Keeping house

Prices in developing countries can be cheap, shockingly cheap sometimes. Meals in Cambodia can cost a dollar, my 70 channels of cable costs 5 dollars a month, and photo-copied books cost 4 dollars. The child hawkers tell me I can buy postcards and bracelets for a dollar too.

However, Cambodia is not a powerful manufacturing country, so imported goods cost the same as back home, possibly more. That covers things like a washing machine, a good computer, or a cell phone. I was thinking about a new computer, but I figure that it is better to wait until I get back to the States and get the purchase with a warrantee.

Where Cambodian prices are sure to impress is in labor. Anything involving a high degree of man-power will be fairly cheap here. A haircut cost from 50 cents to 3 dollars, a private driver and car cost about $30 per day, and a foot massage will cost you five. The reason I mention all this is because it was recently suggested to me to hire a cleaner.

I have never been a fan of cleaning. I believe I am like most people in that I wait until the mess becomes intolerable and then I break out into cleaning mode. I am not a pro-active, maintenance cleaner.

On average, I clean about three rooms every month, alternating between my bedroom, bathroom, foyer/living room, kitchen, and upstairs. Lately, I have been ignoring the unoccupied upstairs to the point where it has accumulated an astonishing amount of dust. There is enough dust on the floor to make the dust equivalent of snow angels.

After my trip to Singapore, I have thought it would be fun to open this unoccupied third floor to passing travelers and backpackers. This is providing, of course, that I clean up the dust. The problem that arises is that I don't want to spend the time cleaning up.

Nonetheless, I don't really like the idea of someone else cleaning up after me. It all seems like a slippery slope to complacency, laziness, and elitism. It is common for wealth expatriates to hire cleaners, and I am fearful that hiring a housekeeper will cement me into that role.

As time passes, the economic justifications will shrink. The value of my time already seems quite high, and I anticipate it will rise. The monetary cost to hire someone to clean once or twice a month would probably be about $20, so it is already quite nominal.

The bigger hurdle to overcome is the ethical debate. When is it justified to have someone else clean up after you, when you are capable yourself (I am not talking about the already unpaid and unthanked work of mothers and significant others)? Are you doing someone a good-turn by providing them with a job or lowering their self-worth? Does hiring a housekeeper perpetuate the belief that Westerns are lazy and frivolously wealthy? Will my Khmer friends and co-workers think less of me? Will I think less of myself?

I would be interested to know what people think on the idea. I know only a few people who have cleaners/housekeepers. My initial idea was just to move to a smaller house with fewer rooms to clean (I don’t pay rent, so a less expensive place isn’t my concern). The problem with that idea is that moving is even less enjoyable than cleaning.