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I don't really understand your complaint, having a cleaning lady is not some rich person extravagance. Its affordable for pretty much everyone in society. If you have a job, you can afford it.
The bay area is a sufficiently broken-by-cost-disease economy that I don't know if that's actually true. In Texas it definitely would be- I can get a cleaning lady to come and clean my whole house for, like, $80 if I'm willing to pay her directly instead of going through an agency.
Bay Area != East Bay.
He's paying a lot less in Oakland than he would be in SF / South Bay / Berkeley. There is a large undocumented/recently-documented population there, who works at or lower than minimum wage. You can get it down to ~$150/month (4 visits). That's not too bad.
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Am in HCOL California. Can confirm the base rate for low skill domestic help is in the low $30s/hr if you’re paying cash.
High skilled nannies run $40 and up, paid above the table, plus bennies and insurances that drive the cost up.
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Cleanly lady and full time nanny are VERY different things my friend.
Oh, I thought you were quoting Scott.
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