Disputes between husbands and wives over the division of household labor are a leading cause of marital strife. And it's no wonder--women spend an average of 35 hours per week doing chores like cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping, and laundry, while their husbands spend less than nine. Even when work is divided equally, how do busy families fit in the equivalent of a full-time job and still have time for more interesting and fun activities?
A Housekeeper Is Cheaper Than a Divorce: Why You CAN Afford to Hire Help and How to Get It presents a solution that's been largely overlooked for at least a couple of generations--delegating those chores to a paid worker. Despite the cultural myths that label household help as a luxury only for the wealthy, author Kathy Fitzgerald Sherman shows that hiring help can be not only an effective time-management tool but also the best economic decision for a family. She offers some ideas for rearranging budgets to hire the help that will give busy women time for work, play, family, exercise, even needed sleep.
Affordability isn't the only stumbling block addressed in the book, which explains both the whys and hows of hiring household help. Challenges dealt with include guilt feelings, tax mysteries, language barriers, training challenges, differing quality standards, and finding the perfect employee to handle unwanted daily chores. The book is loaded with helpful forms and checklists, along with dozens of anecdotes and examples from the author's own experiences and a nationwide survey of professional women.
Readers Will Learn: - Why household help is a time management tool, not a luxury for the wealthy
- Why depending on husbands to share housework is unrealistic and futile
- How to cost-justify a housekeeper's salary and sell the idea to a spouse
- How to decide whether to hire a nanny, a housekeeper, or a cleaning service
- How to define the job that needs doing and then find the right employee for that job
- How to organize a household so that a housekeeper can work effectively
- How to comply with the nanny tax laws
- How to apply management skills from the workplace to treat a housekeeper fairly, while getting the best possible performance for every hiring dollar
What is an overloaded family to do when household chores overwhelm them? There is a solution beyond constant bickering or exhaustion. After all...a housekeeper is cheaper than a divorce.
