Pages

Monday, August 24, 2009

get yours today!

I've reinstated "Pay the Putzfrau".

Old longtime readers of this blog may recall a few years back when I was inspired by a certain globe hopping blog friend to start charging my children for my cleaning services. No, this friend didn't do so, but when he was in Germany, he had a Putzfrau, a cleaning lady.

It was the word "Putzfrau" that so inspired. A program of pay-your-mom-when-she-cleans-up-your-messes-that-you-are-perfectly-capable-of-and-responsible-for was just too exhausting to try to enforce, I felt. But what an endearing term, this "Putzfrau"!

And it was from that that I fashioned my own handy Pay The Putzfrau home service kit. It includes the lovely handcrafted receptical shown above, and the program works as follows:

1. Someone leaves a mess
2. You charge them money

Not too complex, eh?!

What? Someone splashed juice on the floor and now walking in your kitchen feels like walking in a movie theater? Pay The Putzfrau!

Snack remains left behind while the snacker has gleefully gone off to play? Pay The Putzfrau!

Forgot to flush? You know it!!

The photo above shows my lovely handcrafted receptical. It has two slips in it - I.O.U.'s because my current "clients" happen to be currently broke. The Putzfrau fees will be garnished from their next wages.

Want your own kit?? I'll ship it for a small fee. Really, it pays for itself in no time!
.

8 comments:

terri said...

You are a genius! What's the pay scale? Does one pay the same price for not flushing as they do for leaving a sticky mess on the kitchen floor? I think my children (and husband) might actually learn from this system and I could earn myself some extra cash! I'm trying it!

Goes by the name of Anna said...

I rather like this idea
*files away for future reference...*

agg79 said...

Me like. But is this meant to be frau-specific? I've done my share of crime scene clean up at the home.

BTW - we had a Putzfrau when we were in the Army stationed in Germany back in the 80s. Great older woman who kept the apartment spotless.

Judy said...

Ooooh, I love this! Travis just got a WAD of cash for his birthday this past week and I've been looking for ways for it to move over to my wallet - this could be just the ticket!

Kidding (well, sort of)!

brandy101 said...

too bad we don't pay my daughter an allowance b/c otherwise, if I instituted this pay jar system...I would be loaded! ;)

Herb said...

Well, I guess you're not just putzing around.

Elizabeth said...

Ah! The coin jar. We had one as a child. I think the number of IOUs made it impractical. How much have you earned so far?

Duble said...

be careful, or your kids might get smart and give you a 1099-misc. than you would need to report it to uncle sam.