NPR: Cleaning Service/Housekeeper?

[aprilz81]

Does anyone here pay to have their house cleaned on a regular basis?  

I've never been able to justify the expense, but I admit that having someone come in once a month to do a deep clean would be sooooo nice.  We aren't super dirty people but neither one of us likes to clean but we can do pick up/tidy up tasks if we know that someone will be coming in to scrub the kitchen and bathrooms once a month.

If you have this done do you mind sharing what you pay per visit?  Are you in a high, medium or low cost of living?

[cateyes]

We have a maid who comes every other week. She does 3 hours of cleaning which includes bathrooms, scrubbing the kitchen floors, dusting, etc. We pay $20 an hour and it is so worth it. We live in a middle price range now but we paid about the same amount when we lived in a high COL area.

[moutonrouge]

We used to have a maid service every other week. We had 2 bedrooms and 1 bath and paid $120. We're in a high COL area. They did a great job and I miss having them come - my favorite was coming home to a clean house and just relaxing. Now we live too far from doggie daycare to take the dog in on a day they would come, and since he isn't crated during the day I haven't sorted out how to work around that.

[requiressnacks]

Funny you should ask...,yesterday was my first day with our newly hired cleaning lady and I am IN LOVE!!!!

She is going to come twice per month and she charges $100 per visit. I live in Connecticut, so I guess it could be considered semi-HCOL for services.

Yesterday she was at our house for 4 hours and scrubbed the shit out of our bathrooms and did an amazing job dusting and scrubbing all the floors BY HAND. It was amazing.

TL:DR- house cleaner is the best money I've ever spent. No joke.

[lulu783]

Best decision I've ever made. We are in Boston and it's $25/hour and she is usually there for 5. Add in a tip and I'm at about $150. I have her come once a month, but dream of having her come 2x/month. Too much $$$ though!

[requiressnacks]

Oh my, I didn't think I had to tip. Do others tip each time?

ETA: The woman we use is independent (not part of a service) and we pay her $100 cash, so it's all under the table. If that matters.

[lola]

We're in a medium cost of living area, and we pay $150 for a visit, which usually lasts around 5 hours. Granted, we have a lot of square footage, but much of it goes unused, so there's just maintenance cleaning in those areas. Honestly, it's the best money we've ever spent too. Since we both work full-time jobs, and my husband travels often, it's amazing to not have to spend hours on the weekends or nights when we're home together cleaning. And becuase of course our ideas of cleaning are different, it has saved us the arguments about how my standards are not being maintained.

[lola]

Nov 4, 2016 11:16:15 GMT -5 requiressnacks said:

Oh my, I didn't think I had to tip. Do others tip each time?

We don't, unless we just don't have smaller bills. Is that bad!? I do plan to give her a larger payment for the holidays, but tipping hadn't crossed my mind... 

[requiressnacks]

Nov 4, 2016 11:18:42 GMT -5 lola said:

Nov 4, 2016 11:16:15 GMT -5 requiressnacks said:

Oh my, I didn't think I had to tip. Do others tip each time?

We don't, unless we just don't have smaller bills. Is that bad!? I do plan to give her a larger payment for the holidays, but tipping hadn't crossed my mind... 

We are on the same page. Phew!

[icedtea]

We have someone come every other week and it is one of the best decisions we ever made. It costs about $60/visit ($25/hr, little over 2 hrs). She does an excellent job. We found the service via thumbtack.com*.

*I also used thumbtack to find the designer/printer for my wedding invites and our photobooth for the wedding. It's a good site.

Oh, and I do tip. She doesn't own the service and is great.

[cookswithwine9]

I agree it is the best money I have ever spent! My H and I both work full time and I was tired of spending my days off cleaning. My lady comes once a month, she spends about 3 hours cleaning and I pay her $75 per visit. I would say I live in a low-med col area. She does the basic cleaning.
I did hire deep cleaners to come do the house before the baby is born. They are sending 2 people to clean and it's going to cost me $170-330 depending on how long it takes them. They are doing things like baseboards, windows, blinds, fans, cabinet faces, etc.

[mustloveerica]

Nov 4, 2016 16:42:17 GMT -5 cookswithwine9 said:

I agree it is the best money I have ever spent! My H and I both work full time and I was tired of spending my days off cleaning. My lady comes once a month, she spends about 3 hours cleaning and I pay her $75 per visit. I would say I live in a low-med col area. She does the basic cleaning.
I did hire deep cleaners to come do the house before the baby is born. They are sending 2 people to clean and it's going to cost me $170-330 depending on how long it takes them. They are doing things like baseboards, windows, blinds, fans, cabinet faces, etc.

I want to hire someone to do a deep clean before the babies come. How did you find yours?

[cookswithwine9]

mustloveerica I searched deep house cleaner on Yelp and picked the company with the best reviews.

[emilie]

Maybe I should give it another try. The only time I had my house professionally cleaned was before my wedding (4+ years ago). The woman I hired was recommended by a friend and when she showed up she did not bring any of her own stuff and asked to use ours. Which is fine, but then she made a stink about the kind of cleaning products we had (we use mostly non-toxic "green" stuff) and insisted that someone go out and buy her Comet and Windex and shit. It was so annoying. She did an ok job cleaning but not any better than I can do myself (I am not a neat freak but when I clean I make sure to get all the dust off the baseboards and all that stuff). I am also weirded out by letting strangers into my home regularly. I did not grow up in a house where we had any "help" so it definitely feels weird to me. With all of you having such good experiences perhaps I should try again - it's getting hard at almost 33 weeks to get down on my hands and knees and clean things

[lola]

Nov 4, 2016 17:11:21 GMT -5 emilie said:

Maybe I should give it another try. The only time I had my house professionally cleaned was before my wedding (4+ years ago). The woman I hired was recommended by a friend and when she showed up she did not bring any of her own stuff and asked to use ours. Which is fine, but then she made a stink about the kind of cleaning products we had (we use mostly non-toxic "green" stuff) and insisted that someone go out and buy her Comet and Windex and shit. It was so annoying. She did an ok job cleaning but not any better than I can do myself (I am not a neat freak but when I clean I make sure to get all the dust off the baseboards and all that stuff). I am also weirded out by letting strangers into my home regularly. I did not grow up in a house where we had any "help" so it definitely feels weird to me. With all of you having such good experiences perhaps I should try again - it's getting hard at almost 33 weeks to get down on my hands and knees and clean things

That's so interesting about the cleaning products. I asked my service provider what kinds of products she needed, but I do the actual choosing of products and purchasing myself (and I buy stuff like Mrs. Meyers). She just uses what we provide. If you want your house cleaned with green cleaners, that shouldn't be an issue!

[goldenlove3]

Coming home to a clean house after unexpected labor and a 4 day hospital stay was the best thing ever! So worth it. We might have been a little more amazed by our clean house than coming home with a baby at that point.

I live in Metro Detroit and the place we used is $145 for the first two initial cleans then $120 after that for monthly service.

[ellabee]

We live in a high COL area and pay $90 for 2 bdrm 1 bath (a steal I think!). Our cleaner is a local woman who we found through yelp. She comes every other week and she and a helper usually stay for about 2 hrs.

We don't tip on the bi-weekly visits, but we give her a sizeable holiday bonus.

Honestly, it's the best money I spend all month. Coming home to a clean house does so much for my mental well-being. I highly recommend you start immediately lol.

[bazinga]

I have been thinking about this for a while but not done anything about it. It's so hard staying on top of cleaning already when we both work full time, have a toddler, and are trying to renovate our housework by room. I spend 4-5hours each weekend cleaning, which eats into quality family time This thread has convinced me I need to get help!!

[aprilz81]

I work from home so I really don't have an excuse. Most days I am easily able to do a chore or two during the day, when I started working from home I had a two week chore rotation that got everything done once every two weeks (which for us is enough right now) but I started getting lazy and all the chore charts in the world won't be effective if they are ignored.

DH will help if I specifically ask, but our standards are very different and sometimes I just end up doing it again instead of fighting with him about the right way to do it.

This would be a luxury for sure, but one we can afford to have at least once a month. I'm working on getting quotes and hope we can find someone good and reliable.

[callmeKD]

We have a cleaning lady who cleans every other week. $90/visit in a MCOL. She cleans mudroom, kitchen, dining and living rooms, 3 full bathrooms, 3-4 bedrooms. This includes changing sheets, all surfaces and floors. I gave up some other luxuries to afford her and it's the best money we spend.

[agm04]

We have someone come once every 3-4 weeks. We pay $80/visit in a MCOL area. I would have her come every week if I could afford it.