Managing Household Chores with a New Baby
Parent Q&A
Select any title to view the full question and replies.
Having a baby soon - need help!
–Oct 31, 2023Hello! I'm having a baby in a few months and looking for applicants / recommendation for someone to help me around the house. The ideal individual would (ideally) be able to do the follow:
- House Cleaning: I'm looking for someone who can clean the house, including floors, cabinets, kitchen, bathrooms, water plants, etc.
- Laundry: This individual has to be able to do laundry, wash sheets, wash furniture cushions.
- Organization: More than a traditional cleaner, I am looking for someone who can proactively organize the house. If there are coats out, hang them up, organize a messy snack cabinet, take the initiative to organize a messy t-shirt drawer.
- Ad Hoc: Potentially take on a few ad-hoc projects as they come up (think, cleaning out a garage or helping arrange the baby's room).
I'm looking to start once every two weeks and increase to 1-2x per week once I give birth. If this individual can also cook, I'd be happy to pay extra for that once the baby arrives. Overall, I'm looking to find someone to help with more than just cleaning, but also help me organize my house and help out around the house once the baby comes. Any recommendations or applicants are welcomed!
Oct 31, 2023How to find help around the house after birth?
–Aug 17, 2023Hello BPN! My wife and I are just days/weeks away from bringing our first baby home.
Both of our sets of parents would love to be able to help out as much as possible, but they all live on the east coast, so they have recommended that we hire someone to help with chores around the house like doing the dishes, laundry, general cleaning. Are there such services available? We are aware of professional maid services but our understanding is that those services usually focus only on things like cleaning the floors/bathrooms/dusting and don't really help with laundry/dishes.
Is anyone aware of any services or people that provide something like what we're looking for? No child-care would be involved in the service.
Any advice is appreciated!
[Moderator Note] a similar question was asked a couple of months ago. See Managing Household Chores with a New Baby
Aug 17, 2023Hi everyone,
I am new to this network and we just recently moved to South Berkeley. We have a newborn (7 week old) and no family as support. We tried to manage everything on our own so far but I have to admit that I am struggling in various areas and especially I am running on fumes. That‘s the reason why I would like to find inspiration on how to get any type of support. I thought, one aspect could be getting help with doing household chores and cleaning. Can someone recommend anyone? And since we never hired anyone for this or any other service before, what is the typical pay range and what else do I need to consider? How often do I need to have them come? Is twice a month ok?
I really appreciate any insight.
Secondly, does anyone know any virtual or in person women’s/mother‘s support group in (South) Berkeley or close to South Berkeley easy to access with public transportation?
Thanks so much and wish you all a lovely week
May 17, 2023
You won't find one person who does all these things, at least not in the Bay Area. To get everything done that's on your list, you are looking at 1) a regularly-scheduled housekeeper, plus 2) a one-time household organizer, plus 3) a wash-and-fold service, plus 4) a postpartum doula to help out after the baby comes. These are all separate professional services and each one might overlap a tiny bit with one of the others but none of them on their own do everything on your list.
1. Housekeeper. Most housekeepers don't do laundry. Some do, but most don't. They clean and they tidy up. They don't proactively reorganize your house. They are looking for regular clients every week or every other week where they know what the job is and how long it will take, because they are doing one or two other houses on the day they clean yours. They depend on having a regular, dependable income and generally aren't able to take on one-time or short-term tasks. There are also a number of cleaning services locally that *will* do a one-time clean or agree to just a few weeks or months and you can add on as many extra tasks as you want. These tend to cost more but they may be more convenient for you. There are recommendations on the BPN website.
2. Organizer. There are a lot of professional organizers who specialize in helping you organize your space so it's more efficient and easier for you to stay on top of. They would take on your garage, or the baby's room, or anything else you want. Some of them will do things like help you decide what to get rid of and arrange for stuff to be hauled away.
3. Wash-and-fold: Most dry cleaners and laundromats offer this service and it is usually not that expensive. You probably have one nearby! I love dropping a basket of stuff off when I get behind on my laundry.
4. Postpartum doula: They are there to help the family with a new baby and will often pitch in tidying up, running a load of laundry, meal preparation and of course baby tending, lactation support, etc. There are a lot of recommendations for this on the BPN website.
Good luck!