Should You Get a Part-Time or a Full-Time Helper?

Coronavirus has turned the world upside down and we can only imagine the stress of expecting moms during this period. Apart from arranging for a confinement nanny, there is also a need to find someone to ensure that your house is neat and clean. 

Should you hire a full time maid or a part time cleaner to maintain the cleanliness of your house? Let’s find out which would suit your needs. 

You Should Get a Part Time Helper if…

1. You Have a Confinement Nanny

If you have arranged for a confinement nanny with PEM, you can be rest assured that your confinement needs are in good hands. While your confinement nanny will help you with basic household chores, it is recommended that you engage a part time maid so that your confinement nanny can focus on what she does best – caring for your baby and guiding you in your motherhood journey. Think of it this way – the less household chores your confinement nanny does, the more she can share with you on her expertise on breastfeeding and infant care. You want your confinement nanny’s attention to be on you and your baby, not worrying about the cleaning the house. Let the part time cleaner handle all the household chores, such as cleaning the kitchen after your confinement nanny prepares the confinement food. This way, you can make the best of your confinement nanny service.

2. You Are on a Tight Budget 

In this current economic climate, it may be prudent to cut back on certain non-essential expenses, one of which would be the cost of hiring a full time helper. Not everyone can afford to have both a confinement nanny and a full time maid at the same time. 

Compared to hiring a full time maid, hiring a part-time maid from a reliable platform would definitely be cheaper. Just to give you a rough estimation, part time cleaner for a 3-hour cleaning session every week would cost you about $250 a month. On the other hand, a full time domestic helper would cost you a good $800 a month. There is also a $300 monthly levy, and all the costs associated with the domestic helper’s living expenses such as food and transportation. A conservative estimate of the total costs associated with hiring a domestic helper would be $1500 each month.   

Hiring a domestic helper can cost a whopping 6 times that of a part time cleaner. That $1250 savings per month becomes $15,000 in savings for a whole year. Unless you really need a full-time helper, a part-time cleaner makes much more sense financially. 

3. You Want a Flexible, Personalized and Fuss-Free Home Cleaning Experience 

Full time helpers come with higher levels of commitment, which can be a double-edged sword. Once a contract is signed with a maid agency, it would be difficult to switch to another helper, especially with the limited pool of direct transfer maids in Singapore due to the current travel ban. If you decide to switch from using a full time helper to a part time cleaning service, you may have to bear some financial costs for prematurely terminating the helper’s employment contract. 

On the other hand, part time cleaners essentially come with little to no commitment. On a trusted platform, if you are unsatisfied with the quality of work of one cleaner, you can easily request a switch at no extra cost. If you want to pause the cleaning service for a period of time, you do have the flexibility of doing so and you just have to give notice to the platform. 

Another thing to consider would be if the cleaner gets along with your confinement nanny, given that your confinement nanny will be interacting with the cleaner on some level. Both your confinement nanny and your cleaner are both hired to make your motherhood journey a smooth one and it defeats the purpose if they do not get along. It is hard to keep changing maids but you have the freedom to change part time cleaners via a cleaning service platform until you find someone compatible.

You May Also Read this : Confinement Nanny vs Domestic Helper

You Should Get a Full Time Helper if… 

1. You Are Willing to Pay a Premium for 24/7 Household Help

 A full time helper may be worth the hefty price tag if you require someone to be constantly on standby and to be able to handle a wide range of tasks, such as taking care of young children and the elderly, cooking and running errands.  This is in addition to having a confinement nanny, who will be focused on caring for your newborn. Thus, engaging a full time helper may be more suitable for multi-generation families due to the volume of housekeeping and caregiving responsibilities they require help with. Keep in mind that full time helpers are entitled to their vacation days and you may have to arrange an alternative source of help for days when your full time helper is sick/on their off-day.

2. You Have a High Volume of Household Tasks

If you require someone to do housework every day, a full time helper may be more cost-effective. For instance, you live in a landed property with many rooms and toilets. Hence it may be better for you to have a full time helper as the helper will have places around the house to clean every day. Of course, if you are uncomfortable with the idea of a stranger living in your home, then booking a cleaning service on demand may still be more suitable for you.  Ultimately, you have to take into consideration all the factors above and decide whether a full time helper or a part time maid is most suitable for you. 

We hope you found this article useful in helping you to decide whether a part time or a full time helper is the right fit for you. If you are still torn between the two options, we suggest trying out the lower cost option of the part time cleaning service first to see if it suits your lifestyle as a new mom. In addition, you can always switch to having a full time maid when your confinement nanny completes her service.