Cleaning Lady or not?

I go to school part-time. I also take care of my 5yo son who has PDD-NOS (an autism spectrum disorder.) I take to doctor's appointment about two days a week on public transportation.



When I get home all I can do is cook and tidy the bathroom. When I ask my DH to wash dishes he gets upset. I brought up the cleaning lady yesterday and he told me it was too expensive. But the house is getting messier and messier by the day and DH expects me to clean as if I stay at home.



Should I get a cleaning lady? If so, how many times/week?

Thanks.Cleaning Lady or not?
I wouldn't. Cleaning ladies clean- as in dust, wash windows, carpet/floor cleaning, bathroom etc. They generally don't go around picking up the laundry, putting away toys, filing papers, etc. When people say messy house they usually mean cluttered as opposed to dirty. I think you would be better suited to just work some more cleaning into each day. Plus, if there is no extra money, you wouldn't want to have to work 1- 2 days a week outside the home just for a cleaning lady, right?? (I am assuming about $100 for the cleaning lady)



Your day sounds like its got a decent amount of structure and predictability, which is great! A job like house cleaning tends to expand to fill the time frame allotted (like if your mother in law was going to show up in 1 hour, a lot would get done, but for me, I have a week to clean the extra room out to get painting done, but have I worked on it... erm, not so much)



So, my advice would be to sit down with a nice cup of tea, or coffee, or whatever, and start writing down every single thing that drives you up the wall about your house. Then take another piece, and write down your top 3 annoyances (people are not allowed lol). Work on those three this week.



Do you have a washer/dryer in your house? If you do, start a load of laundry every morning, switch to the dryer when you get home, then fold and put away after dinner/just before bed. A family of three generally has 3-4 regular loads of laundry, plus sheets on each bed, and 1-2 "extras" (blankets, pillows, bath mats, etc) If you do one each day, its easier to keep up.



Get yourself to a dollar store. Pick up 6 or 7 baskets and a couple of dish pans. Use the baskets to create a "morning basket", "afternoon" and "evening". Since your son has the PDD, I am guessing he probably has meds that need to be taken. Toss a weeks worth into those little "days of the week" boxes, and put in the baskets.



The dish pans actually make doing dishes a lot easier for me. I keep one under the sink, and I rinse dishes then put them in there. The other one I actually fill up with hot soapy water as I'm starting dinner, and after a quick rinse, everything goes in there. I also use dish pans to run around the house quickly and gather stray plates and such.



Ok, so you've got the stuff... now the plan. Set a kitchen timer for 15 minutes when you get home from school/dr etc, and work on one room. Then, when it goes off... STOP!! Relax and enjoy your son!! Then do it again after he goes to bed.



Also, try getting dinner started before you leave for the day. Crock pots are great!! I also have 3 different "fall back meals" as in jarred spaghetti sauce and tortelinis, hot dogs and beans with frozen corn on the cob, and frozen pizzas. The goal here is to get in and out of the kitchen as quickly as possible, without having to call the pizza guy.
Most people I know get it cleaned once a week and it only costs $65-$85 per cleaning depending on # of bed %26amp; baths. They don't do windows! But they clean all the bathrooms %26amp; kitchen, clean all the floors, dust the furniture, change the bed sheets and towels, and take out the trash.Cleaning Lady or not?
I used to have a cleaning lady and it was wonderful but now I have one day off in the middle of the week and don't have the second job so I do the work myself. The thing is you still have to pick up the clutter - or at least I did to keep the costs down. The best thing I did was I took a huge basket (kind of like a laundry basket) and I picked up all the clutter and put it in the basket. My husband and kids had to go to the basement and go through the big basket to find the stuff that they left out. The cleaning lady then vacumed, dusted and cleaned the bathrooms... it was heaven to come home to a super clean house! (almost worth having a second job for) P.S. There is an old book called "Sex begins in the kitchen". It is a great book for husband and wives to read. It makes men understand how their behavior and not helping around the house hurts their relationship. I highly recommend it. It will give you some insight on why your D.H. doesn't help and how to handle it.
It sounds like you and Dh need some couples counseling.

He needs to work on hearing you and doing his share of the work in this family.



Good luck.Cleaning Lady or not?
WHOEVER LIVES in the house SHOULD contribute to the cleaning.....especially your DH.



If he doesn't want to.....then he should respect and care enough for you and your son to pitch in for half the cost of a cleaning person(s).



The Maids...a cleaning company nationwide is best and cheapest.
AAww.. im so srry your son has autism. i completely know what your going through, my younger brother was born with it and have been babysiting him since i was little and plus being the cleaning lady for my parents. But if you rather have someone else clean your house i hope you so this so you can spend more time with your family and child.I personally would perfer you to do it only if you can offer to pay weekly to the maids. The price range can go from $65-$100 (weekly) depending what you want them to do, normally they get exspensive when you want them to do extra stuff like shampooing the carpets, moping, doing dishes etc. Also if you have a small apartment or dont have alot of bathrooms then it will be around $45.00 a week (normally) but i suggest you get out your yellow pages and search in there call around to different maid services to see and get a quote from them before you decide if you really want to do it or not.



But personally to save yourself money, your husband/boyfriend should be helping you around the house and support you too. it's not just one sided, i dont know your story but to keep your house organzied and cleaned on a redular basis is doing stuff daily (small cleaning) on a regular basis to keep your house from getting cluttered. I take about an hour to clean the small things, importnant things and then i write down what im going to do the next day etc. same way when i go shoppping..it really does help out, because at the end of the week (weekend) i look around and see during the week i did everything i wanted to and it ables me to relax on weekends. I hope my advise can help you and if you still want a cleaning lady then look through the yellow pages.





Hoped i helped you out,



oxoxoxoxo



~sweetheart kisses!