A CLEANER! My, I hadn't noticed our betters were among us! I presume you do count yourself as one of the landed gentry. Do you keep a copy of your pedigree with you at all times? Did your great-grandfather slay a dragon? Did your ancestors come across the 'channel' with William the Conqueror?
Ok, ok, I have been reading for a while about people having 'cleaners', and I couldn't help myself any longer. I'm sorry you had to receive the brunt of it, but hopefully it will give people some perspective.
As an aside, the more you think about something like this the more you realize eating out and having a waiter especially, or taking clothes to the dry cleaners or whatever is kinda ridiculous, like we are of the aristocratic class or something.
I dunno, I think that some types of clothing are not supposed to be washed, and I don't have the ability to dry clean at home. It's been a couple of decades since I've been required to wear that kind of clothing. Perhaps my Navy dress uniform was the last.
I have, in my family, more than one person who cleans houses for a living. Plus people who work as a cook at the elementary school. Let's add auto mechanics, bankers (you can keep your money under your mattress, no?) How about the guy who works at the grocery store, or picks the strawberries?
There is no shame in manual labor. People have been trading labor for money for a long time. When you appoint a "shame" in hiring someone to do something for you, you de facto assign a "shame" to people who do the work, no?
No. Why not have a cook, many already eat out a good deal? Why not automate and hire out all parts of our lives? Because it makes us weak, and eventually unappreciative; and yes if I had the time to, I would pick my own strawberries and grow many more fruits and vegetables(which I will when I FIRE). The difference is most people in the Western world have the time and ability to do their own housekeeping. It is kind of a sliding scale; elderly or disabled go ahead and hire out house cleaning; mountain cabin 200 mi away that has weekly rentals, go ahead. On the road or in another city and don't have time/facilities to prepare your own food or fix your broken car; buy it prepared/get someone to fix. There is a time and place for these things; normal everyday living is not one of them.
Obviously we all have our 'weaknesses' but the goal is to get rid of those and take care of our own business, that is why we come to this forum.
It's a sliding scale, really.
Growing your own/ cooking from scratch -> buying your groceries and cooking from scratch -> buying prepared foods and heating them up -> getting takeout -> eating at a restaurant -> having a personal chef -> having a live in chef
Having two SAHPs -> Having one SAHP -> Having one SAHP but using PT childcare -> Having two working parents and using daycare -> Having 2 WP and a full-time nanny -> having 2 WP and a live-in nanny
Cleaning your own house all the time -> using a service a couple of times a year for "deep cleaning" -> using a service monthly or 2x a month -> having a livev-in cleaning person
Building and doing all maintenance on your car -> doing serious maintenance on your own car (rebuilding an engine) -> doing routine maintenance on your own car (changing fluids, rotating tires) -> outsourcing all maintenance and cleaning on your car
Building your own house from scratch -> using contractors to build your house but act as gen contractor -> doing all of your own home maintenance and improvements (building cabinets, drywall, roofing) -> hiring out major improvements (roofing, HVAC) but doing minor home repairs -> attempting all repairs yourself before you hire someone else -> Call the plumber immediately (or whatever)
Being retired -> telecommuting -> walking to work -> biking to work -> take public transit (aka, no car in any of those first ones) -> riding a motorcycle to work -> combo car/ or bike to work -> carpooling -> driving a compact car to work -> driving a mid-sized car to work -> driving a big gas guzzler to work -> driving 2 hours each way to work
Shearing your own sheep for wool -> Spinning your own yarn from wool you buy -> buying yarn to knit a sweater as a gift -> buying a sweater as a gift
"Vacationing in your backyard" (or: not needing to "get away" or "See the world") -> taking trips camping and roughing it -> camping in a campground with running water -> using a pop-up trailer, 5th wheel, camping van, etc. -> staying in a hotel because you like a roof -> getting a suite so you have more space -> renting a condo so you can cook! -> taking a train -> flying -> going somewhere exotic because, Travel! It's ok to spend on Travel! -> full on fancy-pants vacation
It is a sliding scale for sure, where do put the scale? The far left is simply out of reach for most Americans will small children and full time jobs, if you are asking for the far left in
every category.
The average American worker works 46.7 hours per week, up from 39.7 hours in 1990. An extra 7 hours per week, per person. Where does this 7 hours come from? Probably a combination of things, #1 being sleep.
I really have a hard time comparing life as a kid and life now. I mean, no we never had a cleaning person, we were poor. When my grandmother died, we cleaned my grandfather's house for him. But then again, my mother did not work outside of the house until I was 12, and even then, it was 2 days a week.
I prioritize shopping for good prices, cooking from scratch, helping my kid with his homework, helping the toddler with his lego obsession, cleaning up barf (it's been a rough winter), exercise and sleep (outside of my work day, which is 10 hours a day when you count "door to door", which means drop off and pick up).
Those don't have to be your priorities.