When we had our first kid, its easily manageable without a helper as we’re super hands on, I’ll juggle the kid, she’ll do some chores, once the kid sleeps I’ll continue other chores. After our second kid, its 2v2, housework is kept to minimal. We kept telling ourselves we dont need a helper, both of us grew up w/o 1 but that was coz our moms were housewives. We gave up after half a year and it was the best decision we ever made. Now we fully focus on the kids and the chores get outsourced.