Does anyone of you people ...

[Torie]

My mother was blind, so yes, she had assistance. At one point, my Dad in his mid-50's, let his ego get in the way of his good judgment, and bought a mansion (for 85K), and hired a Jamaican couple who lived in the chauffeur's quarters above the garage. That all came to an end after about 5 years, when my Dad could not make ends meet, including dealing with my mother's hideously high medical expenses, as he searched the planet for a way to more effectively deal with my mother's mysterious disease (about which next to nothing was known then).

And what did I do at about the same age? Bought a house to be built in the desert, got the builder to redesign it and flip the footprint, built a pool that comported with my idea of how a pool should look, and basically sort of did the same thing. I rent it out - to make ends meet (well in my case to make my cash flow cover my expenses with a cushion rather than sell assets, since my legal services income is about half of what it once was, in my semi-retirement). It may be a life cycle thing.

I have a bi-weekly cleaning service come in, who clean up the filth, in and amongst the clutter.

[Gustaf]

My parents had maid services during my junior year in college.  It scared the hell out of me when I visited during Winter Break, mostly because I had no idea that my parents even had maid service.  I was in my room working up my motivation when this short Hispanic lady just burst into my room!
I almost had a heart attack at age 21.
She was freaked out too and went about cleaning other areas.  I managed to clean a few spots in my room (mostly just taking some water glasses downstairs and throwing my bedding sheets into the washing machine, throwing all of the clothes on my floor into a suitcase) and then gave them the go ahead and sped off to the nearest bar so I could get my heart rate back down to a non-life threatening level.

But I personally don't see the need for one.  I mean really, I'm so disorganized and lazy about keeping my sh*t clean that any sane person would hate being my cleaning person.  I would much rather wallow in my own slothery than end up dead on the six O'Clock news story of "disgruntled" home cleaners.

Our maid has had the misfortune of seeing my flatmate naked. That probably contributes to the ill-feelings.

[dead0man]

It's not so much me - but his room is often quite scary. He once dropped a glass on the floor and just left the pieces of shattered glass lying around. He also once left a bowl of porridge in a drawer in his room and went away on vacation, leaving it to rot there for a month.

Whoa, that's not....good.  I have a hang up about broken glass and having it laying around would drive me up the wall, even if it's in a place I would never normally walk.  Your flatmate has some issues....which I'm sure you are more than aware of, I just wanted to confirm them for you.

[Gustaf]

It's not so much me - but his room is often quite scary. He once dropped a glass on the floor and just left the pieces of shattered glass lying around. He also once left a bowl of porridge in a drawer in his room and went away on vacation, leaving it to rot there for a month.

Whoa, that's not....good.  I have a hang up about broken glass and having it laying around would drive me up the wall, even if it's in a place I would never normally walk.  Your flatmate has some issues....which I'm sure you are more than aware of, I just wanted to confirm them for you.

It should be said that the glass was in his own room so it wasn't too bad.

But yeah, he's weird. We still like him though.

[opebo]

I think most of the apartment would do fine. And we're not only men living here either...

I see.  Well, in fairness women do generally demand 'housekeeping', and to expect a roommate to clean up after fellow roommates is unfair, so its all the more reason for a service.

I think cleanliness is a great way to judge people - clean people I automatically know are 'not really my cup of tea', while slovenly housekeepers are'all right in my book'.  Its similar to the Morning Person/ Night Person dichotomy.

[Gustaf]

I think most of the apartment would do fine. And we're not only men living here either...

I see.  Well, in fairness women do generally demand 'housekeeping', and to expect a roommate to clean up after fellow roommates is unfair, so its all the more reason for a service.

I think cleanliness is a great way to judge people - clean people I automatically know are 'not really my cup of tea', while slovenly housekeepers are'all right in my book'.  Its similar to the Morning Person/ Night Person dichotomy.

The girl currently living with us is also German so she has much higher standards of cleanliness than the rest of us. So the maid is probably a good thing from that perspective.

I'm not very cleanly either. I tend to think that there are better things to devote time to. That, and I'm lazy and don't care that much.