How much time do you spend cleaning your house?

aja8888 said:
Yes, that's going to happen soon, even for cutting the grass, although that has been one of my exercise tasks.
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Yeah, I think I’d get rid of lawn mowing first. I had someone doing it for me when I was working and it was great. After that, someone to clean the bathrooms.
 
For those who hire cleaning services, where do you start? How do you insure the integrity of the providers? I don't want to have to lock away personal papers or little bits of cash (or, heh, heh, my penny/nickel jar :cool: ) when the house cleaner comes in.

On a more practical level, DW and I struggle with bending and stooping. How reliable are cleaning crews at picking up/straightening things as oppose to just sweeping them up?
We can afford help (and have hired a handy-man - he goes to our church) but a cleaning service is so foreign to us that we're almost weirded out over the subject. Probably dumb to think that way, but there it is.

We don't need help with dishes or laundry. I don't mind dishes and DW actually likes to do laundry (go figure.) But we struggle even with moving furniture so that the Roomba (clone) can get to everywhere in the apartment. I don't even mind cleaning the toilets except the need to bend/stoop for the floor area.

Sooner or later we must do something but inertia is real.
 
Koolau said:
For those who hire cleaning services, where do you start? How do you insure the integrity of the providers? I don't want to have to lock away personal papers or little bits of cash (or, heh, heh, my penny/nickel jar :cool: ) when the house cleaner comes in.
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I guess the way to start is ask your neighbors. Then google local services and read the reviews. Then be there for the first few cleanings, and see how it goes.
 
Koolau said:
For those who hire cleaning services, where do you start? How do you insure the integrity of the providers? I don't want to have to lock away personal papers or little bits of cash (or, heh, heh, my penny/nickel jar :cool: ) when the house cleaner comes in.
.....
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We got a recommendation from friends.
 
Many years ago, DW insisted that we get a cleaning service. I was resistant, but after paying for it that one time I realized it was worth every penny. Haven't looked back since. Just the 2 of us, but we still have our service come every 2 weeks. I abhor cleaning chores, and they sure do a much better job anyway.
 
Since I do the majority of the domestics... about 10 minutes to do the dishes and wipe down the kitchen each day, a couple minutes to vacuum every few days, then a good part of a day to change linen, and do laundry once a week.
 
We only hire cleaning services who are employers. They have workers compensation, liability insurances, bonds etc. We also like to have the same team lead every time so that we don't have to tell new cleaners on what needed to be worked on etc. We had gone through various cleaning companies for the past few decades but the current one is a real keeper. We have the same cleaning company for the past 3 years and the same lead every single time. We have them come in every other week, always on the same day and morning so that we can have the same people.
 
I spend very little time cleaning. I don't do it on a set schedule I just do a little whenever I feel like it. I maybe vacuum a half dozen times a year give or take. I do a light wipe down of the bathroom every week or two but I mean very light, maybe a few minutes worth. I live alone and don't have guests so don't really care. I will pay someone to come in and do a thorough cleaning if I want to sell but otherwise it is just not a priority.
 
We used cleaning services off and on during working years but now we share cleaning. Two things I didn’t like about outsourcing cleaning was all the prep work beforehand and where to go/do while cleaners were working. I don’t want to be underfoot nor watching them work. Last cleaning service was so unreliable. It would start with, “we’re running late” then “first thing tomorrow” and even “sorry, we need to skip this one”. If I’d known that was going to happen I’d have done it myself right off the bat.

With both of us retired, we can keep up pretty good. We have a daily chore list so less than an hour each day does it. Quarterly chore list is a deeper dive. List really helps. House is big, lot is small so will probably continue doing it this way until DGS can cut grass for $$. He and our son, live with us.
 
We are going to make the giant leap into trying a cleaning service that is making the rounds of our neighborhood. We tried one lady and she though she could walk all over us. The cleaning people around here thought they were golden. Maybe recently things have changed? We would be respectful but firm.

Our Corgi used to clean the wooden kitchen floor all the time. But he sadly died -- not from our kitchen crumbs I am sure. He was a character.

We'll probably just start out with once every 3 weeks or so. I'm going through the process of letting loose with some money. Could be bull market thinking but I don't think so.
 
Lsbcal said:
Our Corgi used to clean the wooden kitchen floor all the time. But he sadly died -- not from our kitchen crumbs I am sure. He was a character.
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Yeah having to put my dog down was a trade-off cleaning wise...I was spoiled about having never to clean up kitchen spills :) but only vacuum half as much
 
Sanstar said:
We used cleaning services off and on during working years but now we share cleaning. Two things I didn’t like about outsourcing cleaning was all the prep work beforehand and where to go/do while cleaners were working. I don’t want to be underfoot nor watching them work. Last cleaning service was so unreliable. It would start with, “we’re running late” then “first thing tomorrow” and even “sorry, we need to skip this one”. If I’d known that was going to happen I’d have done it myself right off the bat.

With both of us retired, we can keep up pretty good. We have a daily chore list so less than an hour each day does it. Quarterly chore list is a deeper dive. List really helps. House is big, lot is small so will probably continue doing it this way until DGS can cut grass for $$. He and our son, live with us.
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One word for you, Sunstar. Roomba (or the various generics.)
 
motley said:
Yeah having to put my dog down was a trade-off cleaning wise...I was spoiled about having never to clean up kitchen spills :) but only vacuum half as much
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Our pets always made MORE w*rk, cleaning wise than they helped clean up. 20 years after one of our cats passed, I still occasionally find one of his little orange hairs stuck on/behind something. He and his "mates" always made a big mess with the liter box and also with their kibbles.

I miss them all!
 
Jerry1 said:
I might also look into a better Roomba. My is dumb (and therefore irritating). It also doesn’t handle our rugs very well. It gets stuck on them when it goes from the flat floor (laminate) onto the rug.
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These robot vaccuums must have gotten better the past few years. I got one as a gift years ago. It was one of the basic lower-end models and just useless. Just kept crashing into furniture, walls and often would just stay in one place, cleaning the same tiny tile square over and over. Never worked well, despite re-reading the instructions and trying different things. Ended up returning it.
 
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FindingForward said:
These robot vaccuums must have gotten better the past few years. I got one as a gift years ago. It was one of the basic lower-end models and just useless. Just kept crashing into furniture, walls and often would just stay in one place, cleaning the same tiny tile square over and over. Never worked well, despite re-reading the instructions and trying different things. Ended up returning it.
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That’s how my current one works. The only thing we use it for is to get under our bed. We pick up everything off the floor in our bedroom then close the door and let it work. For that one chore, it does alright, however, it did get stuck the last time. Still, it better than trying to do it with the canister vac.
 
We use a husband/wife team that were recommended by friends, and couldn't imagine life without them at this point. We pay $160 every four weeks for a robust two & 1/2 hour, very thorough cleaning of our 2700 sq ft home. In between we keep the kitchen and bathroom counters wiped, the kitchen floor swept, and that's about it.

I shudder at the thought of losing our current cleaning team. Hopefully, we have some years to go before we have to give that any thought, because no way could I, or have interest in, doing what they do.

On the flip side, we don't employ a gardener because that is a chore I enjoy. No lawn mowing, however, as we have faux grass, a totally normal thing here in eternally parched California.
 
FindingForward said:
These robot vaccuums must have gotten better the past few years. I got one as a gift years ago. It was one of the basic lower-end models and just useless. Just kept crashing into furniture, walls and often would just stay in one place, cleaning the same tiny tile square over and over. Never worked well, despite re-reading the instructions and trying different things. Ended up returning it.
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I try to make a point of not watching it. It makes me crazy seeing it get caught and then get caught in the same place again. BUT, it eventually escapes and finishes its job and the dirt it picks up is impressive. So, if you run it often, it eventually gets to everyplace and does a better j*b than I'd been doing with the Oreck. The one we have now even empties itself (supposedly able to handle 30 days worth of dirt!)
 
This week was the second time for the cleaning lady to come to our house. The day before I spent declutterring. I actually consider this a positive rather than a negative since it is a strong incentive to declutter.

I have a roomba but it is not working. It keeps saying that the rollers are clogged. They are not. I will need to spend some time online to figure this out.
 
I was an early Roomba adopter, probably due to being a robotics team teacher back then, plus I hate vacuuming, too noisy and dusty. The uneven Saltillo tiles and thick grout at my house made dirt pickup problematic. So all my Roombas went to robot vacuum recycling heaven, and DH bought - and operates - a Miele canister vac with HEPA filter instead.
 
It varies - but not enough. I would estimate an hour a day - a lot of which time is spent cleaning and re-cleaning the kitchen. I try to do a quick clean up of the bathroom as I make a mess (different potions and lotions and showers, etc.) and a full clean of that once a week. Vacuuming once a week except if something spills.

I would totally love more counter space and storage in the kitchen to achieve a less clutter look due to appliances (coffee maker, electric tea pot, toaster over, air fryer, insta pot).
 
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