# First world problems - Do you have a maid



## TallyHo (Aug 21, 2011)

Other thread got me wondering. The other day I overheard someone say fewer families are having maids these days due to the expense and inconvenience.

I've always had some type of cleaning help as long as I've lived in Dubai. Mine comes twice weekly for four hours each. Does all cleaning, laundry, ironing and changing the sheets. 

How many of you have a maid / cleaner?


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## Made in Sheffield (Mar 12, 2014)

We do all the cleaning ourselves. NB: when I say we, I mean me 

As there is only the two of us plus cat in a 2 bed apartment I can't see much point paying someone else to do it. We both work full time so I just get it done Friday morning which takes 2 hours at the most.

When you read horror stories of having a live in or agency maid it doesn't seem worth the hassle really.


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## Gavtek (Aug 23, 2009)

Twice weekly, 3 hours each time, paying an agency 35 Dhs per hour. Pretty standard really. Deep cleans both bathrooms and the kitchen and irons, and we do the rest ourselves.


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## A.Abbass (Jun 28, 2014)

Twice weekly, 2 hours each, the rest is handled by my wife, I take care of laundry & ironing


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## Felixtoo2 (Jan 16, 2009)

You take care of laundry and ironing, I've bad news for ya buddy, you are the wife lol!!


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## rsinner (Feb 3, 2009)

thrice weekly for 3 hours each - standard agency rates. 
With a little one who believes that the rightful place of all his toys is the living room, feels like we should be calling the maid more.


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## Edino (Sep 22, 2013)

2 times a week, 4 hours. Its otherwise pretty hard for my wife to keep our villa clean. I help by putting the dirty dishes in the dishwasher.


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## The Rascal (Aug 6, 2014)

I live on my own, the shirts etc. get sent to the little place around the corner for the clean and press and i have a dishwasher. Why on earth would I need a maid?


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## Fat Bhoy Tim (Feb 28, 2013)

I used to get a maid in twice a week, but it was a luxury I couldn't afford. I've been doing it monthly, usually, but honestly I haven't since December.


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## The Rascal (Aug 6, 2014)

Fat Bhoy Tim said:


> I used to get a maid in twice a week, but it was a luxury I couldn't afford. I've been doing it monthly, usually, but honestly I haven't since December.


You're lucky, what about this poor misguided soul....


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## Fat Bhoy Tim (Feb 28, 2013)

The Rascal said:


> You're lucky, what about this poor misguided soul....


:juggle:

Hard lines.

Seriously, that is just perfectly worded to be a blatant piss take. Shirely?


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## The Rascal (Aug 6, 2014)

Fat Bhoy Tim said:


> :juggle:
> 
> Hard lines.
> 
> Seriously, that is just perfectly worded to be a blatant piss take. Shirely?


Of course it is - I wrote it!


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## Made in Sheffield (Mar 12, 2014)

The Rascal said:


> Of course it is - I wrote it!


Would love to see the comments. I'd imagine they'd be on par with PAE.


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## The Rascal (Aug 6, 2014)

Made in Sheffield said:


> Would love to see the comments. I'd imagine they'd be on par with PAE.


We (me and work colleagues) used to write into 7days when it first came out in 2005/06, we'd usually sign it as "Moaning Myrtle, Mirdiff", we were constantly surprised at what they actually printed. This was just a follow up when i got bored.

December last year, replies here


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## TallyHo (Aug 21, 2011)

No one needs a maid but given the long hours I work and spend posting on here, I don't fancy using my free time mopping the floors or doing the laundry. Someone else is willing to do it for a certain sum. We're both happy. 

It gets very dusty in Dubai and as I like to go barefoot indoors I can tell how many days it's been since the last maid's visit! I'd have a maid to just mop the floors if for nothing else. 

I used to have the maid only weekly and sent the laundry out but then realised for not much more than what the laundry was charging, I could have her a second time a week to do the ironing plus a few other tasks. 



The Rascal said:


> I live on my own, the shirts etc. get sent to the little place around the corner for the clean and press and i have a dishwasher. Why on earth would I need a maid?


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## Stevesolar (Dec 21, 2012)

Hi,
We have a live in maid - as my wife made me sign a pre-nup stating that she would not do any cleaning, ironing or housework.
As I refuse to do these chores myself - we had no option other than get a full-time maid!
Cheers
Steve


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## BedouGirl (Sep 15, 2011)

Stevesolar said:


> Hi, We have a live in maid - as my wife made me sign a pre-nup stating that she would not do any cleaning, ironing or housework. As I refuse to do these chores myself - we had no option other than get a full-time maid! Cheers Steve


I like your wife


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## iggles (Jan 4, 2015)

No I have a very expensive Russian that just sits on her ass flicking the .... who doesn't cook, clean, wash (clothes) and just moans about the lack of shopping.


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## Stevesolar (Dec 21, 2012)

iggles said:


> No I have a very expensive Russian that just sits on her ass flicking the .... who doesn't cook, clean, wash (clothes) and just moans about the lack of shopping.


I guess that's the problem with catalogue brides


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## iggles (Jan 4, 2015)

Stevesolar said:


> I guess that's the problem with catalogue brides


I brought her with me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## The Rascal (Aug 6, 2014)

iggles said:


> No I have a very expensive Russian that just sits on her ass flicking the bean, who doesn't cook, clean, wash (clothes) and just moans about the lack of shagging.





iggles said:


> I bought her with me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Corrected that for you...


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## BedouGirl (Sep 15, 2011)

You don't need a housemaid, you need a house dog https://www.facebook.com/mrtintumon/videos/586520008039017/

A cuteness overload, but I couldn't resist....


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## Fat Bhoy Tim (Feb 28, 2013)

iggles said:


> I brought her with me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


But where did you pick her up from in the first place? 

Were the air mail fees pricey?


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## imac (Oct 14, 2012)

Stevesolar said:


> Hi,
> We have a live in maid - as my wife made me sign a pre-nup stating that she would not do any cleaning, ironing or housework.
> As I refuse to do these chores myself - we had no option other than get a full-time maid!
> Cheers
> Steve


ditto... mine cooks too... the maid, not the wife... 

she is more a part of our family than a maid really... we treat her that way, and she also behaves that way... not your typical "maid"... the other week she went ballistic on a maintenance guy who had come late to fix the ac in our sons room because "my boys are uncomfortable"... 

the wife and i were looking on with bemusement... it was very sweet really...


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## Froglet (May 7, 2014)

When we were living back home we didn't have one, so there is no reason to all of a sudden get one when living in Dubai...

Besides, we're not too comfortable with strangers in our house, so that's another reason not to have one.


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## Chocoholic (Oct 29, 2012)

Once a week for 3 hours for good clean. We do the rest ourselves during the week.


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## 200256 (Jan 16, 2013)

Laundrybox + maid once a week for 3h (1BR)

say, what about those russian brides... :eyebrows::heh::hat:


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## omar92 (Oct 8, 2013)

We use the building cleaners once a week. They do the floors, deep cleaning of the kitchen, bathrooms. Costs 75 dirhams per time. However, they're not very good. Am seriously considering using an agency to send over professional cleaners. 
We do the rest (laundry, washing up) on a daily basis. 
We're not a very big family so we don't really need a full-time maid. Although our apartment is nice and has a maid's room, it's 3 BR. Other residents in our building have maids though, including a family occupying a 1-bedroom apartment-I have NO idea how that works, or whether there's something I'm missing lol.


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## The Rascal (Aug 6, 2014)

omar92 said:


> We use the building cleaners once a week. They do the floors, deep cleaning of the kitchen, bathrooms. Costs 75 dirhams per time. However, they're not very good. Am seriously considering using an agency to send over professional cleaners.
> We do the rest (laundry, washing up) on a daily basis.
> We're not a very big family so we don't really need a full-time maid. Although our apartment is nice and has a maid's room, it's 3 BR. Other residents in our building have maids though, including a family occupying a 1-bedroom apartment-I have NO idea how that works, or whether there's something I'm missing lol.


I concur, an old neighbour of mine lived with his wife and 2 kids in a small 1 bedroom apartment with a full time live in maid. No idea what the sleeping arrangements were, in fact i shudder to think.


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## clarkr (Aug 12, 2014)

surprised no one here has experienced the obvious pit falls of a live in nanny:

The heart shredding betrayal of your husband sleeping with the nanny: A wife tells her devastating story - and the guilty man tries to explain himself  | Daily Mail Online

i think the funniest part of this article can be found in the comments...


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## TallyHo (Aug 21, 2011)

Obviously more going on than we're told.

He cheated on her with the nanny but she was the one who left the house and also left the kids behind.

The vast, vast and vast majority of women would not have done that, it'd be the husband who would leave.

Aside from that, there's enough said to imply she was a cold and frigid wife who really wasn't in love with her husband.



clarkr said:


> surprised no one here has experienced the obvious pit falls of a live in nanny:
> 
> The heart shredding betrayal of your husband sleeping with the nanny: A wife tells her devastating story - and the guilty man tries to explain himself* | Daily Mail Online
> 
> i think the funniest part of this article can be found in the comments...


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## The Rascal (Aug 6, 2014)

clarkr said:


> surprised no one here has experienced the obvious pit falls of a live in nanny:
> 
> The heart shredding betrayal of your husband sleeping with the nanny: A wife tells her devastating story - and the guilty man tries to explain himself* | Daily Mail Online
> 
> i think the funniest part of this article can be found in the comments...



have you seen most of the nannies/maids here, men may be desperate - but surely they're not THAT desperate?


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## rahzaa (May 2, 2012)

is there a minimum number of hours per visit for the part-time maid? I've heard 4 hours once, but here most people have written 3 hours. Does it depend on agency?


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## BedouGirl (Sep 15, 2011)

clarkr said:


> surprised no one here has experienced the obvious pit falls of a live in nanny: The heart shredding betrayal of your husband sleeping with the nanny: A wife tells her devastating story - and the guilty man tries to explain himself | Daily Mail Online i think the funniest part of this article can be found in the comments...


Oh seriously! Who on earth wrote that article? It reads like one of those old Mills and Boone books. What an absolute load of twoddle. It just goes to confirm why I would never, ever read the Daily Snail again.


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## TallyHo (Aug 21, 2011)

But we still gleefully open the links, don't we  So that we can moan about the DM afterwards 



BedouGirl said:


> Oh seriously! Who on earth wrote that article? It reads like one of those old Mills and Boone books. What an absolute load of twoddle. It just goes to confirm why I would never, ever read the Daily Snail again.


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## BedouGirl (Sep 15, 2011)

TallyHo said:


> But we still gleefully open the links, don't we  So that we can moan about the DM afterwards


Hahaha! It's always good to get the odd dose of it from time to time, just to remind ourselves....


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## rsinner (Feb 3, 2009)

rahzaa said:


> is there a minimum number of hours per visit for the part-time maid? I've heard 4 hours once, but here most people have written 3 hours. Does it depend on agency?


yes. some have 2 hours as well.


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## QOFE (Apr 28, 2013)

If you need to flaunt your faulty life on the pages of Daily Mail you don't earn any sympathy from me.
What an embarrassment! 

We have a weekly cleaner for four hours at the time. It would take me longer to do it and I'm not fond of housework so it is well worth it.


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## QOFE (Apr 28, 2013)

The Rascal said:


> have you seen most of the nannies/maids here, men may be desperate - but surely they're not THAT desperate?


There are quite a few stories doing the rounds about maids that are desperate to replace the ma'am.


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## LesFroggitts (Dec 30, 2013)

QOFE said:


> There are quite a few stories doing the rounds about maids that are desperate to replace the ma'am.


There always has been - everywhere I've worked (with the possible exception of Iraq  ) this has been doing the rounds - a little bit of horizontal work resulting in a whole new lifestyle - yes it happens.


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