<p>I read some of that thread, but not many posters admitted to having “help”. I had women who worked for me, and even ended up firing a few. I always thought I was kind and fair, but it does make me wonder what they thought of me.</p>
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That’s when you let all your friends know that you have a great woman, who is looking for a job. I think it’s really hard to find reliable AND honest people to clean your home.</p>
<p>In Texas, most cleaning ladies are either Hispanic or white. So it would be a little different dynamic than in that book, but also certain issues will ring true regardless.</p>
<p>I always feel a little uncomfortable when the cleaning team is in my home working. I feel weird sitting around (like the proverbial lady of leisure), but they are all over the house, so I’d get in the way if I was trying to work around them. </p>
<p>I’m not like the ladies in The Help, looking down on their Maids because of a difference of culture or race. I am Hispanic on my Dad’s side, so I am more like them than the ladies in the book are with regard to their “maids.” Maybe because of this, I sometimes just feel weird about it. I don’t know if they feel the same; I don’t know how they view their customers.</p>
<p>We lived in New Oreans in the early '60s and had ‘help’ My mom, a northern liberal, was amazed at the boundaries put up by the young woman who came in twice a week to clean and help her with my younger brother and sister, who were a handful. Would not sit or eat at the same table, etc. I loved that woman, and as mentioned in the book, it was a great source of companionship for my mom. Everything seemed better, happier when she was around. We were really made to raise children in community, rather than isolated in nuclear family houses. The trick is to not isolate the families of the maids in the process. </p>
<p>I cleaned houses myself when in college. It was flexible work, and paid better than other jobs at that time. But I got started with a Swedish woman who hired me twice a week, and worked alongside me, with detailed instructions as to how she wanted things done. I learned a great deal, and I think she appreciated the companionship and I appreciated her interest in my life. </p>
<p>These days, I’d not mind finding someone to clean, as I have far too many other irons in the fire, and actually take vacation days to clean and organize at times. Silly. </p>
<p>Someone mentioned not wanted to hire from an agency after reading Nickled and Dimed. Total agreement here.</p>
<p>I’d like to hire someone since starting a full time job last year but how do you train someone and develop trust in leaving that person alone in your home when you’re working full time and have precious little vacation time?</p>
<p>We pay someone directly (not through a third party service), had the same person for over a decade, and now pay $20/hr. But she is fantastic and we adore her! She works hard and fast and thorough in a way we can’t be. </p>
<p>We both work full time, we do not like cleaning, and time is a valued commodity. So for us it’s a good investment (I’d rather spend that time earning a lot more than $20/hr on another consulting gig or executive education class, for example). But we do our own yard work because we enjoy that activity. </p>
<p>Like some others, we’ve really stayed on top of clutter so it doesn’t really look messy since there isn’t much to mess. But the kitchen and bathrooms and floors need cleaning and that is where the attention goes.</p>
<p>“On a related note, did any of you see the movie “The Help”? Am I the only person bothered by it? It just hit a little too close to home, but maybe that was because of my years in the South.”</p>
<p>I did not see it, but my D read it. My dads family (black) has been in Alabama about as far back as US history goes. I am glad I can employ the folks I do (mostly minorities; Mexican, black, Vietnamese, and briefly white; she quit), and treat folks right.</p>
<p>I am so proud of my peeps! </p>
<p>I had an aunt, who had a sister at Howard, circa 1920. My aunt was going to study “homemaking” there, but her sister was not having it. </p>
<p>Aunt and Uncle ended up financing a good part of my kids college, as a teacher and postman.</p>
<p>Oops! Sorry. Vietnamese guy does not do housekeeping.</p>
<p>When I was growing up, I had various distant relatives of my mom from the islands, that some here may have called nannies, but I called them aunt.</p>
<p>I have someone come in once a week. I’m super duper allergic to dust, and with 3 cats and a dog it’s a constant battle. We have a big house and a lot of bathrooms. I couldn’t ever get the entire house clean at once.</p>
<p>I’ll never use a service like molly maids again. I’ve tried them and they usually do great the first couple of times and after that they’re awful. </p>
<p>The woman who cleans my house is a mom who has her own business. We like each other, she’s not treated or considered “the help”. She changes our sheets and cleans whatever needs cleaning, which is always everything. I hate cleaning bathrooms so I’m thrilled to not have to do it.</p>
<p>Doing it weekly has forced me into getting neater so we don’t have “piles” of stuff sitting around. The rule is if my kids leave their stuff on the floor she doesn’t clean their room.</p>
<p>What about employer taxes and FICA? From what I understand, if you hire a service, they are the employer and handle all that but if you hire an individual, you are responsible for the appropriate withholding calculations? I am amso stongly considering cleaning help and would strongly prefer a person vs. an agency but the IRS regs. make me nervous!</p>
<p>It is the cleaning persons responsibility to pay their taxes. We pay ours through our business though so I’m not sure how it’s done individual to individual. You could call your local irs office and ask them.</p>
<p>I’ve had a cleaning person as long as I have owned a house–28 years. I am only on the 3rd person. My current “lady” used to work in the day care my kids attended. She’s worked for me 9 years. I pay her $20/hr; takes 6 hours to do our house on a weekly basis (though she is slow). She has her own business and pays her own taxes. I buy the cleaning supplies she wants to use, though she doesn’t do sheets or laundry. On occasion, she helps me out getting my kids off to school or coming a few extra hours the day I would have a large party.</p>
<p>Long ago, I decided that I didn’t like to clean, plus I have had back problems for years, and once the kids arrived I wanted to spend precious free time with them. No regrets.</p>
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The short answer is, if your cleaning person offers their services to the general public, use their own tools (such as vacuum cleaners), and you don’t specifically control how they do the work (or when), then they are not your employee.</p>
<p>For example, my cleaning lady uses her own vacuum cleaner, tells me when she is coming, and I don’t tell her how to clean the kitchen or bathroom or whatever. I am not worried the IRS will come after me, or that the cleaning lady will come after me.</p>
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This seems more problematic to me from the IRS’s point of view, unless you use your entire house for your business or you are talking about a space other than your home.</p>
<p>OP here. Thanks! What an informative thread this has become!
I am currently reading “Help” so no spoilers please…</p>
<p>My new cleaning lady is here as I write. $20/hour, said she will do it in 3 hours. I don’t think it is possible as my house is REALLY dirty right now and we did not do a great job decluttering last night. Will see.
I feel kind of stupid seating around while she cleans - we have 2 levels and she is upstairs right now, a little over 3000 with 2.5 bathrooms, a golden retriever and 2 kids (a daughter who never met a hanger ! love that expression!) . I do not live in an expensive area so $20/hour seems like a lot to me, but we will see. She brought her own supplies, her own vacuum, even her own paper towels.
Will keep you posted!</p>
<p>Ours is a steal for our area. She charges $85 and comes every 2 weeks. Our house is 3200 square feet and has 5 bedrooms (one used as an office, one as an extra room for the kids), 3 1/2 bathrooms. She speaks very little English but with my very little Spanish we communicate just fine. My family is very sloppy so at least I get them to straighten up every other Wednesday night in anticipation of our Thursday cleaning.</p>
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<p>I don’t know the law, so what decides if you are ‘hiring a service’ vs. ‘an individual’? </p>
<p>This seems to be an issue that comes up only with domestic help but I imagine it must also apply just as much to calling a personal trainer or organizers you might call from an ad, a plumber or electrician a friend recommended, a therapist, or someone who cuts your lawn (often just individuals). If someone cleans your house and twenty others, is each house supposed to be withholding tax? It seems crazy for say 3 hours a week.</p>
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<p>In our household, we say it’s cheaper than a divorce. :)</p>
<p>Our housekeeper has been with us for almost 18 years–she was the children’s nanny. She now comes once a week. It takes her 7-8 hours to clean our house (2500 sq feet). We pay $110 a week. We cover sick days (she takes very few of those), any holidays that fall on her day, and vacation pay. We do fill out all the tax paperwork, and pay both sides of her FICA taxes. There is also a retirement fund which isn’t much but will be a nice supplement to the SSI. It would be great if we could cover health insurance, but that’s out of range.</p>
<p>We’ve also covered some emergencies, like when she was mugged and the thief took her pay (we replaced it), or when she’s needed to visit the doctor. All of this built up over the years–I wouldn’t start out offering someone new sick leave.</p>
<p>OP here.
A complete disaster. I am actually in shock! I went upstairs when the three hours were nearly over and saw that she managed to clean our master bathroom (small) and bedroom and was making her way through a second bathroom upstairs. :gasp:
I panicked not knowing what to do next. Her English is very limited so communication was a challenge plus I did not want to be rude. After a while I went back up and explained (lied ) to her, that I needed to leave the house at 1 P.M. and she has to go too. She managed to finish the second bathroom and vacuumed master bedroom and hallway.
A very expensive ($80) lesson for me.
Back to square one. And was so looking forward to a clean house tonight. Need to get out and vent!</p>
<p>As a former housekeeper, I loved my clients who were not home or who stayed in their home office while I cleaned. It’s weird having someone watch you clean their home. I did a great job, watched or not, of course.
I now have a housekeeper once a week who I pay per hour nearly double what I make. She’s completely worth it. And, yes, I leave the house when she is there!</p>
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<p>The IRS has a list of criteria to determine what constitutes an independent contractor vs. an employee. <a href=“http://www.4nannytaxes.com/Forms/p926.pdf[/url]”>http://www.4nannytaxes.com/Forms/p926.pdf</a></p>
<p>Our tax guy said it was pretty clear that under these rules a nanny was definitely a household employee. Cleaning person–he thought you could make the argument that the cleaning person was an independent contractor. Also, when you hire a cleaning service, it’s pretty clear that the people cleaning aren’t your employees. Our tax guy recommended we issue our cleaning woman a 1099 misc. form and have her fill out a W-9. An independent contractor is responsible for his/her own social security and other withholding taxes.</p>
<p>We have a cleaning lady (and her crew usually there are 2 or 3 of them) come every other Tuesday. For a while when money was tight we didn’t have one and it was a disaster. We tidy A LOT before they come so that they spend their time cleaning. I think it is $80 although my husband pays. Just the anticipation tidying is a big thing for us. We used to have a different crew, and it didn’t seem clean when we came home. This current crew is incredible. We have 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, and a black lab that sheds like crazy. We keep the kitchen very clean, but everything else not so much. We sweep the floors every day or two because of the dog. They always do something extra every time they come. Sometimes they do the windows, sometimes they clean the oven, other times they clean the refrigerator. We get out of the house when they come. We found them by word of mouth.</p>