Getting married has taught me a lot of things—keeping house is one of them. Now that my husband and I live on our own, the groceries, utility and household bills (and househelps) has taken up a huge chunk of not only our pockets, but also our time and energy. It is especially stressful to tend to the househelps. It is not that easy to find a good help these days. And when you do find a good one, it is equally stressful when they decide to leave. Who are you to stop them from finding greener pastures right? Sometimes I am so tempted to just not hire anymore. Not only will it do us good financially, it will also give us a lot of peace of mind. I wish I could say I do not need them. But I do. That is the harsh truth. As much as I want to be self-sufficient, I can’t. I need someone to help me with my toddler. I need someone who can take care of the house so I can work or have some alone time. If it was two years ago when it just me and the hubby, I can confidently do without a help. But it is a different story now as we have a toddler and we are planning to have another one. As much as I hate to say it, I am dependent on them.
I wonder how Western families do it. They are able to get by without any helps at all. They are able to juggle everything—work a living, keep house, and tend to the kids, then squeeze in some “me” time somewhere in there if possible at all. Phew! It sounds tiring right? As I have noticed, most Western kids are more independent than their counterparts because they are taught and exposed early on, whereas, kids here are more dependent and sheltered (even until they reach college!). I have always wondered maybe if I was brought up without any household helps, today will be entirely different. Say what household helps?
For now, I have to adjust and slowly train myself to be more self-sufficient. It is actually easy. What is hard is the sacrifice that you are going to have to make for yourself—for example, time to watch your downloaded shows in bed versus time to wash the dishes? Time to sleep in more versus time to feed and bathe the baby? Yes there are trade-offs. Househelps make our life easier and convenient, but then they also give us plenty of headaches. As they say we can and cannot live without them. I cannot wait for the day when I can really say that I don’t need them anymore.
