It isn’t something unusual now for a family to have a lived-in domestic helper. The demands of office work, the obligations of raising a family and the need to have some personal time have caused many people to choose to hire a maid.
A maid can be a great help in so many ways.
She helps to keep things clean around the house, she can do any heavy housework like mowing the lawn or unclogging the rain gutters, she can look after the children while you’re at work and certain maids even cook for the family.
But when is it considered necessary for a family to have a maid and when is it deemed as an “easy way out of doing housework”?
Every family has different needs, various priorities and individual routines. Before deciding to have a maid, the things above are just some of the aspects to consider. There also the advantages and disadvantages of having a maid need to be looked into.
Here we briefly discuss the advantages and disadvantages of having a maid to help you answer the question: Do I really need a maid?
Advantages
More time with family – This is perhaps one of the biggest advantages of having a lived-in maid. After a long day at work and preparing dinner when you get home, it is good to know that there is someone to take care of the dishes and cleaning up while you spend some quality time with your family in the lounge. Having someone to do the housework for you means you have more time to spare and this time can be spent for your family that you have not seen the whole day
Less traveling – With a lived-in maid, you are able to leave your children with the maid while you’re at work or whenever you need to leave the house to run some errands. There is no need to drive back and forth to the nursery every day or look for babysitter when you have urgent appointments. This means less worry for you when it comes to searching for someone to look over your children while you’re not around
A helping hand – Most people choose to have a lived-in maid so they have someone to help them with almost anything around the house. While certain people do leave everything to the maid, some still like to do the housework themselves. Only that with a maid, you’re able to do more at half the time as you can divide the housework between you and the maid or get your maid to complete any minor chores while you get everything else done
Regular cleaning – A maid can keep your house clean on a more regular basis as she can do the cleaning every day. If you’re someone who only does any housework only on weekends, then a maid can lighten the work by doing it every day of the whole week
More personal time – If having a maid can allow you more time with the family, then it can also give you time for you to spend on yourself. You are able to do the things you want and like. For example, you can go on a date night with your spouse, or go for a monthly visit to your favorite hairdresser without the worry that your kids are left alone
Disadvantages
Supervision – When you have a maid, it makes you the employer. When you’re the employer, you will need to exercise authority on your employee. If your maid is slacking in her household chores or has an attitude problem, you still need to treat her with respect while enforcing your authority on her. Some people are not skilled at this and thus making handling their maid a problem and a stressing issue.
Security and vulnerability – Having a lived-in maid means allowing a stranger in your house. As much as you have investigated the maid’s background and crosschecked the agency she came from, it is quite another thing to have her around your home day in day out. The trust you put in her, especially in leaving your children vulnerable with her while you’re not around, is something not many people can do. It may take some time or even a very long time before you can finally get the worry off your mind about leaving your maid alone at home
No privacy – Perhaps one of the most striking disadvantages of having a maid is that there is no true sense of privacy for your family anymore. Even if your maid is not included in the family time, say while you play Twister with your kids, to have an outsider in the house while you are having the most private moments with the ones you love can be a little bit awkward
Maid over mommy – It is not uncommon for some mothers to complain that their children are more attached to the maid than they are to them. This is not surprising as the maid will be the one that spends more time with the kids while you’re out working for 9 or 12 hours. While it’s true that you can have extra time for your children if you have a maid but usually, the maid is who the kids run to
Cost – It’s not cheap to have a lived-in maid nowadays. In order to hire a maid of a certain Asian country, a couple needs to earn a minimum of RM60,000 per annum. Then there’re other cost like documentations, immigrations, licenses and processing fees and later the monthly salary that needs to be paid to the maid when your application is approved. This doesn’t include any medical bills or personal items that your maid is going to need. There are many expenses that needs to be considered when it comes to having a maid
There is no right or wrong about having a maid as long as you are able to afford it for a good, strong reason.
Other than what are stated above, there are many more things to consider before getting a maid. It is wise to make a list of all the pros and cons you can think of and ask yourself questions as to whether do you or your family really need a maid or are you still able to get through things without one?
Whichever your answer lies, then only it would be right to make the decision of hiring a lived-in maid or not.
