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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Housekeeping Advice
snowborden1 07:38 PM 03-03-2011
So I have been having a really hard time keeping on top of my household cleaning. I have my husband, my older son who is 15, and my younger son who is 9. All of them are slobs and without me nagging they never clean up after themselves. I have stopped washing all laundry that never makes it out of the boys rooms. And then of course I have my dcb who are 11 months, 19 months, and 20 months. They are all too boys. It is especially hard to get to the back of my house because I have to be in the front of the house with the babies and when they nap they are in the back of the house and if I clean back there well... I will wake them.
So anyhow, My question is... do you think it is weird for a HOME daycare provider to hire a housekeeper for a couple hours a week? I am seriously considering it as I feel like my house is never clean these days and I used to be the biggest clean freak when I had the time and I didn't have a teenager with friends in and out. AHHHHHH!!!!!!
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pinkbunny85 07:46 PM 03-03-2011
I don't think its weird. but then again when I was a kid my guardian cleaned houses as a side job. 2 houses were in home daycares. just make sure you let the parents know if you hire someone and they'll be there when the kids are.
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ammama 08:02 PM 03-03-2011
I have a cleaner come in every 2nd week for 5-6 hours and do a deeper clean. Don't feel guilty.
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snowborden1 08:15 PM 03-03-2011
Thanks ladies! I think I will go ahead and get someone to help me out around here. My husband said whatever will help me out. So I guess I will stop feeling guilty and and just do it
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Kaddidle Care 03:22 AM 03-04-2011
If you can make enough money to hire a house cleaner GO FOR IT! I HATE housekeeping and yes, I have 2 boys and a husband too. We're outnumbered!

As far as the boys not at least bringing their laundry to the laundry bin, it's time to take back some TV/Video game time. They are both old enough to pick up after themselves and the 15 year old can start doing his own laundry if he can't manage to get it out of his room. You only need a couple of minutes for that one - OK son, since you can't manage to walk 10 steps to the laundry bin, here's how you do your laundry once you have nothing clean to wear.
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AfterSchoolMom 03:26 AM 03-04-2011
Originally Posted by Kaddidle Care:
If you can make enough money to hire a house cleaner GO FOR IT! I HATE housekeeping and yes, I have 2 boys and a husband too. We're outnumbered!

As far as the boys not at least bringing their laundry to the laundry bin, it's time to take back some TV/Video game time. They are both old enough to pick up after themselves and the 15 year old can start doing his own laundry if he can't manage to get it out of his room. You only need a couple of minutes for that one - OK son, since you can't manage to walk 10 steps to the laundry bin, here's how you do your laundry once you have nothing clean to wear.
Absolutely agreed. Mine are elementary schoolers, and they're learning how to do their own laundry!
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melskids 04:32 AM 03-04-2011
OMG! Do you live in my house? LOL My boys are 14 and 8. between them and my hubby, none of them lift a finger. i too, will no longer wash clothes that dont make it out of their rooms. i bought them new hampers, and spent a saturday teaching them how to do laundry. my younger one is really good about it, but the 14 year old....forget it. he hasnt done his laundry YET, and is wearing dirty clothes to school. i'm all about natural consequences, so when the girls start telling him he stinks, maybe he'll catch on. maybe.
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DBug 06:48 AM 03-04-2011
I love, love, LOVE my cleaning lady!! And I'm a neat freak too. It took me awhile to get used to the idea, but when I realized how much less stressful it is to have someone else scrubbing my toilets, it was alot easier . And my cleaning lady is a SAHM too, so it helps her out as well. She's here 2 hours a week, and it's worth every penny!!
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snowborden1 07:11 AM 03-04-2011
Originally Posted by Kaddidle Care:
If you can make enough money to hire a house cleaner GO FOR IT! I HATE housekeeping and yes, I have 2 boys and a husband too. We're outnumbered!

As far as the boys not at least bringing their laundry to the laundry bin, it's time to take back some TV/Video game time. They are both old enough to pick up after themselves and the 15 year old can start doing his own laundry if he can't manage to get it out of his room. You only need a couple of minutes for that one - OK son, since you can't manage to walk 10 steps to the laundry bin, here's how you do your laundry once you have nothing clean to wear.
I have free time tomorrow morning! We will be having a lesson in doing laundry
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snowborden1 07:14 AM 03-04-2011
Originally Posted by melskids:
OMG! Do you live in my house? LOL My boys are 14 and 8. between them and my hubby, none of them lift a finger. i too, will no longer wash clothes that dont make it out of their rooms. i bought them new hampers, and spent a saturday teaching them how to do laundry. my younger one is really good about it, but the 14 year old....forget it. he hasnt done his laundry YET, and is wearing dirty clothes to school. i'm all about natural consequences, so when the girls start telling him he stinks, maybe he'll catch on. maybe.
Do we live inthe same house???? Hahahaha!!!!
I can so see my older son wearing dirty clothes because he doesn't want to do to his laundry
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daycare 07:21 AM 03-04-2011
I have the same issue and I said guess what...since no one wnats to help kiss your allowance good bye.... I am using it to pay a cleaning lady...... What I didnt know was that the cleaning ladies here that are icensed are $75.00 an hour..... But I did find one that was a little cheaper and she comes every friday to do the stuff that i cant get to. like the oven, showers, major dusting, all the hard stuff.....

Now when my 15 and 13 want to have money I say opps sorry you should have been more willing to help out... You'll have to ask the cleaning lady for it back....lol yeah right like that is going to happen.
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emosks 07:38 AM 03-04-2011
I am a home DCP with a cleaning lady. I'm sorry...but I work 11+ hours a day with the children. Then I have my own children to tend to the next 2 hours before bedtime....the last thing I want to do is clean my house at 8:00 at night. Weekends are already spent doing laundry for my family of 5 and daycare things. There is nothing wrong with having some clean your house! Plus you can write it off.
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SunflowerMama 07:53 AM 03-04-2011
I have a housekeeper every other Saturday for 4 hours and I love it! And I'm really luck too b/c she only charges me $60 and we LOVE her! She gets all the stuff I hate to clean (bathrooms, floors, etc.) I keep everything else picked up during the week.

I also LOVE the fly lady and use quite a few of her techniques daily. I shine my sink each night and never walk downstairs in the morning without a handful of laundry and do that daily so it doesn't become an overwhelming task.

Here is the site.
http://www.flylady.net/
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mickey2 10:22 AM 03-04-2011
I have a cleaning lady who comes in 6 hours a week. Monday Wednesday and Friday from 4-6 pm. I could not do this without her.

She is also my backup should something come up or if I were to be sick or if I have appointments to attend. All of my parents know her and have known her for two years.
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daycare 10:24 AM 03-04-2011
Originally Posted by Children First:
I have a cleaning lady who comes in 6 hours a week. Monday Wednesday and Friday from 4-6 pm. I could not do this without her.

She is also my backup should something come up or if I were to be sick or if I have appointments to attend. All of my parents know her and have known her for two years.
One could only dream... do you mind If I ask what it cost to have someone to come in for that many hours??

I live in Northen Cali SF bay area and the going rate here is $75.00 per hour... so as you can see I cant afford more than 2 hours a week of help....
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mickey2 10:37 AM 03-04-2011
Originally Posted by daycare:
One could only dream... do you mind If I ask what it cost to have someone to come in for that many hours??

I live in Northen Cali SF bay area and the going rate here is $75.00 per hour... so as you can see I cant afford more than 2 hours a week of help....
I pay her $18 per hour which is at the high end. A lot of people do it for less. An agency would charge $50 per hour for 2 workers to come in.

It costs me about $125-$150 per week as at times she is a bit longer.

I really need her as we have a husky dog who loses hair like crazy! Like another poster said as well, starting at 6 and finishing at 5 30 6 each night does not leave time for me to clean.
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radhas 02:46 PM 03-04-2011
Yes, me too. I live San Jose, CA. I can't afford to have cleaner. Its too expensive.
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happykidschildcare 02:50 PM 03-04-2011
I have a cleaning lady come over every other week for deep cleaning.
Its $20 hr for 3 hrs...time I can spend with my fam on the weekend!
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snowborden1 06:17 PM 03-04-2011
Yay!!!! I found a lady that will come every other week for 3 hours for $15 hr!!! I am soooo excited!!!!
Thanks ladies for all your help! Oh, And I did just mine and my husbands laundry today I told the boys they have to do their own tomorrow! Hehehehehe!!!
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Abigail 07:19 PM 03-04-2011
I did housekeeping three days a week for a lady and was hired online through a web site. I was offered $11/hour and I took it. I love to clean....vacuuming is actually relaxing, I know, I'm weird!
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Candyland 07:57 PM 03-04-2011
Originally Posted by snowborden1:
Yay!!!! I found a lady that will come every other week for 3 hours for $15 hr!!! I am soooo excited!!!!
Thanks ladies for all your help! Oh, And I did just mine and my husbands laundry today I told the boys they have to do their own tomorrow! Hehehehehe!!!
That's fantastic!! And I'm super happy that you're going to teach your boys how to launder...which I think is very important for all kids to learn (and cook too!). Good for you!

Just a tip...don't expect too much, but don't underestimate them either. Go simple. It would really help if you had one of those tri laundry baskets. I have a set of 2 - one holds darks, lights & whites. The other holds uniforms, towels & rags. I also purchased one laundry basket for jeans. Make sure your boys (all of them ) put their dirty clothes in the appropriate baskets after showering. That'll make it so much easier for everyone. Then teach your older one how to do the jeans; and maybe the younger one how to do towels. Make it their "job" for the week and then add another, let's say, lights.
Remember, youre training your boys to be helpful husbands for their wives one day...and their wives will thank you too!
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snowborden1 09:40 AM 03-05-2011
Originally Posted by Candyland:
That's fantastic!! And I'm super happy that you're going to teach your boys how to launder...which I think is very important for all kids to learn (and cook too!). Good for you!

Just a tip...don't expect too much, but don't underestimate them either. Go simple. It would really help if you had one of those tri laundry baskets. I have a set of 2 - one holds darks, lights & whites. The other holds uniforms, towels & rags. I also purchased one laundry basket for jeans. Make sure your boys (all of them ) put their dirty clothes in the appropriate baskets after showering. That'll make it so much easier for everyone. Then teach your older one how to do the jeans; and maybe the younger one how to do towels. Make it their "job" for the week and then add another, let's say, lights.
Remember, youre training your boys to be helpful husbands for their wives one day...and their wives will thank you too!
I love the tri laundry basket idea! I am headed to target here pretty soon and will have to pick one up for their bathroom. Thanks
I love this forum! I wish I knew about a long time ago.
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GretasLittleFriends 05:30 PM 03-06-2011
Originally Posted by SunflowerMama:
I have a housekeeper every other Saturday for 4 hours and I love it! And I'm really luck too b/c she only charges me $60 and we LOVE her! She gets all the stuff I hate to clean (bathrooms, floors, etc.) I keep everything else picked up during the week.

I also LOVE the fly lady and use quite a few of her techniques daily. I shine my sink each night and never walk downstairs in the morning without a handful of laundry and do that daily so it doesn't become an overwhelming task.

Here is the site.
http://www.flylady.net/
I LOVE the fly lady too!! She's such a huge help. I love how she says just jump in, you don't need to catch up. I really wish I could honestly listen to that advice!

I would love to hire a cleaning lady, but just can't seem to justify it (or afford it right now). Do you leave when the cleaning people are there? I would feel very awkward having someone else clean my home. It would make me feel rather incompetent.

I have a husband who is gone for weeks on end (with work), a 15 yr old girl who is a huge help, but I feel I expect too much from her. My 6 yr old boy is great help when HE wants to be, but usually it's like trying to get teeth pulled. And my 10mo old daughter, well, she's great at making messes. The hubby is the neat freak, not so much me...
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treehugger82 06:16 PM 03-06-2011
Originally Posted by SunflowerMama:
I have a housekeeper every other Saturday for 4 hours and I love it! And I'm really luck too b/c she only charges me $60 and we LOVE her! She gets all the stuff I hate to clean (bathrooms, floors, etc.) I keep everything else picked up during the week.

I also LOVE the fly lady and use quite a few of her techniques daily. I shine my sink each night and never walk downstairs in the morning without a handful of laundry and do that daily so it doesn't become an overwhelming task.

Here is the site.
http://www.flylady.net/
Thank you for this link! I love it so far and have so much more to check out. This is just what I have been looking for
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Abigail 11:39 PM 03-06-2011
I had to teach my husband to do laundry before we got married.

We have three laundry baskets total and this is because it's how we learned it as children. I started doing my own laundry when I was in second or third grade, I was young that is all I remember. I use to be scared of falling into the washer and drowning! LOL....back when all our laundry soap was powder too, don't miss it at all!

We have a WHITES, DARKS, and TOWELS basket. Self-explanatory. The rule we use to forget to follow was EMPTY YOUR POCKETS!! I still forget a piece of gum and my husband forgets his work stuff in his pockets and pens...lots has been thrown away but luckily nothing has stained the washer/dryer.

As kids we had weekly chores posted and we earned so much per item we did. Garbage, dishes, laundry, make bed, etc. My parents found they were giving us $1+/day on average and between three kids they couldn't afford it. We grew up on food stamps. They soon change it to $2-$3/week depending on our age and we had to complete ALL of our chores for the entire week or we didn't see a dime.

Good luck and hope something works, you should be able to get around having a cleaning lady for your own family. You should feel great about having one for your daycare space 100% deductible and shouldn't cost too much to do deep cleaning for you or whatever you choose!
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DBug 06:30 AM 03-07-2011
For my kids (8 & 10) and for my husband, I've simplified the laundry process even more. No whites or lights -- they spill on them anyway, and I just do the linens and towels. They each have one basket for their clothes. When their basket is full, they just throw the whole thing in the washer. So far they don't fold since they all just shove the clothes in their dresser or hang them in their closet, but it's a start!

My mom actually taught me NOT to sort lights and darks . Since then I've learned the benefits of sorting, but the kids have lots of time to learn that!
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