live in-out maid?

Givadogahome

Silver
Sep 27, 2011
4,397
2
0
Never had a maid, never will be lazy (no offense) enough to feel I need one unless my wife magically has quadruplets, but that is not the point of this. My neighbour was telling me he pays his maid more money to live in, is this normal. As far as I am aware the live in-out thing usually works the other way around no?
 

Mauricio

Gold
Nov 18, 2002
5,607
7
38
Normally it's the other way around. The live-in has less transportation costs and you are paying for (all) her food.

If you need a live-in it's better to look for one that lives outside the city, she will be looking for live-in by her own choice.
 

Criss Colon

Platinum
Jan 2, 2002
21,843
191
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yahoomail.com
You can depend on a "Live-in" being there.
Usually they work more hours.
They can't steal everyday, only on Saturday.
I have had both, each has it's advantages, disadvantages.
I have found the "Best-of-Both-Worlds"!
My maid lives a few minutes walk away.
She is on her 2nd. year, and is a good worker.
Many maids don't want to work for large families, too much laundry,ironing,dishes, cleaning for them.
Give your wife, and you a break.
Get a maid for 2 or 3 days a week.
It isn't about being "Lazy" it's about using your time to your advantage.
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Acira

Silver
Sep 20, 2009
2,510
115
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www.blazingfuries.com
We have a cleaning lady coming for one day per week. I thank the day we made that decision, we gringa's are not made to clean houses and do the laundry in such climates and we do not know all the little secrets a good cleaning lady has to have your house spic and span and free of bugs. It costs us a lot more spray cans of insect killer and a lot more chloro but its definitely worth it! And yes CC, ours can eat also good but that is because my husband cooks so delicious of course ;)

Acira
 

Givadogahome

Silver
Sep 27, 2011
4,397
2
0
Give your wife, and you a break.
Get a maid for 2 or 3 days a week.
It isn't about being "Lazy" it's about using your time to your advantage.
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I dunno what she would do. We are only 2 adults and a child, not a lot of stuff to do. The kitchen gets cleaned twice a day, I do it in the morning after breakfast, she does it at night when it is at its worst. she does the floors in the morning and in the evening. Apart from that what does your maid do other than washing? I've never got why anyone with a less than large family needs a maid. I can see from your point, feeding the 5000 and taking on Noahs overflow, but couples only living with a maid?
I know most people have them as they are so cheap, maybe they like the status or something, who knows.
 

Criss Colon

Platinum
Jan 2, 2002
21,843
191
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38
yahoomail.com
Let her do the "Washing & ironing"!
I love that our bathrooms are spotless everyday, and smell like "Pinesol", and "CLORO" of course!
You can share her with other households.
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I she came only one day a week, but worked her A$$ off, I'd give her 800 to start, and 1,000 if she does a super job for a few months without starting to slack off.
 

Acira

Silver
Sep 20, 2009
2,510
115
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www.blazingfuries.com
I'd maybe consider that, just to give it a real scrub. How much do you pay?

500 + 300 for the washing (no ironing) and we go and get here and bring here back, midday lunch included and its not a sandwich but a full harty hot meal. If not possible to drive her home, she gets the money to take a guagua and motoconcho to get home.
 

bob saunders

Platinum
Jan 1, 2002
32,504
5,932
113
dr1.com
We pay 5000 per month plus medical insurance. She comes to my mother-in-laws at 0900 six days a week, She makes breakfast for Melania, cleans the kitchen, cut the vegetables and preps lunch. She preps supper then leaves. She is the best source we know for what's going on in town, what places are for rent....etc. If she can't come for some reason her sister shows up. They are like 2nd or 3rd cousins and are highly reliable. She washes clothing once a week, twice if necessary.
We hire another woman for Ironing and thats 300 every two weeks or so. Our own house is cleaned by one of the school cleaners every Saturday and she get 1400 per month for that.
 

AlterEgo

Administrator
Staff member
Jan 9, 2009
23,097
6,247
113
South Coast
I dunno what she would do. We are only 2 adults and a child, not a lot of stuff to do. The kitchen gets cleaned twice a day, I do it in the morning after breakfast, she does it at night when it is at its worst. she does the floors in the morning and in the evening. Apart from that what does your maid do other than washing? I've never got why anyone with a less than large family needs a maid. I can see from your point, feeding the 5000 and taking on Noahs overflow, but couples only living with a maid?
I know most people have them as they are so cheap, maybe they like the status or something, who knows.

Why? My Dominican sister-in-laws all work full time, which I assume your wife does not. When I worked full time in the US, I had a cleaning service come in once a week too. For what I paid once a week, I could have someone full time in DR.

When we're in our Dominican home, we have a housekeeper who lives nearby. We pay her what the in-laws pay theirs in SD, which it a lot more than is normal in the campo, and still the bargain of the year. We're only two people unless we get company.

She shows up about 8 a.m., by which time we've already had our coffee. Sometimes she makes breakfast, sometimes I do. She washes the dishes and pots. Then she washes all the floors in the house, adding bleach to the water in addition to the cleaner, to "keep mice and bugs away", then rinses all the floors. Makes the bed, dusts, etc. We discuss what our luncheon meal will be, and she starts cooking the beans. The bathroom is cleaned and sanitized every day. She makes and serves lunch to us and to whoever else shows up [neighbor, caretaker, etc.]. I like to cook, so sometimes I make the main meal. After eating she cleans up the kitchen thoroughly, and insists she has to rewash the floors "because there might be some oil splatter on the floors that will attract bugs/mice". Takes all the trash out to be burned [no trash pick up in the campo]. She sweeps outside several times a day. Changes the sheets frequently.

I'm fussy about our laundry, so I do it myself, and hang it out myself, because she can't seem to get the hang of a typical American double pulley clothesline. She takes it in, folds, irons, puts away everything.

By five her granddaughter is coming home from school, and she walks home, with food for the girl to eat that she saved from lunch. She always offers to come back, and I usually tell her it's not necessary, but sometimes she pops back over - drawn, I think by the sandwiches we usually have at night, she loves the ham, turkey and cheese :)

Do I "need" her? Not really, but it sure is nice. Last year I was recovering from some emergency abdominal surgery, with instructions from the surgeon "not to pick up anything heavier than my shoes for two months", and so she did absolutely everything for me.
 

william webster

Platinum
Jan 16, 2009
30,247
4,329
113
Why? My Dominican sister-in-laws all work full time, which I assume your wife does not. When I worked full time in the US, I had a cleaning service come in once a week too. For what I paid once a week, I could have someone full time in DR.

When we're in our Dominican home, we have a housekeeper who lives nearby. We pay her what the in-laws pay theirs in SD, which it a lot more than is normal in the campo, and still the bargain of the year. We're only two people unless we get company.

She shows up about 8 a.m., by which time we've already had our coffee. Sometimes she makes breakfast, sometimes I do. She washes the dishes and pots. Then she washes all the floors in the house, adding bleach to the water in addition to the cleaner, to "keep mice and bugs away", then rinses all the floors. Makes the bed, dusts, etc. We discuss what our luncheon meal will be, and she starts cooking the beans. The bathroom is cleaned and sanitized every day. She makes and serves lunch to us and to whoever else shows up [neighbor, caretaker, etc.]. I like to cook, so sometimes I make the main meal. After eating she cleans up the kitchen thoroughly, and insists she has to rewash the floors "because there might be some oil splatter on the floors that will attract bugs/mice". Takes all the trash out to be burned [no trash pick up in the campo]. She sweeps outside several times a day. Changes the sheets frequently.

I'm fussy about our laundry, so I do it myself, and hang it out myself, because she can't seem to get the hang of a typical American double pulley clothesline. She takes it in, folds, irons, puts away everything.

By five her granddaughter is coming home from school, and she walks home, with food for the girl to eat that she saved from lunch. She always offers to come back, and I usually tell her it's not necessary, but sometimes she pops back over - drawn, I think by the sandwiches we usually have at night, she loves the ham, turkey and cheese :)

Do I "need" her? Not really, but it sure is nice. Last year I was recovering from some emergency abdominal surgery, with instructions from the surgeon "not to pick up anything heavier than my shoes for two months", and so she did absolutely everything for me.

Nice description AE.....

And how about being just plain, good old contributor to the community.
As you infer, they want a job, they want to help and be paid.
What's not to like???

The further into the country you get, the more it's like AE describes..... a sense of community.

the big cities may differ - I don't live there.....

It's not laziness that drives this bus...... far from it
 

Jenny429

New member
Oct 10, 2005
312
0
0
In April I got into a motorcycle accident and was bedridden for 2 months, Leg brace for nearly 5 months. During that time I got a maid to help me with my 3 kids, My husband's 97 year old grandmother, and the house.. I haven't been able to let go of having one since!! I am spoiled!!

I save money as there are so many things "Dominican" that she can cook that I have no interest in learning (Ok, I know I need to) but I haven't.. I homeschool my 3 kids, and work full-time so that's how I justify it.

I had a live in maid for months, but around Xmas time I gave her a bonus that she didn't deserve well she deserved it, but it wasn't mandated. She worked for me only 4 months (2 months live in), but I gave her the full double pay. She got money from an old boss who gave her about 300 dollars so she left and didn't come back after Christmas. I had to get a new maid, and I have to say I'm disappointed as her cooking stinks.. The other maid did call me about 3 days ago wanting to know if I found anyone. I guess her money ran out.. I was so tempted to say YES but my pride wouldn't let me.. lol

Anyway my maid doesn't have a set schedule as she's pretty decent about cleaning. She does things different every single day. Whether it's cleaning out the fridge, cleaning windows that aren't done daily, organizing my kids shoes or toys, or scrubbing out the kitchen cabinets.. she stays very busy. When I hired her, I told her It was just to sweep, mop, wash dishes, cook, and wash clothes 2x's a week. That is all I ask for (all, trust me I know it's a lot) but this one does a lot more. I am most impressed how detail oriented she is towards the kids. If we go out as soon as we come back she will scrub down the kids flip-flops.. etc. It's nice, but the other down part is these women can never care for our things the way we do. They can try but they don't. I've had my washer machine repaired twice int eh short year we've had it. That's disheartening..lol it's not tough to take care of something.. you know?

There are advantages and disadvantages. I don't do it for status.. I now do it for convenience. The more work I can get done, the more money I bring in. I am not going to be here much longer, so I will enjoy what I ahve here. After I leave I'll be back to the grind of cooking and cleaning myself :)

By the way, I pay more for my live in than I do for my live out.. I don't like having a live out, but I don't trust just anyone to move in. We'll see how this goes.
Jen
 
I never understood why everyone would have housekeepers in poor warm Countries. When my wife and I bought our house in the DR 3 months ago the subject came up of having a Maid with our Lawyer and i said NO WAY, he looked at me like I was crazy!
It turned out that the previous owners loved their housekeeper and Gardener/Handyman and we kept them on while we were out of the Country to watch the place with full expectations of not having help when we arrived. We got here and decided to have them both come 3 times a week and it is only 2 of us and we are retired. It's only been a week but I AM SO HAPPY we decided to have their help! I so UNDERSTAND NOW! It really isn't about laziness at all which I thought as well. I can do more stuff that I really want to do, and we can afford it...for now.
I don't really like having people around all the time but I'm sure i will get used to it :D
 

dv8

Gold
Sep 27, 2006
31,266
363
0
our maid is also like cccc's house hoover, eats like a sumo wrestler. when i have one boiled banana for breakfast with some cheese she has four bananas, two eggs and cheese. and she scoops butter on her verduras like it's ice cream :)
now i am not working we have her reduced to coming once a week to iron. frankly speaking i can clean better myself but it was nice to have stuff done for you :)