Hello Fellow Nairalanders,

When you start a family and the kids start growing, you realize that house chores start to pile up; dirty dishes unwashed clothes, kids school and homework, buying foodstuff and cooking for the family.

This gets harder when you have to work alongside or do business.

Then you have to choose between having one of your young relations come over or employ the services of a house help.

When you had to employ the services of a house help,did issues bothering on language, age,ethnicity,gender etc come up?

Then you have to consider the work schedule to fully maximize the hours of work and the monthly cost of engaging the help in the first place.

Do you draw a table like the one I’ve posted below or spell out her duties verbally?

Do you spread the chores to separate weekly activities from daily and monthly activities?

When and how do you realize that your house help is God sent and that she’s worth every kobo you’ve invested?

Jesus!! Daily work for 30 days ?
If you are working and have a side business that makes it impossible for you to do something at home, then get gadgets to simplify your house work and make it easier for your help now.

I'm here to learn

armyofone:
Jesus!! Daily work for 30 days ?
If you are working and have a side business that makes it impossible for you to do something at home, then get gadgets to simplify your house work and make it easier for your help now.

Imagine!

When I see these so called mothers subject another person's child to such treatment I begin to wonder if they are really mothers!

Is it in the place of your help to do your child's homework?

And what time was slotted for breakfast?

Disgusting!

If it were just as simple as it is here then these helps wouldn't be so bitter.

Errm, talking about investing, how are you investing on this particular help? No school, no lesson classes.

Gboliwe:
If it were just as simple as it is here then these helps wouldn't be so bitter.
Errm, talking about investing, how are you investing on this particular help? No school, no lesson classes.

If she wasn't getting some education how will she be allowed to help with homework?
That's what's called "giving back to the host community".
You should read the subject in particular to understand what this post is about.

Besides, the schedule is a draft meant to seek your opinions for a water tight document that'll be flawless.
Everybody is to be put into consideration, both house help and family.

How come everybody just assumes the house-help is a child?

What if she's an adult, maybe an older lady on salary who was employed solely as a maid?

OP since you are seeking for opinions I think this time table is not well balanced and its not realistic.

There are house chores to be done everyday, there are chores to be done twice a week, there are chores to be done weekly, bi weekly and even monthly.

Scrubbing floors Monday to Sunday by 7am? It can be scrubbed twice a week or even weekly, its not as if engine oil is being poured on the floors. I believe we are talking about everywhere in the house and it includes mopping. That is not a daily chore please.

Dishes can be washed in the evening after meals, at least one will wake up to a clean kitchen.

Sweeping and dusting and arranging living room/dining every morning seems more realistic.

How many toilets/bathrooms are in the house that abeni will wash all the tiles in the bathroom/toilet, wash WC(s) scrub/disinfect everyday? Thorough washing can be done once a week as long as those using it keep it clean.

Washing and Ironing ALL CLOTHES everyday? Is she going to load the clothes on a machine or hand wash. If its a machine then she may do that everyday. Ironing everyday is not realistic, maybe twice or thrice a week. If she washes today she can iron the clothes tomorrow.

You didn't put time for other assignments like cooking, going to the market , other random chores. You also didn't mention preparing the children for school which I assume will happen between 6-7am, will she prepare meals / feed the children, or will you be the one to prepare them for school. You also didn't put rest/me time which should be before the kids come back. Abeni will also have to prepare meals for the children before they come back by 5pm all these are not factored on the table. Will she pick them from school?

All these other stuffs takes time and even house chores generally is not very easy and time consuming. The type of house also matters is it a flat,duplex mini flat etc, the bigger the house the more time consuming the chores her.

Also, everyone should make her job easier by putting things in proper places, keeping the restrooms neat etc.

I noticed you left out the bedroom cleaning.

I think she should have a day off possibly sunday, or friday if shes a muslim(she will be back before the kids come from school).

What time is she going to get educated as I read in your last post include that in the table too. Put these other factors into consideration when drafting your final table.

I believe its a superwoman that will do all that every blessed day.

Mystical888:
Hello Fellow Nairalanders,

When you start a family and the kids start growing, you realize that house chores start to pile up; dirty dishes unwashed clothes, kids school and homework, buying foodstuff and cooking for the family.

This gets harder when you have to work alongside or do business.

Then you have to choose between having one of your young relations come over or employ the services of a house help.

When you had to employ the services of a house help,did issues bothering on language, age,ethnicity,gender etc come up?

Then you have to consider the work schedule to fully maximize the hours of work and the monthly cost of engaging the help in the first place.

Do you draw a table like the one I’ve posted below or spell out her duties verbally?

Do you spread the chores to separate weekly activities from daily and monthly activities?

When and how do you realize that your house help is God sent and that she’s worth every kobo you’ve invested?

If you can find someone to work military style then that's fine. Very nice list there.
This list is for an adult literate homehelp.
Since it has no duties linked with waking the kids getting them ready for school or cooking then I presume those are covered either by yourself or another help.

A few suggestions as someone else has mentioned. One off day a month as well as a lunch break of at least one you each day.

Then about the clothes if she's washing everyday then I doubt the clothes would be a lot nevertheless no-one should hand wash every day .
Lastly...helping with homework is a tedious task you should pay extra for that cos that should be parents job.

Mystical888:


If she wasn't getting some education how will she be allowed to help with homework?
That's what's called "giving back to the host community".
You should read the subject in particular to understand what this post is about.

Besides, the schedule is a draft meant to seek your opinions for a water tight document that'll be flawless.
Everybody is to be put into consideration, both house help and family.

[quote author=Mystical888 post=45478863]


I don't see any time allotted to her education. Shouldn't the draft be free at least during the period?

I don't see the reason in educating a house help you are paying to take care of your house. You pay the agent 60k/ year or more sef depending on where you get them, then you have to enroll them in school? Its not realistic in this economy. If I must send my help to school, then I won't have to pay her family or agents any fee.

JustHere2Observ:
I don't see the reason in educating a house help you are paying to take care of your house. You pay the agent 60k/ year or more sef depending on where you get them, then you have to enroll them in school? Its not realistic in this economy. If I must send my help to school, then I won't have to pay her family or agents any fee.

That Is why you have no business employing a child as a maid. Children are not meant to be in full tim employment so most people who get children under 18 as maids say oh it's a way to help their parents, like a foster thing. If that is the case you must ensure the child gets an education and also gets study time. As far as I'm concerned using children as maids is wickedness and if you say its foster parenting then better be ready to act as a parent to that child. How a child be under your roof and you will be comfortable with her not getting an education

At Op, I hope hope chores you listed is for an adult and not a child. It would be evil to expect any child to take on all that.

If It's an adult, can you work all week without at least a day off No so why should you expect that of anyone else. Everyone need time to wind off away from work or else how do you expect her to get bitter and disgruntled

Madam, please go easy on the work schedule. The works are replicated on daily basis, and there are some chores that are to be done on weekly basis.

Nevertheless, I like your idea of putting up a timetable. It would help greatly.

Do a time table of how you would take care of the house adequately if you were the one doing the chores by yourself. Factor in time off and time for meals and even playtime with the kids. If you look at it and you would get tired and frustrated doing it , so would your house help. A frustrated house help would in turn take it out on the children. If your expectations are unrealistic you will continually be complaining of your help because she can never meet up with your standards. I have always had house help because I hate housework and I work hard enough topay so eone else. But usually I give them a break during my leave and some weekends and handle my home myself, that way I can see what needs to be done and do some other things to my own standards. By the time they come back they are refreshed and I am relieved to hand over.

I just reviewed the schedule to create rest time for the help.

This is what it looks like now, any more observations?

Hello Ladies!
Please can I have ideas from those with househelps?
Any information will be quite useful.

"Then you have to consider the work schedule to fully maximize the hours of work and the monthly cost of engaging the help in the first place."

@OP, from the above statement I can tell you are one of those who believe that once you pay someone a salary you must make sure that they spend a lot of their time working so that you can justify their pay. Well there is a reason why in most developed countries there are "Working hours" regulations. Why would you expect a human being to work 12 hours a week, seven days a week? What is wrong with an 8-hour shift for 5 days and then Saturday she does half-day. She has the whole of Sunday off. What about lunch break and having time for her meals? Apparently she will be doing some vocational training, so do you think she will have the strength to do all this work and then study? You can allocate Monday to washing of clothes, Tuesday to ironing, Wednesday to cleaning of the house and maybe changing of the sheets. Thursday to laundry. Friday to ironing. Saturday to maybe going to the market.
Another suggestion is she could do her morning shift, have lunch, siesta and then the evening should be dedicated to her studies and helping your kids with their homework.
Please we have advanced as a society and we cannot be treating our house-helps like second class citizens. They too get tired and are also entitled to some leisure.

Mystical888:

I just reviewed the schedule to create rest time for the help.

This is what it looks like now, any more observations?

This is a better schedule. One observation I would like to make is, don't rely too much on the house-help helping your kids with their homework. Make sure you also review your kids homework and ensure that they are learning the correct thing. Sometimes kids growing up learn improper grammar from their nannies. It is definitely the responsibilities of the parents to monitor what their kids are learning.

Nancy2016:

This is a better schedule. One observation I would like to make is, don't rely too much on the house-help helping your kids with their homework. Make sure you also review your kids homework and ensure that they are learning the correct thing. Sometimes kids growing up learn improper grammar from their nannies. It is definitely the responsibilities of the parents to monitor what their kids are learning.

Well noted!
Thanks.
That's what I d though.

Mystical888:


Well noted!
Thanks.
That's what I d though.

How much are you paying this person going by this horrendous roster?

This is the type of company rosters where they find it difficult to retain workers. Are you going to run a slave camp? Cos any salary or allowance less than 50,000 monthly with this second roster will be an outright exploitation.

Mystical888:


Well noted!
Thanks.
That's what I d though.

@OP:

I have a colleague who has a young maid (13+).

The maid decides when she does the required chores... e.g. mom I will wash the clothes on Friday, I will do a, b, c on Saturday etc.

You can also explore that option if your maid is reliable.

Mystical888:
Hello Ladies!
Please can I have ideas from those with househelps?
Any information will be quite useful.

How much are you paying as your kids' schoolfees and then leaving your help (who is not as educated as you) to tutor them through their homework? I've seen mums who do this and I wanna ask "does the maid know how to conjugate verbs that you're leaving her to help your child with her homework?". Why not do their homework with them when she's cooking their meal?

How old are the kids? Is the maid off on weekends, because if she lives with you she will still end up working on weekends.

There's nothing wrong about hiring a house help or any other domestic staff for that matter. The only issue is with the method many employ to hire these house helps and that's why they get their fingers burnt most times.

Reallion Multiventures is a company I know very well. They don't give you village girls who may not align with your values in anyway but quality home staff that have been trained & cultured with great communication & behavioural skills. They provide individual families and corporate clients with trusted and verified domestic helps for very reasonable prices. They also help clients manage these hired helps optimally.

Contact them via:
www.reallionmultiventures.com or call/WhatsApp 07019577875 to get reliable househelps, drivers, cooks, Nannies, Cleaners & more without having to break the bank.

It doesn't matter where you stay: Lekki, Ajah Ikoyi, Victoria island, VGC, Magodo, Gbagada, Ogba or anywhere else within or outside Lagos.