Would you hire a maid?
We just did. Yes we did. We have finally paid our deposit for a Filipino maid and she will be arriving in about 2 weeks. We have been thinking about this decision for weeks and finally decided that we should just go for it. I have always protested against the idea because I dislike having a stranger at home, what if we got a cuckoo one? what if she is crazy? what if she's actually giving me more headaches (like those we always hear about) rather than helping me out? and most importantly will it be safe for my kids to be around a stranger?
We just did. Yes we did. We have finally paid our deposit for a Filipino maid and she will be arriving in about 2 weeks. We have been thinking about this decision for weeks and finally decided that we should just go for it. I have always protested against the idea because I dislike having a stranger at home, what if we got a cuckoo one? what if she is crazy? what if she's actually giving me more headaches (like those we always hear about) rather than helping me out? and most importantly will it be safe for my kids to be around a stranger?
Normally people would hire a maid to help with chores at home and to ease the burden of sending too many kids to the babysitter. For us, hiring a maid is actually more costly, something we are prepared to pay in hope of exchanging for quality life with the kids. I am starting to feel the toll on my body having to juggle housework and the kids and I fear to think if I will be able to cope when I need to be back at work in a couple of weeks. My work is no easy peasy stuff, it requires a lot of my attention (even weekends and after hours) and occasionally working late and I certainly do not want to be worried if papa will survive alone with the kids. An extra pair of hands during times like these is all we need. Also, I want to have quality life with my family, time to read to Hayley, time to play with Zac and time spent with papa instead of spending most of my time on folding clothes, washing dishes, sweeping the floor, changing the bedsheets etc.
Hopefully with a good maid, I will be able to free myself from the house chores and actually get to spend some quality time with my loved ones. As papa mostly work from home, he will be able to supervise the maid most of the time. We are also planning to install some CCTVs at home for a peace of mind as he does needs to be out occasionally. Hopefully these will be sufficient.
Even with a maid, Zac will still continue to be at aunty's. I do not trust a stranger with an infant. Call me kiasu, I am just being safe. As for Hayley, we will continue to send her to aunty's after school for a few months while we monitor the maid. We'll judge her performance in a few months and let our instinct tell us if we are comfortable to let her take care of Hayley. Hayley should be old enough by now (we hope) to tell us if the maid is being nasty to her.
With a maid and kids at babysitter's, it means we will need to squeeze our belts tighter each month. Come to think of it, our maid practically gets paid and doesn't have much to do :-). We're a small family with a small house and I'm not letting her touch my kids unless I am at work. Anyway, both papa and I agreed that if we get a good maid, we will enjoy her assistance for 2 years and then decide if we wish to renew her contract. If we didn't get a good one this time around or felt that we didn't like where things are going, we'll just scrap the idea and consider it as a lesson learnt (and have tremendous 'heart pain' for many days to come on the money wasted) and we shall try no more. Like my sister always said (she has an Indo maid by the way), 'You never try you never know. So just give it a try and see if this solution works better for you. Why suffer housework?'.
I really really hope that I will get a good one and I will know how to handle her and I won't treat her 'too' nice (our agent said that is a common mistake with all first time employers) and gave her the impression that she can take me for granted. I always tell myself that maids are humans too and they should be treated with respect. I don't even mind if she wants to sit on the dining table and have dinner with us together. My motto is 'If you treat me well, I will treat you well'.
So now I need to prep up a room for the maid which means more work for me until she arrives :-( and make some adjustments to our home. I am sure I will need a few days or weeks to adapt to having someone new at home with us 24 hours a day. If anyone has any good tips to share on how to be a good employer or how to make the best of your maid, please share :-)
9 comments:
I am keeping my fingers crossed too ..for you! I am totally in d same boat as you. And feel exactly what you are going thru. Kudos to you for going thru with the decision. Quality of life with family is the most precious thing anyone can ask for.
Sori no tips. Coz i am too soft too. Always worried abt being too nice to a maid. That is why i can never be a good stern boss. My staff climb on top of myhead!
Good luck for you. Hope your new venture won't give you more headache. As for me, I can't afford to have a domestic helper, and some more I'm afraid in case it puts us on more risk to many unknown things, just in case. Currently, my house is like as if a hurricane has swept into my house. I'm just closing one eye to cope with work, family and household matters. Luckily my hubby is not fussy about cleanliness and neatness. Heheheh.....
Either you like her or you dont.. . hahaha.. keep us updated.. but one tip though.. cannot be too fussy.. u must close one eye if you want to keep sanity at bay! :)
Best of choice friend! To hire a Pinoy over Indon or Cambodian(I'm not trying to be prejudice), but so far what I heard Pinoy maid has the least problem! My lou gong was actually hunting for maid too, but since I can not trust anyone(including MIL or FIL) with my kids I'm still putting the idea behind. Pinoy is too costly for us, he was hunting for a Cambodian.
Did you check whether your maid has got a degree? I heard some Pinoy maid are highly qualified and can even coach your kids with their homework! If so, yay... then Hayley and Zac will have a free tuition teacher on top of getting rid of your house chores! Best of luck my friend!
good luck dear - all will be ok - yes treat it as a learning process that what life is about kan -
good or bad maid too me is a matter of luck- they are human like us ada yang baik ada yg tak :)
good idea to send baby to babysitter still - i dont trust baby with maid also - my chidlren all got lucky because my late mum took care of them
Hi friend,
How come you didn't ask me? I have lots to share. It is always a good idea to have maid if we can afford it so as we have free and quality time for our kids.
Shall we meet up during CNY? Can come to my house, call Victoria and the others.
Leona, I hesitated for quite a long time. Told myself to try it out without a maid for a few weeks and see how it goes. For now I am still doing ok but when I am back at work, I foresee things not going to be ok :-( so I better have a maid and pray hard that she's good.
Alice Phua, yeah I know what you mean. I am also scared of all the 'what ifs' but like I agreed with hubby we will try it out one time and if it turns out to be a disaster we can safely said we tried and it didn't work rather than regretting it later. As for the house, since having kids I also close one eye but still there are lots of chores to be done which I am quite sure I won't be able to cope without going insane when I am back at work fulltime.
Reanaclaire, hopefully my next update will be a positive one ;-) and yes since using part time maids I have taught myself to be less fussy :-)
Alice Law, I called agencies asking for Cambo and Viet too but they do not have biodatas. Thankfully a friend knew this freelance Filipino agent and introduced us to her. She is charging me slightly cheaper than what the agencies would charge and provides more personalised service. So hopefully this will turn out to be ok. In terms of expenses, we will feel the burden too but we just have to give it a try otherwise I think we will both end up exhausted which could lead to more issues (ie arguing everyday). As for money, we just have to tighten our belts for 2 years lor :-). As for the bio, the maid we chose did have a degree and she has worked for 4 years in Kuwait so fingers crossed.
Ermayum, ya la, hopefully luck is with us :-). I also agree with you that we cannot trust maids with babies especially not at the beginning. So still have to send them to bbsitter tapi kesian our wallet :-). You are so lucky to have your mom help you. My mom is working still and she's definitely not the type who will babysit and my in law is in kampung and she's not fit to babysit as well so I practically have no choice and no one to turn to :-(
Treasure Memories, I have read a few of your posts on maids so I do know something about it but I will definitely call you in the next few days to get more tips. I need to be out of the house to do that cause the stupid Maxis connection here is so so bad...as for CNY, would love to go to your place and finally taste your delicious cooking, maybe even Jared's too :-). Are you organising it? With Vic's 3 kids and mine 2 and yours 2, your house will be a mess when we leave :-)
Really kar(cheaper Filipino)? Next year if I start working I might need one too, lol(keep the contact for me ya)! Yalor, my husband also told me, if we hired a maid it means less outing and gourmet during weekends liao...Ngor Sei Dou Ngm Zai!!!!>_<
good on ya! i am really thankful I have Maria becos it means I have undivided attention to my Zack when i'm back from work and on the weekends.
Indeed, it is also luck, dunno whether you'll get one that's good or one that gets you pulling your hair too (on top of Hayley's antics *gulp)
Hopefully you'll get a really good, responsible and proactive Maria !
Post a Comment