Dear Scoop, I think there is a lot more to the story of the recent post classifying the rising cost of cleaning help as a crisis. Reading the comment section, it was on the one hand amusing, but actually very frustrating to see some posters poking fun at the situation. The facts are we depend on labor for a lot more than cleaning help. While some may find it funny to make jokes about vaccumgate and the cleaning crisis. The bottom line is that dynamic is indicative of a very real problem in our local economy.
All of us want to live in homes, buy food from groceries, go out to eat or order in every now and then. Guess what all those industries have in common. Day labor.
As the price of day labor rises those costs are passed on to us consumers. Think it doesn’t matter? How about construction. If a developer is paying a whopping 30% more to his labor over what he paid just 3-4 years ago that means the price of the finished product will reflect that. A guten yishuv!
I personally was in Town Hall at a meeting when a group of about 10-20 laborers came in and demanded that the Twp legislate that their minimum wage should be $10 an hour. This was about five years ago. By the way, I found it quite ironic that the supplicants were likely demanding this legislation for work they did off the books, and that many of them were possibly not even legally in the country or permitted to work to begin with. At that time I think the going rate was 8 to 9 an hour and they wanted more.
Right now, the cost of day labor in the Employee Service Area, comes out to more than what sem girls and some married women are making working in offices once taxes etc. are deducted. Does that make sense?
What we need is a proactive advocate in town to control this situation. If the cleaning ladies want to band together and demand 20 an hour (what!), we should band together and use that power as a negotiating tool to keep the pricing down. Everyone deserves a living wage. But if you are cleaning houses, and or other low skilled services, your place is not in the same pay grade as those who have more skills, education and bring more to the table.
It also bears mentioning that day laborers are getting about 12 an hour in places like Barnegat according to some construction and contracting professionals there. This price is for interim work. Not for steady work. It seems that Lakewood is paying higher than the surrounding towns for interim work. However, there is a large food service establishment paying $10 an hour for steady work and another one paying $9. Steady work means they don’t have to stand there waiting till someone comes along. This writer gets steady work for $10 an hour. The point is that Lakewood housewives, contractors and anyone paying for day labor should stop rolling over every time the workers decide they want a raise.
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I hear that you are upset about the situation but the fact is I don’t believe someone will band everyone together, and until then everyone has to make their own decision if $20 is worth an hour of housework for them. I don’t believe that if you need the house work done, and you could (barely) afford it, you should not get help for the ‘better good’.
pay your kids to help way cheaper , less geneivos , they are occupied and learn the responsibility of earning and budgeting ( yes this outweighs the notion PAY YOUR KIDS!! u live here) try it , it works
When I couldn’t get cleaning help for over 6 months (more actually) my children helped around the house. They got privileges not money, but they were very happy. Statistics show that children who get chores are far and away more successful as adults later in life than their ‘pampered’ peers. I do have cleaning help now, but the kids still have to be responsible for their personal belongings and the mess in the playroom.
There will always be cleaning help available willing to do it cheaper , especially if u use them weekly.
Ever think about cleaning your own house??? None of the goys I know have a cleaning lady.
Workers are entitled for pay based on their personal skill/ability (which varies from person to person). One can decide they don’t want to pay it, which narrows the pool of high quality candidates for the job. Supply and demand has a real impact on jobs, no matter WHICH industry you are talking about. It would be nice if the employer base could ‘band together’ to control rising labor costs, but the laborers are FULLY entitled to ask for a higher pay rate if they believe they are worth it. Fair on both sides of the equation.
Pay your kids doesn’t work when your oldest is 6… and your working full time and need cleaning help. Some need it more than others…
Whatever happened to women of the house cleaning?? I understand that help is always good and sometimes there are circumstanses where she can’t do anything (CV”s sick etc) but in general where did the moderne concept of women not cleaning come from? Si past nisht ??? Our mothers & bubbes cleaned even toilets!!
Our mothers and bubbies didn’t work out of the home for so many hours like we do. As a full time working mom, cleaning help is vital to my functioning and sanity.
They didn’t work full time!
To Dovid how many kids do they have that help make a mess don’t you think that might be a factor not a fair comparison buddy
Voting for Trump agenda means less day laborers, which means cost of labor goes up.
To Izzy,
They (mothers and bubbies) are now out working either supporting their husbands in learning or bringing in a second pay check so they can cover tuition.
The reason women did the cleaning “back in the day” was because the husband was out working and did not have time to do so…times have changed dramatically.
If you read the comments on this post and the last you’ll notice all the people who are anti having a cleaning lady are men. I don’t have a lot of hours a week but the ones I do have are very important. Yes our mothers and grandmothers cleaned bathrooms. And so have I! But our parents and grandparents didn’t have as many children and even if they did they didn’t work! Men worked full time and that was enough to provide for their families. Now a days especially in Lakewood many men don’t work but their wives do full time. And even when the men work their salaries are often not enough to support our family sizes!i feel bad for the wives of those men!
Izzy,
Our mamas and bubbes didnt work full time either 🙂
I could choose to clean, but I choose to cook fresh suppers, listen to reading homework, shop for the children’s needs, watch them when they play outside, say shema, read bedtime stories, watch them play in the bath, listen to their tales out of school, wash mud encrusted play clothing, guide girls in purchasing clothing, etc. Economics dictate that I work, so that makes time in the day to do real housework limited. BH we have good reasons to need cleaning help.
They didn’t work full time!
Izzy:
Yidden throughout the generations had goites. In Spain, in Eastern Europe, even poor people had them helping. Yidden have a different lifestyle – more children, more complicated responsibilities all around, clean standards in general. How many goyim bathed often? Yidden always had to have enough water shlepped to wash negel vasser, before each meal, bathe for Shabbos and mikve). They always had 2 sets of dishes; had to kasher chicken themselves. They cooked fish and meat every Shabbos. The list can go on and on.
More responsibilities, more expenses; yes, even the poor among them made functionality a priority.
(I discussed this with my holocaust survivor grandmother. She was one of ten children whose father sat and learned. Very poor but always cleaning help.)
If you catch women sitting and watching TV every night, which is what goyim have time for, (or if they’re even sitting on the couch for more than five minutes!) you can ask what happened to cleaning their own homes.
You people are hilarious. You all vote for republicans that are all for free markets until those free markets cause you to pay more. Then you want regulations.
It’s more like, if it would be truly a free market and the economy set up without too many regulations, perhaps people would be able to afford the cleaning help they need because they wouldn’t be paying them more per hour than they take home.
Inflation is also to blame- salaries aren’t going up proportionally, but all expenses are. The main ones it’s good for are banks, but that’s about it. I don’t think most people want no regulations, but government is really out of control- way too huge and suffocating.
Hey, I know someone who works full time (not me, I only “work” for pay part time, but, a woman’s work is never done so I’m on call 24/7) and she never had a cleaning woman, cooks hers meals from scratch (no take out) and still manages to have a spotless (and I mean SPOTLESS) house. Granted some women aren’t as capable, but if you can’t afford cleaning help, don’t kvetch about it, just pick up a broom and scrub brush and get to work. By the way a six year old child can do a lot to help. They can learn to sort and fold laundry, set and clean off a table, even sweep and vacuum a floor. They can certainly pick up toys. You just have to teach them.
My grandmother had 3 helpers. One for laundry – one full day a week, one to help her mother cook (interested in going back to kashering chicken yourself and plucking those feathers) and one to help with the little kids while her mother was in the kitchen. My grandmother said she always cleaned her portion of her room herself. Going back in the day having an extra set of hands was crucial. Today, I live in Lakewood and my family is not from here. I need an extra hand.
My daughters help but it’s not enough. They come home burnt out, close to 6:00 from school, have homework and need to breathe. It isn’t fair to ask for the amount of help I need from children that feel the need to relax.
This judgement on other people needing anything that they feel isn’t their necessity has got to stop. Everyone has different reasons why they need different things and/or help.
I don’t judge you. Please don’t judge others.
I could’ve folded quite a bit of laundry instead of reading all this.
Please be reminded that all humans and different amounts of energy by nature, and all children have different levels of maturity and ability as wel.
I have 3 kids ages 4,3, and almost 2. I work from 8:45-4:15. Even though my husband insists I hire help, i feel like we can use the much needed money elsewhere. I realized that kids really dont mind helping out, and its best to train them when young. My 2 “big” boys have already been trained to always throw out their garbage, and pick up their toys. People cannot believe that my playroom stays spotless without me doing a thing! My kids “make their beds” sort their dirty clothing into the hamper, and they know they cant leave their room a mess. The other day when my nieces were here for the night, they were horrified how they didn’t straighten up their beds, throw out their garbage after breakfast, etc… Of course this doesnt take the place of real cleaning help, but its amazing how much it still helps.
“Resident”, To me, that says that today’s generation is lazy- they don’t need time to kasher chicken or schlep water, but still need help. My father in law was 1 of 8, no cleaning service. My mother in law raised 9 kids on her own after her first husband passed on. Couldn’t afford a cleaning service either.
As someone pointed out, none of the goyim have help, both parents working full time, many have 3 kids, and sports, homework, reading to their kids at bedtime. And like you said, they still have time for tv on top of all of that. Why?
My kids helped pick up their toys at 3, folding laundry by 5 (badly, but they did it), washed dishes, took out garbage, scrubbed the toilets by age 11. Most girls could change diapers and feed a baby by 10 (mine changed her brother at 5 yrs old).
And I hope when you say your great grandfather sat and learned, that wasn’t the extent of his life. My father and husband both cook. Parenting is a team effort. Though I suppose if dad isn’t pulling his share of the labor, then yeah, mom needs a cleaning service. And a better husband.