Do you have a cleaning person?

[SDFgirl]

Our home is very small (1100 square feet) but with two small kids and two full time jobs, we have difficulty with finding the time to do the "heavy" cleaning. Picking up, wiping counter tops, vacuuming, etc. gets done but mopping, baseboards, windows, dusting under the couch seem to suffer!

I've been thinking about hiring someone twice a month to do the heavy stuff...

Just wondering if you have a cleaning person and how much it runs?

 

[Kimberly]

I do. I live in a larger home (5000 square feet) with just my fiance. It's a lot of space for just the two of us, and we both travel about 100 days or more a year.

We pay her about 15 dollars an hour. Things are different here though.

 

[descovy]

We live in a 2500 sq ft house, and have a cleaning person come 2x a month for $70.

It would be more if we had pets or used a service. She actually works for a service M-F that would charge $125 for my sized house, but she does mine on Saturdays.

Alone she takes about 3-4 hours... sometimes she brings a friend and is out quicker. Vaccuuming, mopping, dusting, cleaning the kitchen appliances, good bathroom clean, change the sheets. She does not do laundry.

Mind you, we still clean. My kids still have chores. I know I get a good scrub 2x a month, but the floor still needs to be swept, vaccuumed, etc... And we make sure EVERYTHING is picked up before she gets here. She's here to CLEAN not to pick up. You should see the family run like a whilwhind to get everything "Cindy-ready"

But it's great for me because I am forced to keep the clutter under control! It has to get cleared out every 14 days...

 

[Liberty Belle]

No, but I wish I did. However, we me out of work, I can barely afford cleaning supplies for me to do it myself.

Our house isn't huge, but it isn't small either (~2500 sqft). It takes quite a bit of time to keep it straight and really clean.

 

[momto2girls]

We have 2 people clean our house every other week. Our house is 5500 sq. ft. if you don't count the finished basement. We pay $150 a cleaning for it.

I do think that the costs can vary widely in different areas of the country though, so you might want to ask people in your area.

 

[XYSRUS]

I have a cleaning woman come: every other week...4br 4 ba, $90...have had her for 5yrs now...would never go back...wish I could afford every week!

 

[shortbun]

We have Merry Maids(same crew each time) twice a month for those things. I manage to barely keep up in between. Our house is 3800sq ft with 3.5 bathrooms and teen aged boys crawling all over it all the time.(at least they were until school started Wednesday)

 

[FINFAN]

I have 3...

















me, myself and I.


Sorry, absolutely no help form me as I ahve never had one, but my SIL has always had one. I know she started out by hiring a maid service to do the before and after cleanng for her parties...I think she was able to give "ala carte" choices~ once she became a regular client, the rates dropped to less than when she was hiring just by the day/event.

 

[BonnieA]

I've had one for a couple months now. My house is about 2000sf, 2 1/2 bath, 3 bedrooms and a bonus room. I pay $80 every two weeks. Best investment I have made.

 

[Tinkermommy]

I pay $85 every other week for my 5 bedroom, 4 full bathroom house.

As other said, you still need to pick up and vacuum, sweep but at least twice a month my house is really clean.

 

[mjkacmom]

It averages about $100 per cleaning, depending upon the size of the house, and if you use someone independent vs. a cleaning service. I had 2 women come twice a month, $70 (which is very inexpensive, but my house is small, and I don't think they were here legally), but they didn't do a great job. They were here about 2 hours a week.

 

[mrsv98]

Yes! DH and I both work and with that and DD's activities, the last thing I want to do is scrub the bathroom when I have a few minutes home. She comes every other week and cleans our 2000 sq ft house for $80. I love it because it forces me to keep things in order. DH always teases me about cleaning for the cleaning lady but he doesn't get it. It isn't her job to put away the piles of laundry or pick stuff up off the surfaces. I want her to scrub the floors and clean the bathrooms!

With three dogs, I am still vacuuming/sweeping multiple times a week but I know twice a month everything will be done at once...that is my happy day!

 

[HM]

This kind of question always reminds me of a conversation at a mom's club meeting once. Turns out that of the 14 people there, only the 2 of us that worked full time did not have a cleaning person. All of the other 12 had some form of cleaner that came in regularly. I was in shock.

 

[rgf207]

I don't have 1 but I want one. I would gladly pay a cleaning person to clean my house 2 times a month. I'm trying to convince my wife to get one but she won't go for it.

 

[SaraJayne]

Yes. Me.

 

[Bella the Ball 360]

Yes I do she is my twin she looks like me, talks like me but can only clean from 5 to 9 and on the weekend because she has a full time job all week....wait it sounds strangely like me! That is what my family thinks too!

 

[MichelleVW]

I would really love to have one since I freaking hate to clean. But I don't know about how it would work with all the animals we have.

 

[StitchFanZ]

I had one when I used to work and my kids were younger. I really miss having a cleaning lady now. It was, hands down, well worth the expense. A big plus my kids learned is an appreciation for a clean house. They also learned real quick that if anything was left on the floor for cleaning day, they would lose it. I simply didn't have time to pick up all their little toys and things the night before our cleaning lady came. If you think about it - cleaning people take care of clean houses. i.e. Knowing they are coming helps everyone to keep things picked up and out of the way. I wasn't paying someone to move around piles of stuff - I wanted them to clean the bathrooms, dust, vacumn, and so on.

 

[lisalis]

When my kids were younger and I was working, I had a lady come every other week. She charged $75 per cleaning for our 2000 sq ft house. I had to quit having her when I quit my job A few years ago I went back to work and had a lady come once a month for $120 per time, which was $30 an hour. My two oldest boys, 11 and 13, each clean a bathroom, dust, and vacuum a level of our house each week. We call it "hour of scour." Everyone in the house has a list of jobs to work on for an hour. I like having my lady in once a month to do a top quality job!

 

[PatsMom]

When I was going to school, working full time, being a mother to a first grader and a wife, along with helping to take care of my father, I had a weekly cleaning lady. It was a life saver. I used to do things like get up at 4 in the morning so I could clean the bathroom before going to work! And it would wait to be done until I couldn't stand it anymore.

Finally my husband, who was travelling a lot for his job at the time, said something has to give. So we hired a lady who came in once a week and did the bathrooms, floors, vacuuming, dusting, etc. I felt so much better after that! She would even do things like change the sheets on the beds if I left her a note asking her to and left the clean ones out. I paid her $50 a week for about a half day's work. This was over 12 years ago so it would probably be more now.

Best money I ever spent!