Do you have a housekeeper/cleaner?

[Coach]

I have Merry Maids type service biweekly. When I started it 8 years ago I figured I'd take it over again when I retired. Then when I retired I decided I didn't want to give it up.

Coach

[73ss454]

Yup, I sure do and DW has always done a great job.

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 73ss454 Yup, I sure do and DW has always done a great job.

I notice you didn't mention cost, but I get the idea significant expense is involved.

Yeah, I know, "If you have to ask, ...."

[tmm99]

I did a few years ago. Bi-weekly. $75 for about 2 hours or work (not cheap in my opinion.) I fired the first one - she did great the first few times, but after that, not so much. I then had to fire the second one too - same problem - did great for a while and started slacking off. No more after that. I now live in a mess with more money in my pocket.

[aaronc879]

My place is a mess but I don't really care. I'm a bachelor and never have anyone over. The one exception is the bathroom. The bathtub has gotten to the point that i'm probably dirtier when I get out than I was when I got in. I've been planning to look into the cost to have someone over for a few hours maybe quarterly. I'll need to do that soon.

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aaronc879 My place is a mess but I don't really care. I'm a bachelor and never have anyone over. The one exception is the bathroom. The bathtub has gotten to the point that i'm probably dirtier when I get out than I was when I got in. I've been planning to look into the cost to have someone over for a few hours maybe quarterly. I'll need to do that soon.

Don't forget to factor in the hazmat charge for that initial visit...

[aaronc879]

Quote:

Originally Posted by REWahoo Don't forget to factor in the hazmat charge for that initial visit...

That may not be an exaggeration.

[Khan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by REWahoo Don't forget to factor in the hazmat charge for that initial visit...

You've been here?

[Alan]

While we were both working we used to have a cleaner come in once a week, and a yard service to cut the grass etc.

Now that we are retired and downsized we do it ourselves again.

[Gumby]

I am the housekeeper. I think my mother might kill me if I hired someone.

[Katsmeow]

For years, the housecleaning has been done by the kids as part of their chores with DH and I also doing some tasks. Before that, DH did it. I'm very allergic to dust and can't vacuum or dust.

Back when I was single I had someone come in and clean for me.

When we listed our house for sale we had them come in and do a deep cleaning ($292 for a 4500 sf house) and then they regularly cleaned it. When we took it off the market I tried having the kids (teenagers) clean with DH helping but they aren't that good so we are about to put the house back on the market and will be having it cleaned weekly ($146 a week).

Once we sell this house and build our new house when it is eventually just DH and I, we will likely hire someone to come every 2 weeks. SHould be cheaper since the house will be much smaller.

[yakers]

Quote:

Originally Posted by youbet ... a monthly deadline to be ready for her.

Thats the reason, keeps a discipline that wouldn't be there otherwise although I think its ironic how much cleaning and organizing we do just before the cleaner comes monthly.

[missionfinder]

I can't justify the expense. If I paid an average of $100 per month for cleaning for 20 years, verses investing that money I'd be short around $60K-$70K at the end. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Assuming a 4% withdrawal rate, that comes to $2400 per year that cleaning service costs me after I'm no longer using the service. Assuming I live for 20 years after FIRE, (a conservative number consider I'm FIRE'd), that 20 years of cleaning service has cost me $132-$142K. I've found more than anything else that recurring expenses can have the biggest impact on FIRE, hence I do without car payments, have the slowest DSL I'm comfortable with, a minimum cell phone plan, basic satellite for the kids (when they move out I'm pulling the plug!), etc. Plus, I feel its lazy not to do it myself, it takes so little time if I do it as I go, cleaning up after myself, etc. I'm that way too with oil changes and car maintenance. YMMV

[Lisa99]

We both work and don't have a housekeeper or have a yard service. We do have a pool service though. In Vegas if the pool water gets out of balance even a little it will turn green overnight in the summer.

I don't like strangers in my house and I enjoy doing the yard work, so we save about $300/month doing the house and yard ourselves.

The house isn't spotless, but it's always neat and company ready. Wasn't that way until I found flylady.com. Flylady has a method of doing a little every day, one room at a time and after four years of flylady, the method has become habit. This is a HUGE change for us since the thought of having company before flylady would send us into frantic cleaning mode!

[Moscyn]

Used to share the cleaning work between DH and I. Now we have someone to come in twice a month (4 hours each visit). She does a good job since I don't do windows and mirror well.

[vicente solano]

Quote:

Originally Posted by REWahoo Out of curiosity, what do you pay her?

14 monthly paychecks/year of 350€.

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vicente solano 14 monthly paychecks/year of 350€.

Thanks for feeding my curiosity.

If my math shown below is correct, that works out to about $8.50 per hour. That is considerably less than most others are reporting on this thread.

Congratulations - I'm envious.

-----------
350 x 14 = 4,900 per year
3/hr per day x 5 days per week x 52 weeks = 780 hours per year
4,900/780 = 6.28/hr x 1.35 euro/dollar = $8.48/hr

[vicente solano]

Quote:

Originally Posted by REWahoo Thanks for feeding my curiosity. If my math shown below is correct, that works out to about $8.50 per hour. That is considerably less than most others are reporting on this thread. Congratulations - I'm envious. ----------- 350 x 14 = 4,900 per year 3/hr per day x 5 days per week x 52 weeks = 780 hours per year 4,900/780 = 6.28/hr x 1.35 euro/dollar = $8.48/hr

You are welcome Rew! Don´t be envious. Minimum wages here are just over 600*14 euros/year.

[Bestwifeever]

We've had cleaning services and might do so again. About $75/visit for our small house.

The people I know who've had the most success in getting and keeping cleaning ladies are people who are really good at telling other people what to do .

[KM]

We both work, so we had one many years ago (came in once a week) when the kids were younger and we were running constantly. Kept her for about 1.5 - 2 years. Never bothered to replace her, because I hated spending money and it got fairly pricey. So we went back to doing it ourselves.

I am not overly picky about having the house spotless. Bathrooms do get cleaned weekly, but that doesn't take much time. We do everything else when we feel like it. Seems to be working for us. I feel like the house is clean - but then again everyone has a different definition of "clean".

If we are having company over, we do take time to do a thorough cleaning/pick-up, but this doesn't take that much effort. Since the kids have grown up, we haven't "lost control" of the house in a long time. When they were little, there were days I would just shake my head and then go to bed, because I was just too tired to care.