Cleaning Service/Maids

[Dog]

No judging here. To each their own. Keeping the house clean, home maintained and lawns mowed and weed free doesn't take that much time. I still have lots of time to play and read now that I'm retired. I typically have music on for enjoyment. And, it's good exercise
DH and I will revisit tasks as we age.


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[youbet]

I can tell you first hand that ironing is a PITA!

At the risk of telling one house cleaning - laundry story too many..........

Back in the day (1960's), I was attending college in a small town in far southern Indiana. In those days, the style was Gant shirts which required ironing. I found out from guys in the dorm that an elderly woman in town would iron shirts for a dime each, you provide the spray starch. Mind you, this was the late 60's and a dime was worth something. Still, seemed like a real bargain. Of course you had to pass a front porch interview with her so she could be sure you were a "nice boy" that she would enjoy seeing again and again over your college career.

So, I'd go to the coin laundry in town every week or two and do my laundry and drop the shirts off at her house on the way home. The next day, they were all perfectly done on hangers. If you left a little tip, say gave her a buck for doing 7 or 8 shirts, she'd start inviting you to join her on the front porch of her white, ginger bread house for sweet tea and home made cookies............ and interesting stories about life growing up in rural southern Indiana. It was quite an experience for me, a product of the Chicago Public Schools.

 

[youbet]

No judging here. To each their own.

+1

 

[happy2bretired]

When I was a child, one of my least favorite regular chores after school was to do all the ironing. I was required to iron the underwear for my parents and my two big brothers (plus all their clothing, the sheets and pillowcases, and even the towels). :

Me too. I admit I got off easier than you. Only tee shirts and handkerchiefs for my parents but the household flat pieces were mine (sheets, pillowcases, tea towels, etc) I do miss not having those nice crisp and smooth sheets, but no more ironing for me either.


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[doneat54]

Personally, I have a real issue with paying someone to do anything that I can do myself.... but we do have a cleaning lady. My wife pays her $100 every two weeks (she's there usually 4 hours) and is just thrilled and glowy about how nice the house looks and smells for the 20 minutes (every 2 weeks) after she leaves and before the dog fur begins to accumulate in the corners again.

We used to have some pretty heated arguments about this, but I have to accept that she works too, makes even a bit more than me, and is entitled to spend some money on things that make her happy.

I will retire in 15 months and she 3-4 years beyond that, and the cleaning lady is just one reason it is that way.

And when I retire, I will be happy to be paid $25/hr to dust and vacuum for 4 hours every two weeks....

 

[Nodak]

Once a month cleaning works well for me. I'm the only person in the 860 sq. ft. house and I keep things fairly neat. What I don't like doing is the vacuuming, dusting and bathroom cleaning so my cleaning lady does that. I had to edit my previous post where it said $85 per cleaning should have been $65. It was still rather dark in here when I did that entry.

 

[elisap]

During this same time, my MIL came weekly (also Fridays) and did our laundry. That was great! She was fastidious, even ironing my undies, doing alterations (fabulous seamstress) and sewing patches on Cub Scout shirts for the grand kids!

Wow, your MIL washed your clothes? Wow, nice. Years ago I tried the cleaning, washing clothes, errands, dinners, everything and couldn't get my husband to help with any of it even though I worked full time. It made for a MISERABLE and UNHAPPY wife. I told my dad I wanted out of the marriage he said I might want to lower my standards (to what? one level above pig pen? I was struggling to do it all as it was) and then he said can't you at least wait until the wedding is paid for? LOL I laughed and said, let me know when it's paid for.

Whew, we got a housekeeper and here we are 25 years later, both happy, me because I no longer have to do it all, him, I've stopped nagging for help. He now helps keep the house straight as I do, and washes and irons his own clothes too. It was funny when he went grocery shopping the first time and was shocked over prices lol.

 

[calmloki]

Anyone with HULU should give "Another Period" a glance. High society low class rich folk and their servants.

We've a number of apartments that vacate pretty often - frequently enough that I bought two professional rug cleaners that make the grocery store rental units look like play toys. I used to do the apartment cleaning and didn't do a great job of it, though the places would show well. Since then I've had enough others do the work that I see the difference, and when I see someone cleaning from the top down it is a good sign. Used to also do all the yardwork on the places. Now we have a yard guy that does all the places, including our house. I'd really like to have one of the outstanding cleaners we have do our place, but SWMBO will have none of it. If we could just get someone in twice/month to knock the top layer off our lives would be cleaner. I know that no matter how clean a place is you can always pick nits, so there would be things SWMBO could get cleaner...

 

[athena53]

She would spend a couple hours doing the usual basics with the vacuum cleaner, dust rag and bathroom/kitchen sanitizers. Then she'd spend about two hours on that week's project such as windows, ceiling fan blades, empty and clean the fridge, clean the stove, etc.

Yeah, there's that "occasional stuff", too. I try to add one of those tasks every time I clean: take down and wash a glass light fixture, remove a couple of drawers or shelves from the refrigerator and clean them, etc. Plenty of cabinets that will need occasional dusting inside.

Man, I have never thought that my underwear would need ironing. I would have thought that it is a privilege for royalties.

Well, what if you got into an accident and they took you to the ER? You'd be glad you had freshly-ironed underwear then, wouldn't you?


Seriously- my sister and I were expected to iron our own clothes. Our brothers were not. Fortunately, not even Mom was into ironing sheets or underwear. I have to admit that knowing how to use an iron paid off when I started traveling on business and I could spend 5 minutes touching something up before I put it on. Still, I think there's a reason my sister and I both chose high-powered careers and settled into happy marriages with househusbands.

 

[Amethyst]

Honestly, toilets are nothing (unless somebody has some serious GI problems, I suppose ) For me the issue is one of surfaces...cleaning floors, counters, cabinets, appliances...all the wiping and dusting...it just goes on and on.

We haven't ever hired cleaners, because that would mean...as others have observed...cleaning up before they get here. And then we'd just get it all dirty again. They'd have to come every day!

That depends. Do you do housework or is it your wife job? Does she enjoy cleaning toilets?

I have a bi-monthly housecleaner and it's the best thing we did. Time, our most precious commodity, a clean house is something that we enjoy but both of us hate housecleaning.

Money is a commodity that we use to buy things we want, enjoy, need, things that save us time. I use $100 of my money to buy time and to get something done that I hate doing and since I love a clean house but HATE housework, I'll give a lot up before I give my housecleaners up.

 

[Jerry1]

I've never had a house keeper. I've brought it up and my wife never wanted to let a stranger in the house. Personally, I think she made the wrong decision. When I read all of the responses, they sound exactly like the response I give for the one thing I did do - hire a lawn service. I'm not sure I can justify it in retirement, but while working, it's been a great decision. I think having someone clean the house in the later years of our retirement will be something we consider, as it will get harder to keep up. My dad, now 84, has had someone come in and do housework for awhile and he's very happy with it and he is a major do it yourselfer.

 

[RunningBum]

Originally Posted by Dog
No judging here. To each their own.

+1

Wait. You +1'd the no judging comment after this?

Lots of comments about the joys of a clean house. Yet most folks who say they hire a cleaner have the cleaner in only every 2 weeks? Yuuuch........

 

[Moemg]

Do you think "Tiny House " owners have cleaning ladies ?

 

[REWahoo]

Do you think "Tiny House " owners have cleaning ladies ?

Tiny ones maybe?

 

[Bestwifeever]

No, they just have their nonnas come in one morning a week:

 

[Music Lover]

Well, what if you got into an accident and they took you to the ER? You'd be glad you had freshly-ironed underwear then, wouldn't you?

If I got into an accident that required a trip to the ER, there's a good chance that my underwear would no longer be clean...

 

[kaudrey]

We use a monthly service also. I hate to clean, we have a dog and a cat (so I vacuum in between anyway), and it helps us put away things once a month (yes, we "clean up" for the cleaning ladies). We both work long days, our time is valuable, and it is money well-spent, in my opinion.

Life is a balance. We choose to "splurge" in this area.

 

[JOHNNIE36]

We started having a cleaning lady about five years ago. $15 /hour was the going rate and it took about three hours to clean our house. Then this lady started to bring her daughter to cut down on the time it took to do our house. She had other clients in our area also so the idea was OK except it now cost us $30/hour for the two people. Fine if you can cut the time in half but this isn't how it works. The daughter abused the situation, the mother worked harder to cover for her. So what used to cost us $45 for the three hours now started to cost $60 and we got nothing for the extra money. We cut ties with that woman.

Now we have another woman that also charged $15/hour and she did everything we wanted. We've had her about two years. It became a standard $45 every two weeks for the three hours it took her to clean our house. We were used to leaving the $45 on the kitchen counter and when she was finished she would grab the money and go. Now it seems like she is still getting the $45 but she is finishing the work in two hours. Is she just getting more efficient? No. Things are starting to slip, the good job she used to do is lacking. Wife doesn't want me to say anything. Said she would handle it. That means things will go on as usual until I have to step in and then I become the bad guy. I long for the good old days when we could just do everything ourselves. Sigh!!!

 

[Tailgate]

We got tired of having to 'hide' from the cleaning lady every week so we do it ourselves



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[Amethyst]

Maybe other people are paying her $45 for 2 hours' work now. Although, if that's the case, she should have asked you for more money, not started doing less work.

Now we have another woman that also charged $15/hour and she did everything we wanted. We've had her about two years. It became a standard $45 every two weeks for the three hours it took her to clean our house. We were used to leaving the $45 on the kitchen counter and when she was finished she would grab the money and go. Now it seems like she is still getting the $45 but she is finishing the work in two hours. Is she just getting more efficient? No. Things are starting to slip, the good job she used to do is lacking. Wife doesn't want me to say anything. Said she would handle it. That means things will go on as usual until I have to step in and then I become the bad guy. I long for the good old days when we could just do everything ourselves. Sigh!!!

 

[JOHNNIE36]

Amethyst, I agree with you. My wife says the $15/hr has been long gone. I say, "fine, then, make it $20/hr but don't steal from us by doing less work for the same pay."

 

[Fishingmn]

We've had a cleaning lady for many years. Always hire independent instead of a company. Going rate in our area for the past 5-10 years has been $25/hour. We have it every 2 weeks.

 

[H2ODude]

Timely thread for us. I suggested a cleaning lady to DW this morning and she was quite enthusiastic. Have number of lady who didi house next door but guy moved so will giver her call.

We imagine a twice a month deep cleaning that probably gets done far less frequently. We keep it pretty clean, we being DW, me, and the Roomba. Two hound dogs and a cat mean frequent vacuuming. We'd just like to see more attention to kitchen and baths, plus dusting some of the more neglected areas. Sure we have the time to do it but we just don't enjoy it; the "deep" cleaning only gets truly done when guests expected. OTOH I doubt anyone would give the house a suspicious look about anytime.

The sense of space invasion is somewhat of an issue. We've gotten comfortable with two pet sitting ladies who live in while we're gone. I think we'd prefer to NOT be here while the cleaner is here rather than hang around. Know there are untrustworthy people out there but sometimes between a reference and just trusting people, it's worth to just cross your fingers. We have credit reports locked down and cc have just about no liability if you watch them, so we'll give it a try.

In general, I've become disgusted with dependability and quality of hiring stuff out. I've given up on leaf service (just use the leaf blower and escort them all to natural area) because they never fail to show up. On third "yard" service in a year to do fertilizer, pest control and aerating. Same reason, never showed up. So hopefully this lady is more interested in making some money than the outside people are.