Tundraco's Daily Living Guide to Raising Kids Hiring Household Help

Household help can be a boon to any mother, whether they stay at home or go out to work. Household help can run the gamut from your mother coming over and helping you clean to a live-in maid.

You don't have to simply hire an individual to come in and clean your house. Numerous cleaning companies exist which come in and clean your home on a regular basis – much like a janitorial service comes in and cleans an office building.

Some traditional forms of household help are:

• Mothers' Helpers are often college girls looking to earn some extra money by doing basic household chores, in combinations with child care duties. They provide live-in help and are treated as members of the family.

• Full time/Live-in Maids are full time housekeepers. They seldom provide any child care services. Their duty is simply to take care of the house. Occasionally, maids will also do double duty as cook.

• Occasional/Part Time Help this is probably the most used form of household help. Temporary helpers can be called in to perform a specific task, such as washing windows. More often, they are called in to take care of general household duties. They may provide this maid service on a fixed schedule (part-time) or are called in only when needed.

• Personal Assistant this is like your own private secretary and then some. A personal assistant may do everything from combing your hair to taking care of your paperwork.

• Chauffeur for most of us, this is merely a synonym for mom. However, temporary chauffeurs can be hired. They're called cabbies, and they even provide their own vehicle!

• Larger households may also have fulltime cooks, launders, butlers, and chambermaids.

Most household helpers do not have any formal training. However, formal schooling opportunities do exist.

Household work is menial labor, the hours are long, most workers do not earn above minimum wage, and few are provided with any benefits, such as health insurance.

• If the 'help' commutes, they are generally reimbursed for their carfare and provided with meals.

Workers with certificates or degrees in household management usually receive better wages.

• With a college degree, professionals can earn six figured salary's!

Good household help may be hard to find and you may be forced to resort to newspaper ads or an employment agency. However, your best bet may simply be word of mouth.

• Always ask for and check the references of any potential employee.
• Do a full background check.
• Be sure to conduct a thorough interview. Ask about personal habits, such as smoking. When the worker is to live-in, set ground rules. Especially about whom they can, and cannot, invite into your home.
• Use the same care in hiring household help as you would in hiring a babysitter.

Hiring household help can be expensive, and for most is only suitable on an occasional basis, such as when you are ill or right before your mother-in-law descends upon you.

• For those that can afford it, household help can remove a tremendous burden from off the shoulders of an already overworked mother. This is especially true if you have just returned to work. You don't want to come home and have to clean house – you're going to want to relax and play with your baby!

Household help can sometimes be more work than 'doing it yourself'. You must teach your worker how you want things done, and they may not be very cooperative. It may also be stressful is you don't mesh, personality or cleanliness wise.

You may also need, or be required, to have your household worker covered under your insurance policy.

If you pay your home help more than $1,100 a year, you may be considered to be an employer by the Social Security Administration. As such, you must deduct Social Security and Medicare taxes from your worker's wages.

• You must pay half of your employee's social security tax.
• You are responsible for verifying their social security number.
• You must report any wages you pay out, to the IRS.
• You will need to fill out a W-2 tax form for your employee.

Check with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for up-to-date tax information.