How much do you pay your housekeepers?

[mefordis]

I pay $165 for a crew to come every 3 weeks to change the sheets, clean the house. No windows or laundry or dishes.


PS I'm thinking of making a schedule for myself and doing my own cleaning. I have a 3 yr old who is demanding and takes all my time, but I could try to clean around her!!!

What do you pay (I live in the northeast and things are pricier here, than say the midwest and some other areas).

 

[beansmom]

i live within 50 miles of Boston and we paid $100 per week/visit for a housekeeper to do the floors, bathrooms and dust and clean the glass tables.

I'll be interested to see what others say---we're looking for a new housekeeper.

 

[ryrysmom14]

Wow... that is alot! I am in Bergen County so it should be comparable and I pay $80 every 2 wks. That is about what all my friends pay as well. We have about 2000 sq ft-3500 sq ft houses. My housecleaners change sheets and clean...usually 2-3 women. I also had someone prior who moved...she charged $90 and did laundry also...how I miss her. You may want to price other people.

 

[mjkacmom]

Sounds like you have an agency. I used to pay 2 non-English speaking women $75 every other week to clean my (small) house. Just the basics - no beds, no molding, no moving of furniture, my supplies, I washed the rags. This is very inexpensive. An agency would cost me much more - I know people with larger homes who pay about $130 for their non-English speaking cleaners.

 

[ilovemk76]

I pay $165 for a crew to come every 3 weeks to change the sheets, clean the house. No windows or laundry or dishes.


PS I'm thinking of making a schedule for myself and doing my own cleaning. I have a 3 yr old who is demanding and takes all my time, but I could try to clean around her!!!

What do you pay (I live in the northeast and things are pricier here, than say the midwest and some other areas).

For someone who is so tired of seeing your money fly out the window you sure do spend lots. A $400 thanksgiving dinner for 15. A cleaning crew.

Many women with a 3 year old manage to clean their own homes. $165 every three weeks is almost $3K a year.

Do you change your sheets between cleaning or do you only change your sheets every three weeks?

We pay our cleaning crew nothing. DH and I both clean our home and it is always clean. We change our sheets every week.

 

[mefordis]

I know, we do spend a lot of money! I am trying to find ways to cut down so we can see less money go out the door! 3k a year -- I would love to bank that!

That is why I like this board, so I can get support in doing this. Any advice and tips are very much appreciated!

Yes, we practice weekly sheet changing as well. But when the service comes, they do it for me that week. It comes with the fee so of course I take advantage of it.

I would definitely not get help from dh. He works very long hours at a demanding job and wants to see me keep the cleaning service. We can afford it but I personally want to start being more frugal and save more.

For someone who is so tired of seeing your money fly out the window you sure do spend lots. A $400 thanksgiving dinner for 15. A cleaning crew.

Many women with a 3 year old manage to clean their own homes. $165 every three weeks is almost $3K a year.

Do you change your sheets between cleaning or do you only change your sheets every three weeks?

We pay our cleaning crew nothing. DH and I both clean our home and it is always clean. We change our sheets every week.

 

[HM]

I've never had a cleaning service, I work full time and have two kids. I clean my own house. My sisters both have someone come every other week and pay $75 each cleaning.

If you daughter is in the way, clean when she's sleeping. A different chore each night should get you done without hardship. You don't have to do it all at once.

 

[usnuzuloose]

I have someone come in every 2 weeks. I pay 50 dollars. I would like it if she did a little more. She cleans about 650 sq ft. She takes about 1 1/2 hrs. Nothing special. No windows, no sheet changing. Doe fsnt even clean the outside of my fridge. I have had a few people and she has been about the best. I cant do it as my back is bad and one wrong move and it could go out, so I definatly need the help.

 

[Gigi22]

I have a cleaning lady who works 1/2 day at my house, every two weeks. The cost is $75 (I expect the amount to go up soon, it has been the same price for 2-3 years now). We have a fairly small house but it has 5 different levels, so you do get a workout while cleaning. My cleaning lady washes the floors, vacuums, dusts all over, cleans the kitchen and the bathroom. She also cleans all the ground level windows twice a year. She lives within walking distance of my house, and on occasion has house sat for me. Of course we negotiated a separate price for house sitting. She and her teenaged son also raked a lot of our leaves during our absence from home in the fall, I paid them a hourly rate of about $25 for raking. It was well worth it, they did an excellent job.
I would really hate to lose her--she is the best cleaning lady I've had for a long time.

 

[BonnieA]

I have a cleaning lady come in every 2 weeks. She is paid $80. She does floors, bathrooms, makes the beds, dusts and cleans the kitchen. She will do some inside windows. It's worth it to me.

 

[QVCshopper]

OP, I think you can do it yourself. We have never had a cleaning lady and get along just fine. Your daughter is approaching the age where you can watch her and do something without worrying that she'll endanger herself. I always have my kids with me, but kind of work around them as they play, color, do puzzels, etc. I've also found that the more you are home, the messier your home gets.

Anyway, your plan to cut your cash flow down sounds very solid to me, especially with certain things you can do yourself. Yes, my yard could look better, and yes, my house could be cleaner. But, overall, we do our best and keep up with everything ourselves.

Whatever I save, I put away for retirement and college. I want to be very prepared for those big milestones.

 

[disykat]

I'll go at this from a different angle.

When my kids were pre-school age, we cleaned as part of our daily activities. If they were following me around I just involved them. For example: My oldest was afraid of the vacuum cleaner so when he was tiny I'd put him on the couch and surround him by his stuffed animals. It became a "must do" part of our routine. For dusting, we used old dark blue socks, put them on our hands and eat the dust, and then compare whose sock duster had the most dust on it. They loved changing the sheets, although it took a little longer because I usually had to make them IN the bed and then make a big show over looking for them.

I made them part of it at an early age, then as they lost interest they would find ways to stay busy in another room while I cleaned. It became more of a "do you want to help clean or have playtime by yourself?" thing. They knew what I was doing and accepted it as routine, so they were content to entertain themselves.

I'd encourage you to let your children be involved in the mundane daily chores. We're raising a whole generation of kids who don't know who to do the motions to the "this is the way we ...." song.

 

[momto2girls]

I pay $195 every other week for our cleaners to clean our entire house. If we just want the first two floors cleaned, it is $135.

It is totally worth it for us, but our house is very large. I love having the feeling of the entire house being clean at once. It never would be if I did it on my own.

 

[Pooh Girl 71]

I pay a friend from high school $50 a week to come in. She does the major stuff like floors, windows, that sort of thing. She charges other people more but I figure this is good karma for being one of the few people in high school who didn't pick on her.

 

[mefordis]

Wow! YOu must have a huge house. I like the entire house cleaned at once, too. I love coming home with my girls to see the beds made and everything clean. I will have a hard time giving that up if I decide to do it myself!

I pay $195 every other week for our cleaners to clean our entire house. If we just want the first two floors cleaned, it is $135.

It is totally worth it for us, but our house is very large. I love having the feeling of the entire house being clean at once. It never would be if I did it on my own.

 

[momto2girls]

Wow! YOu must have a huge house. I like the entire house cleaned at once, too. I love coming home with my girls to see the beds made and everything clean. I will have a hard time giving that up if I decide to do it myself!

Yes, it is pretty darn big. I love it though! But there is no way I'm cleaning it myself. I never would have moved here if that was part of the deal.

If you do decide to give up your housekeeper, there is no reason that you couldn't go back to it if you decided that cleaning the house yourself isn't working out. Personally, I would rather find something else to cut, but you could always try it out.

 

[Pumpkinmuffin]

I have never had a house cleaner either. I've always done it on my own while raising 2 children. They are both now grown and moved out but I am helping my daughter out with her almost 5 year old (preK 3 days a week) and 3 month old daily in my home, and I still do all the cleaning. We could afford a house cleaner but there's no way unless I became unable to do it on my own would I even consider paying anyone!

 

[mefordis]

Where in the midwest do you live? I'm originally from MI and there are many HUGE new construction houses there.

Yes, it is pretty darn big. I love it though! But there is no way I'm cleaning it myself. I never would have moved here if that was part of the deal.

If you do decide to give up your housekeeper, there is no reason that you couldn't go back to it if you decided that cleaning the house yourself isn't working out. Personally, I would rather find something else to cut, but you could always try it out.

 

[momto2girls]

Where in the midwest do you live? I'm originally from MI and there are many HUGE new construction houses there.

I live in Ohio.

 

[katibosch]

I work full-time and have a 5-year old and DH is in college full-time. And we manage to clean our own home. I've never even considered hiring someone. I find it so bizarre that anyone would spend money on that (especially the amounts I hear people mentioning).