Home Help

OK....many of you have mentioned that you have a ayi (home helper/cleaner).  How did you find/choose them, and what's the going pay rate? 

Any horror stories, or boastful fairy tales about them?

I've had my ayi for the entire time I've been here - when I moved universities she came with me.  I pay her 50Y per session - which lasts as long as it takes - sometmes 2 hours, sometimes 4-5.  After a party I also have her come to clean because I can't face it.  For that horror I give her 100Y.  She comes once a week, brings me food every now and then, we sit and chat about life, the universe and everything, she helps me with my Chinese (she doesn't speak English).  My Chinese mate laughs because he says she has modified her Chinese to my level so we understand each other perfectly!! 

She does my washing, washing up, vacuuming, dusting, floor washing, window cleaning, turtle cleaning etc.  Whatever I haven't done she will take on.

At the previous uni she lived close to where I was and I paid her 25, but here my apartment is twice the size and she has to catch 2 buses to get to me, so I figured if  travel time for teachers was fair, travel time for cleaners is too!  She also works for several of the other teachers, and I have introduced her to the other FTs  here and a couple of friends.

She's totally trustworthy, I have given her a spare set of keys and she comes even when I am on holidays.

It is SOOO nice to come into a clean apartment. And it's nice to have a friend.

Mine is a friend of a Chinese friend.  Totally dependable.  Doesn't do windows but everything else.  I do my own laundry and tend to wash the dishes before she arrives.

I pay her 75 per visit and she spends about 3 hours.  We also talk mostly English - she is really getting much better.  She also helps me with some of my Chinese pronunciation.  We have gone out to lunch - she paid and I invited her - she laughed when I put my hands on my hips and tapped my foot.  She has also brought me fresh fruit and things she has made.  Gave me a birthday present.  She is more like a friend than an ayi.

I took on Mrs. Hua, Raoul's ayi.  She cleans my house and hides all my stuff twice a week for 350Y a month, plus another 50Y for laundry and another 50Y plus bills to bring groceries and cook.  The Chinese lessons and pestering are gratis.

I don't really like her cooking, but her tailoring is fantabulous!  I'm flat broke right now, but come June i'll get her to ew me up a ton of clothing.  In fact, I'm gonna throw a measuring party this coming weekend so people can get some dresses and shirts commissioned.

Our Ayi comes in twice a week, cleans, does a bit of shopping, does the laundry. Babe pays her, so I don't ask!

Yep. Mrs. Hua is the bomb. A genuine force of nature. It may appear at first glance as if SHE works for US, but I assure you that this is misleading and not the case. She's a so-so housecleaner and a mediocre cook, but she's a first-rate mother hen and she takes great care of me. Nobody messes with Mrs. Hua's laowai except Mrs. Hua.

She does indeed make wonderful traditional-style clothes. She's made most of the Chinese shirts I wear on a daily basis. She made Con and I both absolutely amazing incredibly warm black quilted outerwear/house suits/pajamas that are very functional, endlessly warm, and quite handsome. I like to walk the streets in mine clutching a plucked chicken and a bottle of cheap huang jiu, cackling at passing foreigners. (Loops calls us "The Quilted Fags", but he's just jealous because he doesn't have one of these pajama suits.)

She also makes dresses (qi pao and more modern styles) and just about anything else you want.

I'm trying to find out what measurements she needs so people can order from her by mail, if anyone's interested...

By the way here she is, 2nd from right, with her family, celebrating her son's wedding and a new daughter-in-law she apparently completely detests...

We have a live in housekeeper/nanny.  She is fantastic.  We pay her 800 a month, which we will increase to iooo next month. 
Even though it is great having the apartment clean all the time, meals cooked, baby looked after.  I find it a bit intrusive. For example when I go to wash a dirty plate that I have just used, she grabs it out of my hand and washes it.
I really insulted her the other day by cleaning out the fridge, throwing away a lot of the stuff she would not know needed to be thrown away.   I mean the cheese covered in green mold could have been a fine English stilton.  I still feel bad about the fridge.
I am planning to defrost the feezer at 4 am when she is still asleep.
She was recommended to us by a mother's student, they are related.

Ya know, her d-in-law does kind of look like a bitch.

Thought the same thing Con.  I pity her son.

I have 2 ayi's. They are the cleaners at my school. They take turns coming. They just come up to me at work and ask for my keys, then one of them will clean my apartment while I'm at work. They do this twice a week. I told them not to worry about laundry but they do everything else. They usually spend about 4 hours per time. The only they complain about is the cat hair, but it's good natured. For this I pay them 150 RMB per month and they spilt it. They also are allowed to do it on their working time. Works out well and they do a great job.

I feel guilty now reading how much some people are paying theirs.  We pay ours 400 a month, she comes monday-to friday for 3 and a half hours, and does a sterling job.

What the hell are you all doing? What exactly do you think students are for?

What the hell are you all doing? What exactly do you think students are for?

The students pay our salaries so we can afford an ayi