My boyfriend and I used to fight over whether to hire an hourly worker.

The issue came up several months ago when our flat-mate moved out and I wanted to hire an hourly worker to clean his room. My boyfriend was not happy and questioned why we would get others to do our housework.

His attitude irritated me. I was just making a suggestion and I know many couples and even singles hire hourly workers. It's no big deal. He acted as if women are destined to do housework and I was not qualified in that respect.

Anyway, I yielded in the end, after he came up with another reason that sounded reasonable: He didn't want anybody else to be involved in our home. I could understand that since I also wondered whether I would be able to find my things after an hourly worker had cleaned up.

The thought didn't come back to me until I found a flyer under our door one day, while my boyfriend was away on a lengthy business trip. It was an ad for a housekeeping company that was located just one block from my building - and the price was quite appealing.

Later, during a lunch at work, a colleague asked me what I did at weekends. I said I spend one day each week doing the cleaning and my friend said she left that sort of thing to an hourly worker.

The following Saturday, my boyfriend was still away and I was more than ready to take a shot at hiring a cleaner.

A woman in her 30s showed up at the door 10 minutes after I called. After I briefly instructed her about the work I wanted her to do, she threw herself into the battle, tackling the balcony while I stayed in the living room and sorted out my invoices and coupons.

A big reason why I'm so bothered with housework is our two cats. Their hair is everywhere - no exaggeration - it's all over the house. The balcony where they sleep is a disaster; the cat toilet is also placed there. I have to clean it thoroughly each week before I do the laundry since I hang out the clothes there; and it usually takes me two hours to do so.

Honestly, I'm not a person who is good at housework. Born in the 80s and from one of China's millions of single-child families, I had rarely been involved in housework until I went to college.

My mind is such a mess that I have to write down all the work needed in each room before I get started. Even then, I often find myself wandering around during my weekly day of cleaning trying to find something and forgetting what it was.

The hourly worker was obviously very skilled and more focused. Forty-five minutes after she started, the balcony was done: the cat tree looked a different color (their hair must have covered its original color), and the floor was shiny.

As she moved to the kitchen, I began to think of the advantages of hiring an hourly worker. I used to think income gap was the most important factor - the hirer's hour being obviously more expensive than that of an hourly worker. But it turned out that the essence of the issue is that you should let people perform jobs they are good at.

Of course I'm not saying an hourly worker knows only cleaning, but one hour of hers dedicated to cleaning was more efficient and meaningful than one of mine.

Some people are born organized; some are not, but in turn are better in other fields. In this sense, hiring an experienced worker to do the cleaning is the wisest solution for the house.

The hourly worker finished all the work within two hours. The task usually took me six.

But, I'm not sure yet whether I will hire her a second time, since my boyfriend obviously has a problem with it and I don't want to make him unhappy.

One thing is for sure: the cats are very happy today with their exceptionally clean cat tree.

China Daily

(China Daily 09/14/2010)