Would you keep the cleaning lady?

[ssmjlm]

Could you cut back to 1x a month?

[mrshabious]

Personally, I would keep her at least for the first two-months and then re-evaluate.

[steph96]

Do you have a separate emergency fund set aside?

[Deleted]

If you have an additional 6 months of savings, keep her.

[Deleted]

Keep her

[GailGoldie]

i'd keep her. go to 1/mo if you think you can after a few months.

[Deleted]

Keep her.

[Becca]

Keep her

[pamela]

Keep. You still have a good savings buffer IMO.

[mswax]

Without a doubt, keep her!

[egishere]

keep her, you can afford it

[Deleted]

Keep her !

[Deleted]

The answer to this question is always yes

[takeonyou]

Keep her.

[ijack]

hell yes.

[Deleted]

If that 30k is strictly baby fund, I'll take it one further and say yes, keep the cleaning lady, and don't cut everything else imaginable to stay at only using 1/3 of the money you saved for this. Live comfortably! It's always nice to have money leftover but I don't see a point in saving all that money to begin with (which presumably required some level of sacrifice) and then hoarding it while not being able to do anything for the better part of a year.

With a new baby you may not want to eat out/spend fun money anyway, I guess, but don't be too strict with yourself if you do find yourself wanting to order a pizza on a rough day. You saved the money for that, you should use it.

[whitepicketfence]

Take it from someone else who had 2u2 (18 months apart), keep the cleaning lady. It will seriously help you stay sane. Even now that my kids are older, I can't fathom getting rid of our housekeeper. The only time I'd be able to get any legitimate cleaning done would be after they go to bed at night since DD1 doesn't consistently nap anymore and wants alone time with me when DD2 is sleeping. There's no way I want to clean at night after spending all day caring for two young children. I need a break, too.

I know you said you'd have to draw from savings while on ML but I'd still do it. IMO, it will be worth every penny. Also, you'll still have a decent chunk in savings when all is said and done. You can work on rebuilding your efund after you return to work.

[heygrey]

you saved the money for this occasion, don't be afraid to spend it! i'd keep her as is, but if you really want to cut a bit i'd at least keep her for once a month to do a deep clean. you can probably manage to keep up with little things like wiping counters and putting away clutter, but having someone else to scrub your bathroom and floors once a month would be a huge time and energy saver.

[protozoa]

Keep her!

[galaxy8227]

I'd keep her, with 2 under 2 I don't think cleaning will be easy for you even when you're home all day. If it causes a problem you can always halt service for a bit or even do it once a month

[WOT?*]

If I read it correctly this is your "new baby" fund, separate from the "emergency fund" and used for purposes related to having a baby, taking time off and related expenses. If that's the case, use the money for the housekeeper. You'll have two under two and will be either chasing, feeding, changing, entertaining, educating or otherwise keeping two kids occupied, fed, clothed and cleaned. Keep the housekeeper to take one thing off your shoulders while you're acclimating yourself to having two kids. You obviously can afford it if this is a separate fund strictly for purposes like this. (And I'm with the pp who also said don't restrict yourself unnecessarily if you have the urge or need to eat out on days that are more overwhelming than usual.)