How common is it in your country to have a maid?

In the Philippines, having maids in the household is very common especially if both married couple are working. They are the one who tends the house, look after the kids and accompany them to school, almost all household in the Philippines have maids. Mostly, they are stay-in with free board and lodging. We never call them maids because it is so degrading and the term is not encouraged by most citizen here, and besides that term can create inferiority complex which can be damaging to them emotionally, we call them "kasambahay" instead- meaning companion of the house. We never treat them as anybody else but as a member of the family where we can intrust everything in the house. Outside the Philippines, we know how other nationals look upon on maids which are so depressing to us, because in our country we never treat them so badly.

I was going to ask this same question as I also live in the U.S. Maids are for the rich people here and even then usually only come in and do general cleaning once a week or so. I have always done my own housework, raised my own kids and also worked outside of the home. I can't imagine anyone doing my work for me but if they did, I'd have to pay them an awful lot because it is a lot of work. I wouldn't want to pay someone for something that is my job to do myself so I don't even understand the whole concept of having a maid. My daughter cleans a home for a wealthy man and he pays her really well. She goes in once a week and vaccums and dusts and mops his floors, wipes down the walls and baseboards etc...just general maintainance. She is not expected to clean up after him as she would a child.

I am now living in the United State but we have no maid.. I am the maid hahahaha!! I mean, I do all the necessary things to do at home because I am a stay at home wife. I am not working outside home so, what's the maid for? Well, I come from the country where we used to have helpers at home because both husband and wife are working and nobody will take care of the house, and the kids while the parents are away. Even if people there are not rich, they will still hire a house helper and they usually are stay in.

Hi Prinzess, maid service/labor is comparatively cheaper here, so even middle class people have stay-in maids, to either take care of their children/old folks, or do household. Most of these maids are not locals (fees are higher),but foreigners. I do not like having a maid, especially a stay-in one. After all, there are only 2 of us, my hubby and me, and we would rather do the housework ourselves. Moreover, privacy and security are the other issues.

Most people in my country that use maids have them coming once a week or so to tidy up (like 10 of 100 people do that), and the ones that have maids living with them are not many (1 from 100 people have permanent maids), it`s not a fashion yet here, but people are getting lazy they all will need one.

In india, if u r well off.. u have like maids living in ur house, cooking cleaning looking after kids etc etc.. When i was in India i used to have 4 maids living with us in our house.. they do the breakfast,lunch, dinner , washing, laundry etc etc for u.... so wen i moved to Canada it was kinda hard adjusting as here u have to do everything on ur own.. and only the rich rich ppl can afford to hire a maid...

where im from ( england) its not very common to have a maid, i would only expect someone rich or famous to have one. i have heard a few people on here talk about having maids and would be interested to know where their from.