Part-time help

Alhamdulillah, last weekend was the second time I've engaged part-time help to do some cleaning chores around the house. It has been my intention since ... erm a long time ago that I would opt for part-time help rather than full-time, but this wasn't realised even after 5 months we have moved to our new home. I have tried calling a local company offering the service, but I guess the package is not very attractive to me, and I dislike the lack of flexibility. It's only when my sister Kaklong got herself a live-in full-time maid recently that I was able to make an arrangement with Kaklong and the maid for her to come to my house every other weekend (on her day off). Thank you, Kaklong and Makcik Ning! Makcik Ning is only too happy to make additional income doing 'overtime'. She's very hardworking, too (and I'm a lazybone).

As someone who doesn't enjoy cleaning chores, her help means a lot to me. If I were ever to achieve my dream of becoming a WAHM, I hope I will still earn enough (or get enough pocket money, hint hint) to be able to afford part-time help. Four hours each session is sufficient to sweep and mop the ground floor, clean the kitchen and two bathrooms, and still enough time left to do some ironing. She asked if she should do the first floor too, but I said no need because the level is not used as much as the ground floor, so I am able to tackle it myself.

When I first met Makcik Ning, she asked how many kids I have and who's taking care of them and she said, "Kenapa tidak ambil pembantu saja?"
And when she first came to my house, she asked again, "Kok lebar rumahnya, kenapa tidak ambil pembantu saja?"
And the first time when she was doing some chores in the kitchen, overlooking the patch of unutilised land, filled with wild plants (weeds) instead of useful herb, she said, "Kenapa tidak ambil pembantu saja? Kan boleh dia tanam dan siram pokok?"

The truth is, I think I have some sort of mental block, a mindset, a mind set. When we designed our house, I didn't even include a maid's room. If a time ever come in the future when I would need to hire a full-time maid, she may need to sleep upstairs in one of the rooms meant for the kids, or (worst case scenario) I may even have to renovate the house a bit.

I enjoy our privacy, and even the mere four hours Makcik Ning was at our house, I was keen to see her leave soon. As we were leaving, she saw that the porch needs some sweeping, but I said, "Tak payah, tak payah, nanti saya sapu. Jom." But of course, people get used to new conditions. I think if I were to decide to get a full-time helper, we, as a family would get used to it. The thing is, I don't want to get used to it and I don't want US to get used to it. As it is, even with Makcik Ning coming every other weekend, I can feel myself starting to be dependent on her coming, which I think is not good. But at least I am aware, then I can check myself.

But I'm pretty happy with the current arrangement, Alhamdulillah. Yes, that's what I wanted to say in this post.