mind" kind of way that makes them impossible to find, so having a place for everything has reduced this, as well. It is very tough to be on top of everything, but I think being as organized as possible makes it less overwhelming.

[StantonHyde]

Housekeeper weekly. This really keeps the piles in check for me. I have to pick up stuff once a week. I used to have someone who did my laundry--she used to work at our daycare and she babysat for us. She was looking for extra money, so I paid her $10 an hour to fold and put away and iron. I would gladly pay 15 an hour! It used to cost about $40 every 2 weeks. My kids are now 9 and 12, so they fold and put away their own laundry. I use the term "fold" very loosely here. I have shown them how but they don't want to. At some point, having wrinkly clothes will be a problem to them. Until then, they can figure it out! (I do fold their shirts for them) DH does the lawn, but its not that big a deal--we just have grass in the back yard. And we both do snow removal. Some years, that's a lot and some years it is next to nothing. We live in a very snowy area and have a snow blower. It is actually faster to do it ourselves than to wait on a service that takes forever! It just wasn't worth it. I wish we would go back to the lawn service, though. Our lawn looks awful with DH taking care of it! (and I don't know squat about grass-flowers yes, grass-nope)

[twotimesblue]

I have a weekly housekeeper who I couldn't live without. She does the laundry, folds and puts it away in mine, DH and the kids' respective closets. She cleans the fridge and occasionally even organizes my pantry. DS1 rushes home from preschool and spends all afternoon helping her (she is so great with kids). My floors are sparkling after her visit. I pay her more than she asks for, make her lunch every week (if I am WOHM I will leave something) and she is always first in line for any gifts DH brings home from work - wine, hampers etc. I would go without a lot of things before letting her go. I never want to lose her!

[daisysmom]

We have a housekeeper that comes once or twice a week, depending on how things are. She is super expensive, but I honestly have never known how to clean well and we often have people from my husband's office or through volunteer work over to our house and I depend on our housekeeper so much. She will do laundry, but her rate is $35 an hour regardless of what she is doing and in my mind that is too expensive to fold our laundry, so I tend to hire a college age woman who baby sits for us occasionally to run errands for us and fold laundry (I pay her babysitting rate which is $16 an hour). I wash a load of laundry every night so she folds every 3-4 days or so.

As far as organizing... our former nanny decided to become a professional organizer after she was our nanny, which made me laugh because I would have loved to known that she had many organizing skills while she worked for us for 40+ hours a week for 3 years. I have honestly never found anyone to help me organize well - but I tend to do it on my own once or twice a season, to some avail.

We have a babysitter come at least once a week and most of the time twice for work dinners or charity related stuff.

And we have a lawn service who mows (twice a week during the growing season), leaves, bush trimming, etc. Frankly I loved doing yard work ourselves but my DH is rarely home when it is light out and the weekends are generally pretty busy with sports and trips.

I can understand the different philosophies on hiring out household things - my mother never had a housecleaner and my father has always done all the yard work. But we prioritize different things than they did, and this is just how it is. Not judging, but we couldn't make it work otherwise.

[basil]

I'm so jealous those who have awesome cleaning people! Where do you find them??? I am honestly not that picky, since I'm an awful housekeeper myself. Maybe we just have bad luck. We've tried care.com, word of mouth, friend of friend, etc.

The people who clean for the service do a really good job cleaning, but don't straighten and organize.

[boolady]

Our cleaning people don't straighten and organize, though we don't leave things out for them to straighten and organize, so they might. I wouldn't really want our cleaners trying to organize our mail or personal papers. I think you have to get your stuff how you want it, to a large extent, and then between you and them, make that your new status quo that you try to maintain.

ETA: If you're going to put your house up for sale, you can take the opportunity to purge then, and the benefits will definitely carry over once you've moved. I am not a "stuff" person, but DH and DD are, and we got rid of so much stuff either by donation or garbage when we decluttered to list our house for sale. It was great.

[JElaineB]

No, I have no help with housework. My house is a cluttered wreck. I do what I can, but cleaning all weekend is a drag (on top of laundry, grocery shopping, paying bills, cooking and cleaning kitchen, etc.). I have broached the idea of getting a cleaning service with DH a few times but each time it boils down to him saying that I am simply lazy and neither of our mothers ever had a cleaning service (never mind that they didn't work full-time when either of us were growing up). So the house stays messy, pretty much.

[basil]

Our cleaning people don't straighten and organize, though we don't leave things out for them to straighten and organize, so they might. I wouldn't really want our cleaners trying to organize our mail or personal papers. I think you have to get your stuff how you want it, to a large extent, and then between you and them, make that your new status quo that you try to maintain.

ETA: If you're going to put your house up for sale, you can take the opportunity to purge then, and the benefits will definitely carry over once you've moved. I am not a "stuff" person, but DH and DD are, and we got rid of so much stuff either by donation or garbage when we decluttered to list our house for sale. It was great.

I really wish I were or could be this person, boolady! (I don't want them to organize our personal papers either, but our pantry would be good!) When I was in HS, my mom and I used to fight horribly about my room and the mess I made everywhere. She would threaten that I was going to grow up to be a delinquent since I never learned how to take care of myself. I would tell her I was going to be successful enough to hire someone to do it for me. I'm just trying to make good on that.

Anyway, I'm just trying to say, I've tried, and I always fail after long enough. It doesn't help that I married a man who is as much of a mess as I am, so even if I did happen to change my stripes I'd just be fighting a losing battle with his stuff as well. I think I really just need help. Repeatedly thinking I can or should do things and then not getting them done is not really pleasant for me.

[boolady]

I really wish I were or could be this person, boolady! (I don't want them to organize our personal papers either, but our pantry would be good!) When I was in HS, my mom and I used to fight horribly about my room and the mess I made everywhere. She would threaten that I was going to grow up to be a delinquent since I never learned how to take care of myself. I would tell her I was going to be successful enough to hire someone to do it for me. I'm just trying to make good on that.

Anyway, I'm just trying to say, I've tried, and I always fail after long enough. It doesn't help that I married a man who is as much of a mess as I am, so even if I did happen to change my stripes I'd just be fighting a losing battle with his stuff as well. I think I really just need help. Repeatedly thinking I can or should do things and then not getting them done is not really pleasant for me.

Then try to pay someone to get you there, then work on maintaining. I was a very messy teenager and no neat freak when I was single, believe me. DH and I happen to have different approaches to things, so this is the hybrid we've come up with. He would shove everything in a drawer to make it disappear, and I would leave it out for two weeks, but put it away where it belongs. So we've kind of met in the middle. He is definitely a good influence on me, but it's just so much easier once there isn't stuff everywhere, always. You're going to have to get rid of a lot of stuff and de-clutter to move, so maybe your realtor can recommend someone?

[basil]

Then try to pay someone to get you there, then work on maintaining. I was a very messy teenager and no neat freak when I was single, believe me. DH and I happen to have different approaches to things, so this is the hybrid we've come up with. He would shove everything in a drawer to make it disappear, and I would leave it out for two weeks, but put it away where it belongs. So we've kind of met in the middle. He is definitely a good influence on me, but it's just so much easier once there isn't stuff everywhere, always. You're going to have to get rid of a lot of stuff and de-clutter to move, so maybe your realtor can recommend someone?

Yeah, both DH and I are leave it out type of people...it's actually not quantity of stuff that's the problem. I mean everyone can stand to make a run or two to the salvation army or whatever - but we have empty closets and stuff all over :bag

That's a good idea to check with our agent though.

[gymnbomb]

[QUOTE=Mikey0709;4091832]RIght there with you Khalloc - -

I wish we had some help, or could afford to hire some. My husband and I both work full time - - he also puts in hours of overtime.

No help :(

I think I do laundry every day of my life... and I kinda dread when it's time to start maintaining the lawn for the season - cause that takes a few hours a week from my husband.

I wonder if i'm the majority or the minority????[/QUOTE

DH and I both work full time and don't have any help. I would love to have someone come do a bit of cleaning (floors and bathrooms mostly) a couple of times a month, but it is not in the budget. Well, I guess it could be if we decided to give up saving $ and taking vacations, but I am not willing to do those things. Also I am not sure if DH would go for it because he doesn't like the idea of other people being in our house while we are gone.

I actually don't mind doing laundry, though the putting it away part is definitely my least favorite. It does sometimes sit around in the basket for a while after it is dry. But I would choose laundry over washing dishes just about any day.

Fortunately DH doesn't usually have to work overtime so most days he gets home before I do and cooks dinner.

[arivecchi]

Cleaning crew every other week
A company does our yard work, spring and fall cleanups and snow plowing
Dog sitters/walkers

[AnnieW625]

........Dog walkers
We do hire a dog walker when DH goes out of town especially in the winter or hot summer months.

[Kindra178]

Part time nanny
cleaning lady once a week
dog daycare/walkers
mowing the lawn

We do our own shoveling, which is not a small feat.

[bnme]

Nothing more then a college age babysitter occasionally. We use her to cover late days at work for me and sometimes on days off from school. We pay her $15/hr. We used to need daily morning care, but starting this year the kids get on the bus at 7:30 so DH gets them on. I work part-time to be home in time to get them off the bus.

DH does all yard work, snow removal, pool maintenance, and most fix-it type jobs around the house. We could swing a weekly landscaper (and wish he would, it takes too much time), but wouldn't pay for anything else as it would cut into our limited vacation budget. I would love to farm more out to free up time, but it is not financially in the cards for us. I think our income would have to be about $200k before I would feel it was worth it to spend on these things. I am fortunate to work part-time (and make decent money doing so). If I went fulltime at my current job I still couldn't afford it, and that's primarily why I cut my hours. I really feel for the people making less who are working 40+ hours a week and have no option for these things which really seem like a necessity to so many.

[mom2binsd]

I wish.. I'm a single mom and work goofy hours, but pretty much full time, although I work weekends sometimes.. I do everything, I have a huge yard that takes 2 hours each week all summer but I think of it as exercise.. My kids help a bit but I just try to do a but at a time and don't sweat it if my house isn't perfect, but it's usually pretty tidy. If I had the money if hire a house cleaner, but then I'd have to give up wine...

[hellokitty]

Hmm, we use a home daycare during the school yr, on an per diem basis. My kids need before school care 2-3x a wk and full time care during long school breaks. During the summer we use the same provider for full time childcare. That is about it. I am really close to hiringa house cleaner, but dh isn't, and says he will pick up the slack (I was a sahm and returned to work 8 mo ago), so we are still in the assessment period, I would not be surprised if we end up hiring out for something else. Esp if dh's work gets busier, right now he helps a LOT with the kids.

[carolinacool]

Ugh. I would love a house cleaner, but we can't afford it. In fact, the vast majority of our friends are dual-income families with no help, but admittedly our incomes/jobs are more modest than the BBB norm. We do have a guy who mows our lawn for $15 each week spring through fall. Some of our friends tease us and call us the Richie Riches. LOL

So the outside looks good, the inside not so much. But I hate cleaning on the weekends. Blech.

[sunnyside]

I'm not working right now, but am 9.5 months pregnant. I normally have a housekeeper ever other week, who also straightens up and deals with toys etc. I just hired a new every other week yard person.

I would love a laundry person, but my 4yo is getting really good at doing hers, so it's getting a little easier. I have a vacation rental that I also clean and do laundry for, and am hoping to find someone who can help with that, and a bit more cleaning in my house.

[HannaAddict]

Housekeepers twice a week, yard person weekly or bi-weekly depending on season, f/t nanny that helps with household laundr (washing and folding but not putting it away), and our nanny likes cooking way more than tidying up (first nanny was immaculate and organized things on her own excellently but barely made Mac and cheese for kids). Our nanny now is a foodie and has food handlers/caterers license and works with one on weekend so makes really good homemade meals and salads. It is really nice. I do tons of driving and pick up drop off so having real meals has been fantastic. She isn't very neat (but is when cooking) or inclined to tidy up unless asked explicitly but she is easy to have around and flexible and good with the kids. We are sooooo lucky to have help, it has been a slow process and services creeping up. Still spend hours it seems every night getting kitchen and family room back to square one for the next day and laundry never stops! Very lucky compared to my mom who did it all on her own without money or help my husband loads dishwashers every night without me asking or prompting and is generally helpful too. I appreciate it! Like Lisa, I'm on boards, development committees and also serve as an arbitrator and pro tem on occasion, but don't report to an office every day and with my husband's demanding job, I couldn't also be a lawyer at the level I was or have to report to any kind of regular hours at all or we would all have major changes in the way things work.

[niccig]

We have a weekly gardner as have a very large garden. DH and I get out there too and do things. We don't have a house cleaner anymore. I'm working a full-time internship + study. I'll graduate in May and we may start a house cleaner again. DH and DS have had to do more. DS knows how to do his laundry, wash the towels and change the sheets on the bed. These are skills he needs to learn, so I may aruge for no house cleaner. We'll have to see what job I end up getting. A friend complains her kids don't know how to do anything around the house as someone gets paid to do it. Her kids will even say the cleaner can do something when they get asked to clean up. I grew up helping out all the time, so I do expect DS to help clean the house and do yardwork.

[alexsmommy]

I'm laughing as I read this. I'm sitting here sipping coffee listening for when the dryer stops so I can switch laundry over in the hopes I can have two more loads done before our nanny comes. I learned long ago to make folding the laundry a part of the nanny's job duties. I HATE folding and putting away laundry. So she does that weekly, though we put it away (in theory). We just started back to having cleaners come every other week again. We cut it out to save the money, but as the kids have gotten older and busier, the times I would use to clean are being eaten up with taking them to various activities on my days "off" (ha.) Also, like others have mentioned, if the house is cluttered, they just work around it and that forces me to declutter at least every other week. The house overall just stays far more manageable when we have housecleaners. I'd love to get it to once a month, but that doesn't seem to work as well.
We also have landscapers who to a spring and fall clean-up of our yard and will cut the lawn as needed. We probably use them every-other time that the lawn needs cutting as they do a great job edging too.

[egoldber]

We have a housecleaner who comes every other week. They clean and change sheets. No laundry or other services.

In the spring/summer, we have a yard service. DH has zero interest in moving the lawn. :) Plus he travels a fair amount.

My kids are too old for a nanny, but we always used group care. I did have a summer nanny last summer for 4 weeks, but all she did was watch the kids. No housework other than feeding them and cleaning up after them. The upside was I only paid $12 an hour.

I have learned to be more ruthless with stuff to prevent clutter. I try to prevent 99% of things from even coming in the door in the first place. DH is an "piler" and it drives me crazy.

As for laundry. Ugh. I also hate it. I don't mind doing it but the folding.... But you know what I do now? :o Everyone has their own laundry basket. Everyone does their own laundry (no mingling). It is up to each person whether or not to fold their own laundry. I fold mine, and usually no one else does. And you know what, I don't care. :) We don't have much that requires folding, and DH takes all his work dress shirts to the dry cleaners. If he wants to wear a wrinkly t-shirt, that's his business.

[rlu]

None. DH and I attempt to do it all, with DS's appropriate assistance, but he's much older than your kids.

As far as laundry specifically, I have found cutting down the amount of clothing we have has simplified the laundry (and getting ready in the morning). DS helps me with the laundry as well -sorting loads, moving from washer to dryer, checking dryer, sorting dried clothes and putting away his own. Age will influence how much the kids can help but the 3yo can be taught to help sort dirty into loads and dried clothes into appropriate piles. I was SO HAPPY when DS got tall enough to reach the dials on the dryer!

There are professional organizers - you can find more info through links on the orgjunkie website.

[citymama]

Cleaning crew once a month - would love to have them come twice a month but not in the budget

Our preschool does a kids' pizza and movie night once a month where they watch both kids for $50 and that's the extent of our babysitting. I am probably the only FT working mom BBBer who has never ever had a paid babysitter (and my oldest is 9!). We will be breaking this record in April and hire a babysitter for the first time so we can attend a music concert!

We just had a professional landscaper redesign our back and front yard and that was a big project. We will probably pay her to come prune our fruit trees once a year and maybe some maintenance, but otherwise, we will manage the gardening. We don't have a lawn, and we don't get any snow.

I do laundry several times a week, DH does the kitchen clean-up and dishwasher. The kids room and play room are a disaster but we keep the rest of our home pretty spare so it isn't that hard to clean. I wish I could hire more regular cleaning help to clean the bathrooms and deep-clean the kitchen more often.