Posted by
suba
17 yrs ago
It is over 14 months since our DH started working for us. Now we have the same issue as "HONGKONG HONEY" posted. Our DH eats the same food as we do. But, we would like to CHANGE DH FROM FOOD INCLUSIVE TO EXCLUSIVE".
We pay her saraly HK$ 3,500 per month. I have 2 questions.
HK$ 500 per month is really reasonable as food allowance?
In addition, do you provide her own refrigerator, rice cooker or etc.?
How about other living cost. Do you provide sahmpoo, soap and other living necessity goods for DH?
Please advise me.
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cd
17 yrs ago
We give our helper $500 food allowance, this pays for everything. We do not supply shampoo, soap etc. That are his personal expenses.
He has his own rice cooker, plates etc, don't know why as we told him he could use ours.
He doesn;t have his own fridge, but he uses the bottom half of or 2nd fridge, and if he needs to put anything in the freezer he can.
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Hi Suba,
Just to let you know what we are doing with our helper. We are following a friends' advice and giving 300HKD a month but she can freely use our Rice, Noodles, Pasta, Bread (i.e carbs), all our spices/flavourings, as well as one or two pieces of 'simple' fruit a day i.e apple/orange/banana, plus milk/water. So really the additional allowance is for meat/fish and vegetables plus any extra drinks. She uses the bottom drawer of our fridge and has a pocket in the freezer.
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Hi Suba,
Just to let you know what we are doing with our helper. We are following a friends' advice and giving 300HKD a month but she can freely use our Rice, Noodles, Pasta, Bread (i.e carbs), all our spices/flavourings, as well as one or two pieces of 'simple' fruit a day i.e apple/orange/banana, plus milk/water. So really the additional allowance is for meat/fish and vegetables plus any extra drinks. She uses the bottom drawer of our fridge and has a pocket in the freezer.
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Hongkonghoney,
Do you provide any extra money for shampoo, soap, etc. or does your helper use the $300 for that as well. I'm also confused about how much I should give to be fair.
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We provide soap, toilet rolls i.e stuff that is bought in bulk for the apartment, that she can help herself to. She buys shampoo etc extra.
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suba
17 yrs ago
I understand that monthly saraly should depend on DH's skill, but HONGKONGHONEY ! with food allowance $ 300, may I ask how much you give monthly saraly to your maid?
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Dear Suba and others, we give our helper $1,000 food allowance and she uses our rice, spices, tea, coffee, bread, toilet paper etc. My thinking is that is what I am comfortable with - would you try to go shopping with $300 for a month? I might be wrong, but it makes me feel comfortable that she is not just living on rice (as some helpers do trying to save money!). We pay her a lot more than $3,500 as well (maybe a bit too much).. We have another helper who is not very experience (we got her from Philippines) - we both work and have 2 very small children - we pay her $4,000 salary and $700 food allowance... Again, a lot of it for our sake as well as I just could not live with myself if they had $300 to live on.. They both have kids back at home - so all money goes to Philippines otherwise..
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suba
17 yrs ago
Thank you for your comment, Idsllvn!
As we have shared food and eaten dinner with our maid for over 14 months, and after hearing the comments in this web. Thus, we will eat countinuously eat the same food. In addition, we provide rice, spices, tea, toilet tissue, toothpaste, washing power for clothes, soap.
Our maid needs to buy anything she needs for breakfast, lunch, fruite, sweet, drink and etc.
If we do not eat the same dinner including meat and fish, I may decide to provide HK$1,000. Is it reasonable to give HK$ 500? Or, it may not enough ?
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crj
17 yrs ago
We pay 4000 including the food allowance. How much they spend on food, is their personal budget choice.
They can use our cooking facilities, rice cooker (but they have their own), spices, oil, etc...
They use our washing machine and dryer and washing powder and use our dishwasher, detergent, etc...
They have the lower drawer in the fridge and a shelf in the freezer.
They have to buy their food themselves and their toiletries.
Since we have two helpers, they share food and cook together.
We provide an AC in their room as well.
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Hi Suba, we pay our domestic helper 4,200 HKD excl the new allowance. I would encourage you to ask your friends face-to-face for advice as to what they pay, as pretty much everyone I have asked pay their DH between 300 - 500HKD food allowance with various food and household items thrown in, depending on what suits the employer.
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suba
17 yrs ago
Hi everyone. Thank you for your attention. I discussed with our maid very honestly in this afternoon on my food issue that our maid eats a lot, which effects on our food budget very much, since we buy organic food.
Then, our maid said that she would be happy with food allowance, if we give HK$500 per month, which she have to cover breakfast, lunch and dinner. She also wanted to try this way because she wanted to eat more fruite.
Together with HK$ 500, we will still provide rice, milk, seasonings (inluding oil), toothpaste, toilet tissue, washing powder, and dishwash requid.
Before we make the final decision, I will discuss with my husband. But, I am thinking that we start with HK$500-HK$700 and I would like to make sure that our maid is happy with it. Otherwise, we will discuss with our maid again.
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If HKD500-700, ask her to buy HKD100-150 food/drinks per wk and claim through receipts. Balance, about HKD100 per mth for her toiletries.
This will help to make sure that she spend her food allowance on a weekly basis & not on something else.
Understand that she is an adult but you do not want to have an undernourished helper. (Sigh!)
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I dont really agree, if you give her food allowance, it is up to her how she spends it - as long as she does not eat your food anymore? Imagine if our employers checked on what we spend out money on?
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suba
17 yrs ago
I will take note your advise, FuncalPP and Idsllvn. Thank you!
To people who food allowance option, please advise me. When the maid should cook her dinner and eat ?
For your information, I cook my dinner and our maid normally help me some.
In the current situation that we share the food, I cook the dinner and we eat it with our maid in the same table.
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Suba, ours normally cooks her dinner sometime during hte day and then re-heats or in the evening once babies in bed. She also cooks our dinner a couple of times a week (I do the rest) - normally during the day as well, for example when the babies are having their nap. we bought her a small table for the kitchen but she tends to take her food to her room and watch TV while she eat. We never eat together (unless we are on holidays) and I really prefer it this way - my husband and I can catch up at dinner table without anyone being around?
Would this work for you?
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sorry forgot to say - we also bought her a little fridge but otherwise she uses our rice-cooker etc...
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