Why is it okay for women to give up their paying jobs to stay home with their kids but not to give up their unpaid work to do the same?  If you can afford it take the help for tasks you hate to do - there are no awards handed out for whoever does the most dishes or laundry.

It's only tangentially related, but we splurged on a roomba vaccuum, because I hate to vaccuum so much that I never would - nor would Mr. Leahsmom.  Man, I love that little thing - it does a good job (except for the occasional corner) and I always proclaim this is what science should do - make daily life easier!

This is a great idea! Outsourcing chores is a great quality of life improver.

If we could afford someone to do the wash and clean the house we would have someone...in a heartbeat.

As much as you can afford.  It also helps with any arguements about who's supposed to mop the floor and "do" the bathrooms.  Hiring someone to reduce work and strife...what a bargin.  

I am torn.  On the one hand, I am all for outsourcing tedious chores.  It gives you more time to spend with the children and enjoy life in general.  If you have the money, then why not?  On the other hand, I always end up feeling guilty about the money I waste.  I have to remind myself that money is meant to be spent on things that bring you pleasure, and not having to do chores would bring me pleasure.  It's hard, though.  I was raised by a very thrifty parent so there is a lot of guilt associated with spending money. I am also surrounded by moms who manage to do it all--cloth diapers, sewing their daughters own clothes.  I am left feeling like a spoiled slacker.

I second the vote for the Roomba.. what a lifesaver! Although mine keeps trying to hump the base of my tulip chairs and I have to pry its amourous little robot body off them once in a while when it gets stuck. Other than that, its great.

Me, I love doing laundry (the only time-consuming part is the folding, and it's warm and clean and you do it sitting down--what's the problem?) but if you hate it, by all means send it out.  It's using money to buy time, and what could be more pleasurable?

As for Barbara Ehrenreich, I'm a big fan from way back, but she's just wrong on this.  How come when you pay a guy to change your oil he's just a working guy, but when you pay a woman to clean the house she's exploited?  Because domestic work is assigned to women and is thus exempt from the market economy, that's why.  She should know better.

Anyway, the last two people I hired to clean my house quit to become librarians.

Man, you guys are inspiring me to steal my mothers roomba. My brother got it for her and she refuses to use it. I am going to visit her this summer and it might just have to come home with me!

If I had the money......oh yeah.  In.a.second.

If you can afford to pay someone to do any household task you hate, go for it. And I totally disagree with Ehrehrich on this one--many of the women who do these jobs do not have the education or language skills (yet) to pursue a more challenging career, and jobs like housecleaning, nannying, and laundry provide them with a decent income and in many cases, some control over their schedules if they have their own families.

I happen to like doing laundry (and cooking and gardening and making my own soap and home improvement projects), but I HATE mopping and cleaning the bathroom.  I outsource what I hate to a housekeeping service, and keep the parts I like. So, I do most of the laundry, but send my husband's shirts to the cleaners (hate ironing).  I dug my own french drain and removed my own wallpaper, but I can't remember to clean the oven to save my life.  

Afford it?  There is no washer/dryer in my building.  I can't afford to buy one of those ventless models and have a plumber come over to finagle a water hookup in my rental... then to pay extra utilities, maintenance, and supply (um, detergent?) costs over time.

Oh, and I can't afford to move to a nicer building.

It costs around $10 a week to do my own laundry in the laundromat and a little over twice that to pay for wash-and-fold service (in which case they supply the detergent, etc.).  An extra 10-15 bucks a week to buy relief from spending a couple of hours dashing between machines in a hot, noisy laundromat with a ten month old in my arms?  I'll take it.  

I'm not even going to count this as a luxury.

I used to use a wash and fold service before I had kids, and I loved it. When I was pregnant, we figured we had to get a washer and dryer. Now that we have them, I don't know if I can justify sending the laundry out. I would still like to, though. What I would really love is if someone would come home to put the clothes back into the appropriate drawers. That's where the system always breaks down at our house. We just pull clean clothes out of the laundry basket half of the time. Eventually the twins end up "helping," and the laundry is strewn all over the floor.

I'm also torn about the paid help thing.  On the one hand, it would be great to outsource those less pleasant tasks.  (I don't mind the laundry or the folding, but the ironing and putting away I could definitely do without, not to mention vacuuming, dusting, scrubbing bathrooms, etc.)  However, I think I've realized over the years that I enjoy the nurturative (is that even a word?) aspect of housework and cooking.  When my husband and daughter come home from tough days at work/ school, I want home to feel like a comfy retreat from the outside world.  And clean toilets, a batch of homemade cookies and a delicious dinner on the table when they come home is part of that.  So even though there's part of me that would jump at the chance for someone to come over and do the housework, I think I might actually find out that I didn't want some hired stranger taking care of my family for me???