Do you have someone clean your house?

[Judy from Boise]

I have a weekly service that I am very happy with. I would always go with a bonded company that carries their own workmans comp insurnace !

When they are here they always do a total surface clean, change the bed lines, and rotate through a different deep clean each week.

 

[robinb]

Originally posted by sweet angel
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?

I had a maid when I was married because my DH did nothing to help me clean the house and that made me crazy. It saved our marriage.

edited to add: I'm still married to the same man . I meant "working" and not "married" above. Now that I am a SAHM I really want a maid back since my DH still doesn't do a darn thing around the house.

 

[sweet angel]

I had a maid when I was married because my DH did nothing to help me clean the house and that made me crazy. It saved our marriage.

I could see that being my reasoning as well in the future.

 

[cgcw]

We have a service come in every other week. They come during a time when we are out and it's so nice to come home to a clean house -- especially when I didn't have to do the work.

Before hiring the service I have now, I had a problem as far as payment for a previous service. When I called for a price, I was quoted one price for the 1st clean (to bring my home to their cleaning standards -- or so they said). I expected a crew to show up yet only one woman showed up. Asked me what I wanted her to do, rather than already having her standard routine down.

Then when I went to pay her, she asked me to make the check out to cash, rather than the service. Since I run a business out of my home and claim part of these expenses on my taxes, I wasn't comfortable doing this.

I called the service and said I was expecting a crew, not just one individual and I was not making checks payable to cash. The owner said there must have been a problem and on the next clean, it would be a crew. So, next time, the same lady showed up with a man to help her. They did an okay job, but then again when it was time for payment, she asked me for a check made payable to cash -- and then told me that I had to double the amount because there were two of them. Now I'm really confused -- if I was quoted one price, to me I shouldn't have to double it just because it's now two people doing the work.

I called the agency who told me I had actually overpaid the first time and what the lady was asking for the second week was actually the correct amount. Told me the first week, they just thought I was giving them a generous tip (?). Whatever, I was totally confused by that point and told her that I'd find someone else to do the job -- as they couldn't get their act together to not only decide what the amount was going to be but just who was going to be cleaning my home on a consistent basis.

I then went with a recommendation from a friend. A much better experience.

 

[DisneyMomx7]

I used to use Merry Maids but after awhile I noticed that while it looked great on the surface many things were brushed over. Luckily my next door neighbors recommended a couple that they use to clean their house and they worked out very well. I think it's important to know someone who is satisifed with their work or at least get references.

 

[JayCT]

We now have a cleaning lady every other week because DW and I both work and we have two active children that I want to spend as much time as possible with. DW was brought up with a cleaning lady, but I was not and for a long time I resisted the idea. We would try to keep up, but never seemed to be able to. Then about five years ago I took a Friday off from work to clean the house before company came and threw my back out. We have a dog with lots of fur and I liked to really scrub everything down. I realized that it was crazy to waste my time cleaning when we could afford to have someone do it for us. Now at least every other week our house is clean.

 

[zurgswife]

I don't have a Cleaning person...but I am a cleaning person for others.....It's always a good idea that you have a clear idea of what you expect to be done and make sure your cleaner knows what your expectations are....Most of my clients are great in this respect....

 

[DisneyMomx7]

I originally resisted the idea of a cleaning person, but when I was pregnant with my 5th child I went into labor at 6 months. Luckily they were able to stop it but told me to absolutely hire someone. Now I'm spoiled. They clean every other week and it is so nice to come back and have the whole cleaned at once. I still clean every day (three kids 7 and under!) but it helps to have all the bathrooms (3) done at once! We keep saying now that ds is in preschool part time that we'll let them go but neither one of us wants to tell them because they are such a nice couple. So we keep paying them.

 

[LoraJ]

Originally posted by sweet angel

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.....

I need someone because cleaning is not my specialty. I work 6 days a week and also work double shifts from time to time. My one day off I spend with my boyfriend. I straighten up here and there but it gets hard to keep up.

Sure it would be cheaper to do it myself, but I know that someone else can do a much better job and get the spots that I miss.

 

[mallcat]

No cleaning service at our house. My husband and I both pitch in and try to keep ahead of things. He does as much as I do. We both work full time jobs, so we both do the house chores. So, our house stays pretty clean because we don't give it a chance to pile up and get overly dusty----and the bed is always made before I go to work. We are both pretty particular about things. That being said, we have no children at home so that makes a huge difference. I do, however, clean my mom's house for her on Thursday nights...she works two jobs and helps to take care of my dad since he had a stroke. (He's not an invalid, but acts like one when it comes to chores.)

 

[Barb D]

Originally posted by Barb D
...I need to decide what to do... but I know we can't keep up with it ourselves.

Originally posted by sweet angel
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? .....

OK, since I'm the one you're quoting here, I'll respond. I've learned over the years that people have very different tolerances for how much activity/chaos/busy-ness/whatever they can handle. I don't need to justify to you how busy my life is; I'm sure there are people who are busier and can keep up with the housework just fine. I also have a friend who is a stay-at-home mom and has a cleaning service. She told her dh that she's staying home to spend time with the kids, not to clean. Again, different people, different tolerances.

And for the record, I do make my own bed. I don't have someone coming in daily and doing everything, although I'm sure there are folks who do have a daily maid and they don't need to justify that either.

 

[christinou]

When my girls were 1 and 3, I had a woman come every week for 2 hours it saved my sanity, both my husband and I work full time, and I could not keep up between the kids and the house....
Now that they are 7 and 9 I make them clean, just kidding, actually we only had the cleaning lady about 2 years, until the kids were not as hands on and I could go back to doing more. I wish I still had her, but I cannot do both vacations and cleaning lady, so Disney won on this one

 

[LisaZoe]

I've considered hiring someone. As a single parent, I felt that it was better to pay someone to do the cleaning so I could spend more time with DD. However, after some consideration I decided I'd rather spend the money on a yard service. Now, once each week I have a 3 man crew mow, trim and tidy our yard. Before I hired them, I would avoid spending much time in the yard because it just reminded me how much work needed to be done.

I'd still love to have someone come over to help keep up on some of the cleaning I dislike, such as toilet scrubbing, washing windows, etc. However, I'm going back to school now and can't justify the expense... yet. In fact, I may have to start doing my own yard work before I finish school but other expenses will get cut first.

 

[sweet angel]

Originally posted by Barb D
OK, since I'm the one you're quoting here, I'll respond. I've learned over the years that people have very different tolerances for how much activity/chaos/busy-ness/whatever they can handle. I don't need to justify to you how busy my life is; I'm sure there are people who are busier and can keep up with the housework just fine. I also have a friend who is a stay-at-home mom and has a cleaning service. She told her dh that she's staying home to spend time with the kids, not to clean. Again, different people, different tolerances.

And for the record, I do make my own bed. I don't have someone coming in daily and doing everything, although I'm sure there are folks who do have a daily maid and they don't need to justify that either.

Barb D:
I totally agree with you. As I said, I wasn't trying to be snippy...merely curious. Of course you don't have to justify your actions to anyone else, least of all me! To each her own.

 

[decker96]

Originally posted by sweet angel
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?

I have a cleaning lady not because I can't keep up with the cleaning, but because I absolutely HATE to do it. Laundry, grocery shopping, dishes, yardwork, no problem, I'll do that stuff any time, but the cleaning I cannot stand. I would rather do anything but clean.
My MIL is a clean freak. Her house is spotless all the time. So is my SIL. This is what DH is used to. After arguing about it many times, I told DH the best present he could ever give me (and himself) was to let me hire a cleaning lady. He went out and got me one! She comes every other week and it works out perfect. I sweep the floors and vaccum in between the times that she's here which I don't mind doing.
Also, it's not too difficult for me to make my own bed although I don't do it because I think it's kind of pointless. I mean you're just going to sleep in it again, why make it? (I don't make my kids make theirs either) No one goes in our bedrooms but us anyway. So the beds get made when I change the sheets and when the cleaning lady is here. That's just one of the things she does. I didn't ask her to, she just does it.
By the way, I don't think you were being snippy by asking either.