Do you have a housekeeper/cleaner?

[REWahoo]

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]

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

That may not be an exaggeration.

 

[Khan]

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]

... 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]

Out of curiosity, what do you pay her?

14 monthly paychecks/year of 350€.

 

[REWahoo]

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]

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.

 

[sheehs1]

Had someone clean once a week while we were both working. At that time it was $60 for one day. She came at 7:30 in the morning and left around 4:00 and did everything that needed attention. Marie was part of the family...and passed away from cancer in 2005. Since then, I've done the cleaning for a variety of reasons.
- I've gotten quotes from others that range from $100 to $150 for 4 hours of work.
- I'm not formally working outside of the house, and with the children now gone it really does not take a lot to keep things up.
- $100/week = a net of $5200 a year. Over 10 years this is $52,000. Over 20 years it's $104,000) I'd like to keep that for myself or use it to rent a beach house once a year...etc. or for whatever...
- The "return" for 1 day a week cleaning isn't much for our household. With 2 schnauzers and a cat I vacumn ad dust at least 3 times a week anyway...so why pay someone to do it once.
Have considered getting someone maybe once a month...to give it a more thorough cleaning...especially upstairs...which is rarely used with the children gone. Just haven't done it...as it doesn't seem to be a priority.

 

[Amethyst]

We get maid-service ads all the time. The copy is so ridiculous - one customer testimonial said he loved coming home to find the carpet "vacuumed in a precise pattern."

We don't see any point in paying someone else to run a vacuum cleaner - what with a self-propelled vacuum, it is the easiest chore in the house! [unless one has a disability, that is]. All the chores we hate are extra (clean the fridge: $50 and UP).

Amethyst

 

[vicente solano]

That's a lot of cleaning!

.

My gift to my wife in exchange for my doing nothing. In my opinion, housekeeping is a very tiresome and ungrateful job, and I don´t see why she has to do of it if I don´t, despite my not having to go out to work.

Most of the help´s time is spent cooking, which neither of us like on a daily basis.

 

[Lazarus]

Yes, my wife.

 

[toofrugalformycat]

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

I didn't know I had a child!

 

[freebird5825]

The nice thing about having a periodic top-to-bottom cleaning done is it gives you a baseline from which to maintain a cleaner house in between the full treatment.
I have problems with my hands (tendinitis), so cleaning the entire house is just not a physical possibility. What takes my housecleaner 4 hours to do would take me 3x the amount of time because I have to stop once my hands start to hurt. That takes all of 20 minutes.
However, I can do the little bit it takes to keep the place looking nice.
A side benefit is I am helping a young lady earn some extra money to do things with her 2 young boys that she normally could not afford.
Priceless!

 

[bubba]

We have never used a housekeeper/cleaner except for once or twice in the past for "spring cleaning" type chores. We are cheap, we don't like strangers in the house, and dh sees after his aunt and every house cleaner he gets in for her rips her off, so we don't trust anyone. We've never used a lawn service either. Some day we will be unable to see to our own chores and we'll revisit the issue then, but for now, we are perfectly healthy and able to take care of cleaning up after ourselves.

We are picky so we do clean every weekend. I hate the time used, but it's part of life.

 

[Nova]

We had a cleaning lady who came one day each week while DH and I were working and the kids were at home. She cleaned the house and did the laundry. When the kids left for college, we gave up the housekeeper...hey, we gave up a lot of things for those college years, but the kids graduated with no debt. DH and I divided household responsibilities way back then and the arrangement continues to work for us.

 

[Orchidflower]

Do it myself for 2 reasons: I'm cheap in some areas (and this being one), and I hate people coming into my house like that (been robbed = now paranoid).
And with tile and wood floors comes such easy cleanup...love them!

 

[FreeAtLast]

I have a housekeeper once a week on Friday mornings. My 18 year old son still lives home while finishing High School and she does much to put things in order each week.

I still work PT so I feel that it is still worth it. I had her more often when I was working FT. I rather work PT writing computer programs than clean my house.

I pay $20/hour. She has been with me along time. She also can do any sewing that I need.