I've always tended to have a maid handle most of my local things such as paying bills, shopping and running errands. In Santo Domingo I've been paying RD$10,000/month fulltime. Its been problematic because the maid messes up a lot of stuff and needs a lot of guidance.
I now have a half time assistant for RD$10,000 and a maid who I am thinking of moving to half time at RD$5,000. This would mean that for RD$15,000/month I have:
- someone to do basic things like cook, clean and take care of my apartment
- a smart person to handle local issues, go to the phone company, do shopping, manage things for me, etc. (and she works from home a lot of the time)
Additionally I do all my bill payment online (only took 8 months to get it all working)!
RD$15,000/month is US$430/month. And this is a flexible team which can handle most of the dramas that come my way from living in the DR. We all know it can be stressful sometimes living here as an expat, and this seems like it might be the perfect combination of being not too expensive and high value.
I'm kicking myself right now since I've almost always had a maid only since 2001 and its been a big point of stress due to their poor work quality.
Any comments on this? Has anyone found a better combination?
Adrian
I now have a half time assistant for RD$10,000 and a maid who I am thinking of moving to half time at RD$5,000. This would mean that for RD$15,000/month I have:
- someone to do basic things like cook, clean and take care of my apartment
- a smart person to handle local issues, go to the phone company, do shopping, manage things for me, etc. (and she works from home a lot of the time)
Additionally I do all my bill payment online (only took 8 months to get it all working)!
RD$15,000/month is US$430/month. And this is a flexible team which can handle most of the dramas that come my way from living in the DR. We all know it can be stressful sometimes living here as an expat, and this seems like it might be the perfect combination of being not too expensive and high value.
I'm kicking myself right now since I've almost always had a maid only since 2001 and its been a big point of stress due to their poor work quality.
Any comments on this? Has anyone found a better combination?
Adrian