Saturday, July 14, 2012

Update: 2 weeks of having live-in help

So far, our entire household has been enjoying the help of a helper.
Life with a helper has become almost like a luxury. We wake up to a clean house, breakfast, and I have someone keeping tabs on the perishable supplies in the fridge.
We also recently had some friends over for a bbq & compared to the last BBQ we had, this time was such a breeze because we had extra help - with the food preparation, serving, scrubbing of grease etc.
As for all the horror stories we hear about maids, well, nobody is perfect. Dwi is not a Superwoman. She makes mistakes here & there , for eg. She didn't clip the Laundry with pegs & during a heavy rain some lightweight clothes got blown off onto our aircon latch. And some other things, but nothing too major that I can't live with.
As for the little master? He's still not taking to her, but it's not bothering me much because the extra pair of hands around the house frees up lots of quality time for me & Adam. No more wishing he could sleep/nap so that I can sneak in time for chores. I can now concentrate more of my time on playing or reading to Adam. It's a win-win.


Here're some tips I gathered from friends & colleagues which I thought might be useful for Moms considering hiring helpers:
- Provide specific & detailed House rules from the 1st day eg. No kissing & sharing food with children? No using of hp during work hours? What are work hours? In my home it's 6am - 10pm (if she finishes her chores fast she can retire to her room earlier) with rest breaks during the day.

- Color code your cloths. This is important so she knows not to mix the toilet-cleaning ones with dish washing ones.

- Be prepared to demonstrate and ask her to return-demo or repeat your instructions for the 1st time doing something. Eg making milk or using washing machine.

- Give her a daily, weekly & 2-weekly schedule so she knows what is expected of her

- I don't allow her to open my wardrobes. Instead, I ask her to keep the laundry in & I'll put them back myself. I don't want to have a chance to ever suspect her. It's to protect the interests of both parties.

- I keep her passport in a seperate home (with my Aunt LY) becos my ex-supervisor had a maid who took off to her own home country after stealing her own passport & $10k worth of jewelry



So far so good, Dwi hasn't resigned yet, which is a good sign I suppose.
And frankly, I can't be bothered to worry anymore. I'll just enjoy the happy moment while it lasts!

No comments:

Post a Comment

Hi~! Thanks for dropping by my blog :)