Hey so I need some advice, both my hubby and myself work full time (he works 4 10's, and I work the typical 5 day work week) I'm up at 5 get dressed dress my son take him to day care drive an hr to work put in my 8hrs there and then drive an hr home, try to go to the gym, pick up my son from daycare, cook dinner, get my son ready for bed put him down at 8 and then try to pick up a bit but at that point I am ready to crash! So my house looks like a disaster during the week and Saturday I clean with "help" from the hubby, and I use the term help losely I clean 4 rooms in the time my hubby barely cleans the livingroom which is not a huge room, its the easiest to clean! I am sure this is a comon issue at least I hope it is haha...

Well I told my hubby yesterday either I need help around the house or I am hiring a maid, and he got all defensive about his "help" or lack there of around the house. He said we are not rich so we don't need a maid. My whole outlook is I am going back to school at the end of August and then there will be no hope of my house ever being clean.

So what does everyone think? Does anyone have a housekeeper? How often do you have them come? Is it worth it?

It is so worth it! I have a service come every other week to do the major cleaning so all I have to do is maintenance in between. We started with the service when I was 8 months pregnant and the size of a house. It is so helpful to be able to relax on the weekends after working so hard all week, instead of spending a whole day cleaning.
Unfortunately, we just gave our service notice as we are trying to save some money. I am very sad to let them go but you do what you have to. If you can afford it, it is more than worth the money and peace of mind.

We have somebody come in every other week and we try to keep things picked up in between. My favorite day is when I come home & she's been there. Everything cleaned, dusted & vacuumed - it smells so good. I work full time & hubby usually works overtime and sometimes from home (he's on-call tech support) so I don't get much help from him. We pay $60 per visit for our little 2-bedroom house and it is well worth my sanity. We are cleaner because we know she's coming so we need to have things up off the floor so she can vacuum. We are still unpacking (after 3 months) so she knows to ignore the clutter and just stacks things up & cleans under & around them. I HIGHLY recommend having somebody help out. Good luck to you.

A good sistah girlfriend of mine told me years ago that getting a housekeeper is money well spent. In fact, she said that she would cut back in other areas (i.e., manicures and trips to the hair salon) if needed in order to keep her housekeeper. Since I do not consider myself rich, I never thought that I could afford it. When my career counselor told me to, "Contract out as much as possible", I decided to do the research and hire someone to help out and I am glad that I did. I have used house cleaning services for about 6 years, and they clean our 4 bedroom house once every 2 weeks for $110 a visit (It would costs less if they came more. You can also save money by using a "independent" house keeper). It takes the team of 2 about 3 hours, but it would take me all day. I would rather spent my free time with my family and friends instead of cleaning house. My husband offered resistance initially, so I put it to him this way -"Either you help out more, or I get a housekeeper." Since he travels alot for business, he could not commit to consistently helping out, so there you go! Now, my husband even looks forward to coming home to a clean house. My kids even notice the difference, so everyone is happy.

It's worth every penny! We have a cleaning service come in once a month. They do the floors, the rugs, the kitchen, the bathrooms...all the grimy cleaning I can't stand. Since they handle the Big Clean, I have time to keep up with the straightening. And the rabbit's litter boxes. And cooking the meals...I'd better stop there.

I think it is worth every penny and that you should do it.

We are not rich either, and we don't have someone who does "everything," but our cleaning person comes in every other week and does the basics - vacuums, cleans bathrooms, cleans kitchen floor (on her hands and knees - which I totally don't have time to do), dusts the basics, etc...

We live in the upper midwest and pay just under $60 for each visit.

We've talked about dropping this "extra," due to the economy squishing us, but so far we haven't done it. We'll keep her as long as we can, as the Hubby has already told me what he won't do around the house (and he is all for keep her for as long as we are able, since he hates how grumpy I get when I clean).