Do you have someone clean your house?

[Mimi Q]

My mother wants someone to clean her house as her health is not very good. She has an individual coming to her house to look at it and give her a quote tomorrow. Her house always looks immaculate to me, but she thinks it's dirty. Any advice about interviewing a prospective house cleaning person?

 

[luvwinnie]

I would be sure to get references.

 

[Deb in IA]

I would also make sure they are bonded and insured.

I used to use private individuals to clean my house, but after many years, I switched to a cleaning company. The first one I used was "The Maids", and I was not happy with them. They were expensive, and very unreliable in their schedule.

I fired them and went with "Merry Maids", and I am still with them. Sometimes they are not as through as I'd like, but at least I know that every week, my floors and swept and vacuumed and my bathrooms are cleaned.

 

[Chicago526]

I think my sister in law uses Merry Maids. I've never heard her complain about them. She doesn't have them come in on a regular basis, just when she gets so far behind in her housework that it pays to have someone else do it!

 

[LoraJ]

I'm also in the process of looking for someone. I used a service to do a thorough cleaning when I bought my ondo, but I thought they were very expensive.

I am asking some of my co-workers if they know anyone.

 

[missypie]

"Are you a convicted felon?" Actually, the only time we've had a felon clean our house is when we used a "service." The rest of the time we've hired our own ladies and it's gone better.

 

[snoopy]

I hired a cleaning service after my sister had a baby, to come over and do a thorough one-time cleaning. I was VERY disappointed, they did only a surface cleaning even though I paid for them to do a deep cleaning.

After that bad experience, I just went over there and cleaned her house myself, the proper way. If I was ever going to hire someome to clean, I'd just hire a person, not a cleaning service.

 

[newmousecateer]

Yes, my someone from my daughter-in-laws cleaning service.

When my daughter-in-law talks to a potential client she stresses:

They are bonded and insured

She charges by the "job", not by the hour

They determine exactly what will be done for the quoted price so there is no misunderstanding.

 

[decker96]

Make sure you get references and ask specifically what they will or will not clean.
We have a cleaning lady, she's worked for us for about 8 months now and I have no complaints. She does basic cleaning, cleans the bathrooms, dusts, vacuums, sweeps and mops the floors, wipes down the counters and sink in the kitchen. She also makes the beds (doesn't change sheets, just makes them). She doesn't clean the windows or oven or refrigerator. We pay her by the hour and have never had a problem.

 

[JayCT]

Actually, given what you said about your mom's house looking clean to you, but that she thinks it is dirty, indicates that she may be very fussy about how clean the house is. I have found that unless you pay someone a lot of money, they only do surface cleaning, which is not what your mother wants. Be very specific with the person you interview about what you want done. I hope it works out.

 

[Micca]

We have a young friend of the family come to clean. She is not at all reliable, does a fair job of cleaning, and doesn't steal from us.

 

[Barb D]

I had a company during the school year last year, and gave it up at the beginning of summer. I was VERY pleased with the two ladies who cleaned for us, but they were moving out of state (they were related to each other) and I decided to try and save money and do it ourselves. Whenever we had subs from the same company they didn't do as good a job as "our" ladies anyway.

Just today I had someone from another company clean the house. I chose this company because they'll come as frequently or infrequently as you want and do "priority cleans" for a given number of hours. I ended up getting 2 ladies for 1.5 hours, for a total of 3 person hours. I gave them a list of what I wanted cleaned, and they got through the list. They didn't do as good a job as "our" ladies, but I guess it was OK. I really like the first company better, but can't afford $100 every two weeks. With this new company I can get 2 person hours for $70, and have it every three or four weeks.

I need to decide what to do... but I know we can't keep up with it ourselves.

 

[Mimi Q]

Thanks for all the replies. I made out a specific list of what mother wanted cleaned. I am working tomorrow, so I can't be there for the interview.

 

[sweet angel]

Do you have someone clean your house?

Yeah, ME (okay, and DS and BF if I nag enough).

On one hand, I'd love to be able to afford to have someone clean my house, but on the other hand I think, why pay someone to do what I can do myself?

Not to sound snippy, but I don't understand why some posters "can't keep up with" the cleaning and why it's so difficult to make your own bed? Can someone explain? Maybe I'm just cheap. I won't get manicures either because I could just as easily do it myself. Maybe it's me.....

 

[mom2rb]

After three years and 4 different maid services, I hit the jackpot. We had a great family that moved across the street two years ago. The wife owns a maid company. They are from Mexico. For $280 a month my house gets cleaned top to bottom and my boys get two hours a week of Spanish. Her boys are great and have become my boy's best friends. Her oldest is even in training to be my babysitter. He watches the boys if I go to the store and his parents are home.

 

[caitycaity]

Not to sound snippy, but I don't understand why some posters "can't keep up with" the cleaning and why it's so difficult to make your own bed? Can someone explain?

speaking only for myself, these days i tend to be really busy. a typical day for me is:

wake up at 6 and workout
come home around 7 and get ready for work
get to work by 8:30
work until 4, then leave for class
have class until 8, then come home
eat something for dinner
go to bed

repeat.

on the weekends and nights after work when i don't have class, i really only have time to read for school. i have about 1000 pages of reading/week. i run a few errands, but i hardly even get any down time or time to spend with dh these days. our house was just getting too messy and i was getting even more stressed than i already am trying to stay on top of everything. dh suggested we hire a maid and i jumped at it. dh said that he thought my time was spent more valuably working on my degree since it will financially benefit our family. we can get anyone to clean our house and it really isn't that expensive.

 

[SnowAngel]

I'll clean your house if you pay me! I cleaned house from 17-20 while in college for 25$ per hours. Lost of work and usually finished each house in 2 to 3 hours tops twice a month. Not deep deep for the time..


Now I wish I could hire someone. I work full-time, have a second job, 3 children.. 4 if counting dh and barely have time to clean. When my children were babies I always kept a very clean house but once they got older it's getting harder. Someone once said "cleaning a house while raising children is like shoveling while it is still snowing." I just can't keep up and dh is not much of a cleaner. He'll clean and expect it to stay like that for months!

 

[sweet angel]

Makes sense, and again, I wasn't trying to be rude or obnoxious by asking. Just curious.

 

[caitycaity]

Originally posted by sweet angel
Makes sense, and again, I wasn't trying to be rude or obnoxious by asking. Just curious.

i didn't think you were rude or obnoxious. actually, i really opposed the idea for a long time because i felt like i was somehow failing if i wasn't doing it myself. i guess i still do sort of feel that way a little bit. i don't generally advertise the fact that we have someone clean for us. my mom was a working mom and she always found time to clean, so i guess i find it a bit embarrassing.

btw, i love your clipart! i love that cartoon!

 

[MScott1851]

I have someone come every other week because DH and I work totally different schedules. If we have time off together, I don't want to spend all day cleaning the house. I pick up during the week, and wipe stuff down, but I love knowing that the toilets get scrubbed, the WHOLE house gets vacuumed (not just what people can see when they walk in) and I also HATE to dust.

If it comes down to a matter of time value...It takes me about three to four hours to clean my house well. What I pay the lady that does my cleaning is well worth it to me.