My least favourite chores

I have a confession to make. I dislike cleaning chores. Amongst the ladies in my family (the gents are in a different league altogether), I think I’m the ‘laziest’ when it comes to cleaning. From doing the dishes, to mopping the floor, to cleaning the bathrooms, scrubbing the toilet bowl, scrubbing the floor, wiping the windows. Not only are they not fun, they really exhaust me as well. Laundry is not too bad, unless the clothes get soiled such that I need to scrub scrub scrub manually. I enjoy cooking, but I dread the prospect of cleaning up the pot and pans and knives and chopping board and plates and whatnots afterwards.

Well, what needs to get done still needs to get done. I would do them even if I were dragging my feet. But if I have a choice, I would personally prefer to hire someone to help me do them. Can? I think nowadays a lot of families opt for this part-time help, though the help is usually found through someone who knows someone who does this. I think there should be more agencies that offer cleaning services. I saw one advertisement in Sekyen 9 the other day, offering cleaning services from as low as RM9.90 per hour. Not bad, right? Of course the hour rate of a live-in domestic maid is lower, wait a minute, let’s compute that, shall we? Fees etc for a 2 year contract RM4800, salary RM400 per month, bed and food RM100 per month, so that’s RM700 per month total. Minus off rest time etc, let’s say she works 8 hours a day, 6 days a week. So, that’s about RM3.40 per hour. But of course, the trade-off is privacy and peace of mind. So despite being cheaper, some people would still prefer to have part-time cleaners to come once or twice a week. In fact, I think at RM10 per hour, even locals would be able to bring home a decent sum at the end of the month. Let’s say two shifts of 3 hours in a day (one in the morning, and one in the evening), 5 days a week, that would be about RM1200. Of course, there’s no guarantee she’d get the 120 hours per week, unless she has a fixed arrangement with, say 5 houses to come twice a week each. Would the ladies hired by companies who got cleaning contracts for the KLIA and KL Sentral, for example, be better off trying to do ‘freelance’ cleaning? I wonder.

If I have a nice neighbour, who happens to have a live-in hardworking maid, perhaps I would attempt to discuss an arrangement whereby her maid come over to my house maybe once or twice a week for cleaning works in her rest or ‘free’ time. Of course, the neighbour must not be someone who would feel ‘cheated’ out of what she paid to her maid just because she spends 4 hours a week somewhere else earning extra money lah. Theoretically, it should be a win-win-win situation: me, for getting the cleaning help I need, the maid, for getting extra money, and her employer, urmm well, she should be happy to help both her maid and neighbour. Well, fine, if it's better for me to pay part of the maid’s monthly salary, I wouldn’t mind either. Oh dear, do I always give this much thought to imaginary situations?

And this is not the first time I start thinking about outsourcing tasks. Last time, I had suggested we buy homecooked meals from neighbours (ideals ideals, can these work in real life?). What to do, outsourcing is one of the things a homemaker can do to manage her household. I recalled a conversation with Makcik S, Munief’s former babysitter a long time ago. She is one superwoman; who ran a perfect household when she was working last time (she’s retired now). “We women have to be good at managing our time,” she said. I listened intently; this should be a useful tip. Makcik S continued, “After the kids has gone to bed at night, we should continue to do the chores for example wash the dishes, or fold the clothes, or clean the toilet, until say 12 p.m. After that, the following morning, we wake up early, let’s say at 4 or 5 in the morning, and cook breakfast and lunch before we go to work.” Ouch!! Is that what she meant by managing our time? That is, to reduce our sleeping and resting time, in order to get all the tasks done? Huhu, sorry Makcik S, I’m not a superwoman like you, unfortunately. If I don’t get enough rest, I’ll be terribly drained and weary (lesu) the next day, and won’t be functioning at my best. I sometimes becomes cranky when I'm exhausted, and I don’t like it at all, and I’m sure people around me don’t like it as well.

I’m suddenly reminded of an article in the Star about a study that links the rise of domestic crime in India to the upward mobility of their women in the economics and social spheres. The theory is that, the society has not been able to adjust to this change yet. One of the examples given (in a humorous light) is the common terms used in matrimonial adverts when looking for a bride: ‘Economically-independent, but homely’. This is, quoting the article, the code for women who would happily slog in the kitchen to prepare a proper 10-course Indian dinner after a long day at work.

But I’m digressing! What am I blabbing so much about? My point actually, is, if you are someone who is brainstorming on what business to do, do consider cleaning services. I’ve actually considered this, but quickly decided a naaah, because it’s not exactly something suitable as a part-time endeavour (which was what I was looking for), and secondly, managing human resources would probably be challenging. But after you’ve done the research and survey etc and decided to start a cleaning services agency, do let me know. And give me discount lah, can?