All About Full-Time Maids

[LOLMum]

she has been attending a nursing course (apparently quite a no. of maids attending) for about 1 year and wishes to change her job. we dont know how she is going to do so but she told us the organisers at her centre are trying to help her get a job blah blah blah. wed dont ask her much about her activities on her day off.


anyway, she has been with my sis for many years and took good care of my late parents and handicapped sister. i know she feels bored as there is no one to talk to or much to do at home with just my sis.

we are willing to let her go even though we know it is very difficult to find another good maid. but who wants to be a maid forever right, so good for her to aim for something better.

[peapot]

Ya that’s quite true. Now demand more than supply I may have to give in to my current’s maid request too.

[Chu Liu Xiang]

LOLMum:

why should the employer be involved in the monetary issues between the maid and the agency?


that is also why i dont understand why the employer has to pay the loan for the maid and then deduct it from her salary. many conveniently forgot their loan and only know that they are not getting paid for so many months.

If you don't want to pay the loan for the maid that's fine. Ask the agent for a maid who can pay the loan upfront in full herself and then pay her the salary according to the S'pore rate.

See whether you can get one or not?

You've to understand the system here and HK/Taiwan are different. In HK/Taiwan employers pay $600 - $800 Sing dollars for experienced maids and the maid pays her own loan in full before stepping there.

In S'pore how many employers want to pay that amount of salary? At any rate if you can and willing to pay the loan FREE for the maid (like in some countries) and pays her salary in accordance to HK/Taiwan rate, why not? Nobody is stopping you from doing it if you can and willing to do it.

:xedfingers:

[Chu Liu Xiang]

peapot:

Ya that's quite true. Now demand more than supply I may have to give in to my current's maid request too.

The market is a bit tight now but not to the extent of a crunch otherwise MOM would have intervene.

See those maids sitting at the front of the agencies? Now how many of such maids are there we've no way of knowing except MOM.

I believe MOM is waiting for this pool of floating maids to be absorbed substantially before taking actions. Of course the employer just have to do more legwork to get the maid he/she want

:xedfingers:

[happy to be mum]

really can't stand those maids who specially state want to work for expats...irks me totally! my previous maid also went off to work for expat...i am already giving her most of expat terms already...*haiz* i realized when i went interviewed maids, all those who worked for expats when asked the reason, 10 out of 10 will say employer relocate! come on lah...all relocated??! then why want to take risks work for them cause wun be long?


btw..need advice here again really like KSP for all the advices and informations shared are you strict or fussy with housework? have an arguement with DH over mopping...he said i am maid abuser! i am used to mop with hand (ok..i am still old fashion on that)...but it is cleaner with hand mop than a mop. When I mop the floor myself, I will use hand mop too. Other than this, I dun have any other special request from maid. I dun expect my maid to hand wash her clothes or separate her clothes from us, which I know most of my friends do so. When I asked my friends the reaons, they will reply the maid do cooking and housework so clothes are more dirty so they expect them to separate & handwash their own clothes. Then I asked them if you dun have maids, you cook and do housework, do you handwashed your own clothes and they like..*blank*..

[Breadandmuffins]

I will not get those who specifically wants to work for expats cos their expectation very different.


Working for expats got lots of freedom and many days off plus high salary plus very free plus their standard of hse work different fr ours , so why not? Everymorning hv coffee and breakfast at poolside chit chat whole morning, no children to look after, at nite can go out do yr own things, very comfortable lifestyle for some of them here. My place full of them downstairs that I avoided going downstairs where necc. But no job stability cos expats can come and go every few years.

I used the Roman mop which I feel is very clean too. If you prefer hand mop and also used it yr self, I dont see why u cannot ask the maid to do so. My maid washed her clothes every few days in a separate load using the washing machine. Every household is different and do housework differently so cannot say if one is fussy or not. I will not ask her to do that extra just because I have a maid. For eg we hv a dishwasher so we will want her to use it and not ask her to "hand’ wash dishes just becos we have a maid. I also dont ask her to clean windows every month if its not necc.

Hope it helps.

[peapot]

Agree, I also have a dish washer at home. She can use as and when she likes. It’s true different Hse has different rules. What works for 1 home may not work in another. My friend thinks using dishwasher will waste electricity and water but to me it helps her to reduce her workload and it actually frees the maid to do other things. To me that’s being more productive. So I can’t fault my friend either because we think differently. Sometimes men need to look at the bigger picture. Just because the wife likes certain thing to be done in a certain way doesn’t mean she is a slave driver.

[hquek]

My maids handmop the floor. I will do that also if there is no maid. Don’t believe there is anything wrong with this.


As for her clothes, she washes this separately. It’s just our preference. Why should there be issue?

Someone told me before that she had told her maid not to put her clothes with the family’s in the washing machine. One day when she opened the washing machine lid (before wash cycle started), lo and behold, she saw the maid’s undies that had her period stains on it. (ultra gross I know)

I think for this reason alone many pp will rather have the maid wash her clothes separately.

[peapot]

I used the Roman mop before but it is difficult to reach the corners. But of course the floor dries up fast. Now they have this special mop where you just wrings the mop using the up and motion. Hmmm…sorry don’t know the name but I think quite useful.

[tigger88]

Every hsehold is different and priorities are different too. I want my maid to focus more on looking after my children when I am at work so I can close one eye on hsework. She uses a mop to mop the floor and doesnt vacuum daily.


For her own clothes, she will hand wash. For her bedsheet and blanket, I allow her to use the washer and dryer.