To hire or not to hire a helper...that is the question!
My husband and I have survived for almost two years now without any helper. I have a day job while my husband is a freelance photographer. He is the one left at home to tend for our little monster toddler. Whenever he has any work during weekdays we leave our son at the grandparents. Our household chores is equally divided, Mike does ALL the cooking while I do MOST of the table setting, dish washing and cleaning. On weekends we do the laundry together while our son is asleep or when the grandparents are visiting. We have managed but barely and it is becoming really tiresome. Lately we have been discussing hiring a helper because our son is becoming more active that it's hard to juggle tasks. Our son needs 100% attention because the moment you turn your back to do something he would climb up furniture ,tear books, break cds, reach for breakable objects,eat foreign objects and a thousand other "dangerous" things. There are advantages and disadvantages in hiring a helper, I made a little list.
Advantages
-A more orderly and clean household
-We can focus our time in watching over our son and spending time with him.
-We don't have to leave him at the grandparents when we have to go out.
-Our house won't be left abandoned when we go out(we used to rely on our dogs...an askal and a daschund)
Disadvantages
-Additional Cost of P2,000 a month plus the meals and overhead.
-Lesser privacy (I can't go walking around the house naked ;))
-We will lose our stockroom and turn our 3rd room into a bedroom for the helper.
I realized though that it is very difficult to find a helper. I tried asking around and I haven't received any solid feedback for recommendations. They say it is very hard to find someone who is trustworthy and industrious so we are taking our time to decide and choose one.
Hi Raine!
ReplyDeleteI have enough horror help stories but after a few misses I also had really good people helping around the house. It's good that you listed your pros and cons about hiring one. More than the financial implications, it's about getting someone you and Mike can be totally at peace knowing that she is at YOUR home and taking care of Kulay. One lesson I learned - Kris Aquino hires her help through recommendations, she does not get people from agencies (which I fell victim to). Ask from your friends and families if their helps can recommend someone, I asked Gang-gang and will let you know if she gets a text back from Midsayap. :)
Thanks for the input. Cge ha will wait for feedback from Gang-Gang :)
DeleteTama naman lahat ng pros and cons. The challenging part is looking for someone trustworthy kahit na hindi na lang industrious bsta masaligan sa sulod sa balay especially sa kwarta.
ReplyDeleteIf you hire one, tama si Lany through recommendation jud. And make sure na maalagaan jud maayo si Kulay. Just be prepared to stretch your patience kay dili pareha sa amo mag isip ang helper.Try na lang sad pangita within sa circle of relatives if naa.
I am just blessed to have my cousins na murag nanay ug tatay na kay Bella.
Lisud lagi mangita oi...mas maayo jud unta paryente.swerte jud mo naa inyo mga pinsan maka assist. thanks for sharing your thoughts :)
DeleteReally hard to find somebody na "kasaligan", Raine. But if you can't easily find one, pwede magkuha lang sa mo labandera or someone to clean the house during weekends para at least you and Mike can rest instead of spending hours doing the laundry.
ReplyDeleteactually naga pa-laundry mi usahay kung daghan na jud labada. we can also have someone come over na lang pud on weekends.Thanks sa input Cris :)
DeleteHi Raine, you're perfectly right about the pros and cons about having a help in the house, for 15 years of marriage had 3 kids we only had hired one help - that was during the time I went full time teaching, when I decided to just do part-time I let go of the help.
ReplyDeleteIt’s because the longer they stay with you the more comfortable they become and they now decide on their own without you knowing… I’m not in good terms with my MIL, and I really don’t know how I survived, my the kids are big now and they’re almost on their own – which apparently I don’t need help anymore. I only have a labandera that comes here every morning, other than that we all do the house jobs….
But because Kulay is still a lil big baby and you can’t do your thing, yes, recommendation is the best thing about hiring a help. Right now, I really knew no one Rain, it’s because most naman of the girls in our farm are into school. Hope you can find a mature one.
Yes there's also that issue about the help making their own decisions without consulting. Kudos to you for surviving without much help and with 3 kids pa jud. wow! thanks so much for sharing
Deletep.s. Uy mommy verns mag chika ta one of these days about MIL hehehe