Taking in a lodger / housekeeper

RealLife

trailingspouse wrote: »

You just have to do it.

I do it now. But I'm looking to improve my QoL.

RealLife

Pixie5740 wrote: »

This has to be a wind up. Someone to cook, clean and wash your backside in return for board the equivalent of £70 a week who also has to fit in around your work patterns. You're going to struggle.

Would the housekeeping for a house of two be that much more than she would need to do for herself living alone?

RealLife

Jabberwk wrote: »

modern slavery.

I don't see how it's any more like slavery than housekeeping for yourself or in a hotel etc.

AdrianC

RealLife wrote: »

But I'm not looking for a full time employee.

Who said anything about "full-time"?

I wouldn't want all that nonsense just to get my gutters or windows cleaned every few months either.

Nor would you have it. Because you wouldn't be employing somebody. You'd be contracting a business (even if it's a single self-employed person) to do the job for you.

Jabberwk

It's different because if you are housekeeping for yourself you get to choose how much you do, when, and what standard you do it to and if you're housekeeping in a hotel (or indeed for an employer whose home you live in) you are getting paid in money as well as accommodation and have all the rights and legal protections that entails.

I did say that I didn't believe modern slavery was your intention, just that if I saw an advert such as you described that's one of the reasons it would ring alarm bells with me.

If you do intend to go ahead with this plan, I would suggest looking for advertisements (on gumtree for example) that offer domestic duties in exchange for free accommodation, rather than placing one yourself requesting it. It's a subtle difference, but because the starting point is their intention, rather than yours, you may be less open to having your intentions misread.

Do keep in mind that even if the person is willing to enter such an arrangement with you, they will still need some sort of income, and if they are working or studying elsewhere their hours may not fit in with your shift patterns.

duchy

Even if this wasn't a wind up the OP would have issues with his employer role as if you offer something instead of money to an employee there are tax and NI implications.

I'd suggest he'd be better off in Thailand or similar where housekeepers are cheap rather than well paid and his rather odd attitude toward gender roles won't get him into so much trouble . Good to know dinosaurs still wander the earth though

Again if genuine I'm looking forward to the future posts...... "My housekeeper has friends and they visit" "My housekeeper wants the TV on whilst I'm at home" etc

I do think he hasn't thought this through-anyone with a private income and no job wouldn't want to be employed as a skivvy-anyone with a job and looking for reduced rate accommodation won't have the flexibility of hours to fit around shifts-plus OP hasn't taken into account that anyone else living in his home will make usual domestic living noise -and this will sometimes be at times he is sleeping. A student might be a solution but the OP doesn't sound like he'd be a good fit with a younger person. If he offers such a situation -if it doesn't work out- would he be happy making someone homeless?
I'd suggest the OP hires a cleaner for a few hours each week -and buys a cookbook-the saving on takeaways will probably cover the cost of the cleaner.
Good, reliable and honest cleaners are like gold-dust.

Sounds like the OP has worked abroad and has become a bit "institutionalized" when it comes to "domestic services".

quidsy

A Thai housekeeper & cook would cost him room & board (usually a seperate dfetached structure at the back of the house not a box room & share of the bathroom) plus about 80-100 quid a month salary, so he is taking the pee looking for same in UK.

Kimberley

Why not move your GF in? You have just started a thread in the Benefit section so are you sure your not just a wind up?

Pixie5740

RealLife wrote: »

Would the housekeeping for a house of two be that much more than she would need to do for herself living alone?

She...she....she....you are coming across as a male chauvinist. Yes, please, thank you sir, I am here to cook and clean for you.

I think what you are expecting will cost more than the £70 accomodation you are offering. Cleaning and preparing all your meals will probably take more than an hour a day. What other money will they live on? Are they allowed time off?

That aside the part you will have the most problems with is expecting someone to completely fit around your timetable. Someone who will be quiet as a mouse as though they're not there when you want them to be and then preparing your meals for god knows what time in the middle of the night because you work shifts.

What you are looking for is a servant...not a lodger and that will cost you a lot more than the equivalent of £70 a week in the UK.

Kimberley

Pixie it's a wind up, see the Benefit section