Getting rid of the live in maid

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Mauricio

Gold
Nov 18, 2002
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Since we came back living here early 2010 we had live in maids (just one, but we have had many) and one coming twice a week for laundry. My wife would work part time so we had no choice and besides it has ofcourse a lot of advantages to have your breakfast ready at 6.45 and lunch and dinner and the house clean without lifting a finger.

Over the years we have developed serious aversion against having a maid around ALL THE TIME. And we are seriously considering trying to live without one. We did for 5 years when we lived in Holland so why not here. This is what we think must be done:

1. Buy a dishwasher
2. Buy a new laundry machine and a dedicated water heater to start doing laundry with warm water
3. Install air conditioner downstairs so we can keep everything closed and there won't be so much dust in the house.
4. Eat lunch and dinner the European way, meaning the more labor intensive food is in the night.
5. Get a lady once or twice per week to deep cleaning.

What else, anyone doing this (with several small children)?
 

Criss Colon

Platinum
Jan 2, 2002
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Those are some expensive options.
Initial costs, and then Electricity every month!
We have two maids,one MON-WED-FRI,..and the other,..TUE,....THURS....SAT.
IT WORKS very WELL!
They are here from about 8 am,..to 6 pm. even on SAT.
My mother-in-law and I cook, mostly her, and now even my two girls,...11 & 12 do some things too.

The "Senior Maid" gets 6,000 a month, the "Junior Maid",...4,000.

Your electric bill might equal THAT!

I LIKE HAVING THE DISHES WASHED, bathrooms cleaned, floors moped, kitchen cleaned,and beds made everyday.
With 8 of us here there is a LOT of clothes to wash & iron too!!!

They take care of racking the yard and sweeping the driveway in their "Spare Time"!!!!!!!!!!!
:devious::devious::devious::devious::devious::devious::devious::devious::devious::devious::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh:

If they get tired of all the above, there are buses leaving for "Puerto Principe" every hour!!!!!!!!!

"AREVOIR"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"Bon SUA"!!!!
I,..Can't spell fluently,in many languages!!!

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC
 

Mauricio

Gold
Nov 18, 2002
5,607
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38
Yes, these are expensive options, but the dishwasher and the air conditioner for downstairs are something that we want to do anyway, the dishwasher for the weekends and the air conditioner because our house gets hot in summe and with the inverter air conditioners that are being sold nowadays it shouldn't raise the electricity bill with more than 2000 pesos. We spend 17,000 on maids plus what they eat and waste and break, so we could probably save 20,000 pesos to spend on the higher electricity bill and take out or eat out when we are lazy.

I might for the first time in my 12 years married life have to cook now and then. After five months without maid we'll have saved enough to buy one of these fancy rainbow vacuum cleaner some lady is calling me for about every month.

Maybe we should give our maid a two week vacation and find out how it goes, but that would be without the extra machine help.
 

malko

Campesino !! :)
Jan 12, 2013
5,545
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We got rid of our maid last week..... not live in, she lives down the road.
Well.......
I enjoy, the peace and quiet
Swimming nude in the pool......

I do NOT enjoy,
Picking up dog poo ( 4dogs, a rottweiler that has 4lb poo-poos.....:laugh:).
Sweeping all around the outside of the house.
Feeding the chicken at 0630 am....evry morning.
Doing the dishes
Doing the laundry

And I have no kids......
Seems there are less hours in a day now......especially for dominoes and swimming....:laugh:
 

Matilda

RIP Lindsay
Sep 13, 2006
5,485
338
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I don't have a maid, haven't for 5 years, nor air con nor dishwasher. This is what you need to do:
1. Don't give a sh*t if house is dirty. Just do good clean for visitors and don't allow anyone in unannounced.
2. Share tasks. Husband cooks at lunchtime and I wash up. I cook at night and he washes up.
3. Sweep daily, but mop weekly. Otherwise spending all bloody day mopping.
4. Invite Dominican women over, or couples as the Dominican women always clean. Invite them over day before visitors come so house is clean for visitors.
5. Wear same clothes more often so less washing.

I actually quite like not having anyone in the house all day long, but yes the cleaning, cooking, washing is a chore, especially in the heat.

Matilda
 

Marcion

*** Sin Bin ***
Nov 22, 2014
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My apartment rentals usually come with maid service weekly.

And it's always the same story -- never there at scheduled time and never have their own cleaning supplies. I have to buy them the cleaning products they will then use to destroy my personal items.

It's just wrong.

When they do show up, I leave and hang out with some gringos for a few hours, I don't want to be in there with them as they do whatever it is they do. I tip in advance so they're gone and don't linger waiting for me to return. But I have to admit it's worth the aggravation when you get back and everything is done and all sparkly new.
 

Chirimoya

Well-known member
Dec 9, 2002
17,850
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Two days a week is the way to go. Our cleaner does all the laundry and ironing as well as the cleaning, and cooks enough for two days, so I only have to cook about 3 days a week.
 
Oct 13, 2003
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Mauricio,

Maybe the number of maids you have had has something to do with it - maybe you haven't found one your family is comfortable with yet.

When we're in country we live in the family house - there is always a girl from the neighbourhood hanging around looking after the kids and cleaning up. She helps my mother in law with the chores and acts as a nanny for the kids, similar like an au-pair.

Maybe that kind of set-up would suit you better; an au-pair from your wives side of the family to live with you?
 

chic

Silver
Nov 20, 2013
4,305
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ha ha ha....im at the point where im looking for a live in maid..of course my needs and my wants differ...laundry/ironing...floor cleaning...cooking(takes them way to long to put pot and eggs on table...and uniform...) i got to buy them nice t shirts..and new shorts...and i give then extra when i see extra work done...
rules/no family over...yes they know where she works/but....and i pay on different days...might be 13th or the 14th...
and i have gotten into trouble with more than one of them....thats why i want another...
 

dv8

Gold
Sep 27, 2006
31,266
363
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i absolutely hate the idea of live in maid but i see where it is useful for someone with a large family. we have a cleaner come 3 times a week and another woman to iron once a week. i do our own washing because our machine is beyond mental capacity of the locals. i also swipe and mop on days when maids do not come over because we have animals and otherwise the house would look like a pigsty. so don't heed mat's advice.

my recommendation is to have a regular maid, 5-6 days a week (there is 6 of you so lots of cleaning). 6 hours max. no food to eat. ask the maid to help with preparation (clean and peel veggies) but no more than that. never had food cooked by dominican maids that i was willing to go through daily, 7 days a week. get a large freezer and when you cook make large quantities and freeze. my mother (in PL) cooks maybe twice a week now thanks to this policy.
 

lovemedo

New member
Nov 3, 2013
182
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This is what i do

do a 2x a months totally mop down ( im single) windows, bath. 8 hours of solid cleaning
I bring in 2 trusted girls to do same
pay 1200 pesos for the 2
i do not have them cook for me...i am not sure (Dominican's) their level of hygiene during the cooking process is up to par...seriously!!!!!
i make sure these women are 'hot'.....that's my total criteria...in a nutshell
 

jd426

Gold
Dec 12, 2009
9,512
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Not to intrude on this conversation, but why in the world would you FREEZE food in a country that pretty much runs on fresh food, especially vegetables and fruit.
Even fresh fish (caught that morning) are at your disposal,daily .
I will never understand this freezng thing
.. Here in the states I go to the post office daily, and try really hard to make it a habit of buying fresh ,in season vegetables to cook meals with and im a single dude with no maid or cleaning lady.
IF I lived down there no way I would eat anything from the Freezer. only thing in the Freezer would be Ice Cubes and my Jaegermeister
.. I see people shopping at Playero sometimes and looking in their shop carts, and just shake my head at the junk they are about they eat, and I know they are expats or on Long Holiday..
 

dv8

Gold
Sep 27, 2006
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Not to intrude on this conversation, but why in the world would you FREEZE food in a country that pretty much runs on fresh food, especially vegetables and fruit.

i freeze things all the time. we shop once a week and most of meat/fish goes directly to the freezer, in small portions, often seasoned. all i need to do is take one package out, a single portion. i also freeze peeled platanos/rulos/bananas because i hate peeling them i i prefer that the maid does the entire razimo so that i don't get my hands dirty and sticky. then i freeze some dishes i make, say, i cook a large pot of goulash and freeze small portions so that all i need is to defrost it and heat it.

it is a great time saver when you have a large family too and an excellent solution for some massive dominican dishes. ever seen the amount of sancocho people make here? i do not like ready made frozen food and i never buy it but there is nothing wrong with freezing the food you make in order to reduce preparation time.
 

jd426

Gold
Dec 12, 2009
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I suppose thats the difference since you dealing with large amounts of food cooked, why would you throw it away.
 

malko

Campesino !! :)
Jan 12, 2013
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And lots of stuff is "season" stuff. Avocados, mangos, guandules, guyaves...... cook/prepare and freeze.

Mea, cheese. : if u drive 1h30 to santiago for some beef fillet, u dont buy 2lb, u buy 10lb......

Tomato sauce for pizza, pasta...... cook a huge pot and.......freeze.

Ditto pasta dough, bread dough......

I can garantee, if u did live here, out of town, u would freeze MORE than back home......
 

jd426

Gold
Dec 12, 2009
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I may be among you in a couple short years so this MOST interesting.
I just assumed people ate "plata de dia" or bought fresh that day, every day.
So these must take like one of them lid on top type Horizontal Freezers dedicated just to Longer Term freezing ?, to keep all that stuff frozen solid . I know they are very polular in Europe.
Us stupid Americans , we open the freezer door and ALL the cold air drops out.

with power outages and all, NO way I would trust my vertical freezer down there , and then the costs..
 
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