Help! Cleaning service newbie

[ladygrey]

I hired a house cleaning service and they are coming on Tuesday. However, I have never done this before and have a few questions:

- Do you do anything to prep your house before your cleaner comes?

- How does tipping work? Do you leave a tip in an envelope on the counter, meet them at the conclusion of their session to personally give them a tip, or another method? 

- Any other advice or info about using a cleaner?

[crashgizmo]

I usually pick up shoes/clothes/random things around the house so they can get to the things that need to be cleaned. Sometimes I'll be sure to load the dishwasher, but more often than not they wash the dishes for me.

I've only ever used a service that is owned by the person who cleans the house, so I don't tip extra other than at the holidays. I just leave it in the envelope with the money.

[winnied]

Pick up your home so it's free of clutter.

Leave a check for the service and cash for the tip and label it? We've always had independent people, I think.

Do a walk through with the cleaning service and explain what you'd like done, if you haven't already done that. Point out things that shouldn't be touched (like fragile things.) If there are rooms that don't need/shouldn't be cleaned point those out.

[Deleted]

I tidy up - toss the accumulated junk mail, clear off counters, general straightening. Move fragile items, etc.

I don't tip per service, we have an independent person and I will give her a month's pay at the end of the year as a tip/bonus.

If I want something done in a room she usually glosses over (our guest room/guest bath don't need cleaning every service) - I let her know that I need a bed stripped and remade, etc..

[pamela]

We clean quite a but for 2 reasons. She can actually clean surfaces in the time and things don't end up in random places. Took me for freaking ever to figure out where she put a part to a sippy cup in the drain basket one week. She obviously didn't recognize it as a cup part.

[audette]

We declutter, and basically tidy up so that she can be more efficient with her time here. The less stuff she has to stack/shift/find homes for/etc, the more time she has for things like scrubbing floors, and counters, and vacuuming, etc. Seems to work well.

Tips are a no-go here. We will probably give her a nice Christmas gift, but it will be some _thing_ rather than money. Seems to be the way things are done here. The current cleaning lady started the week before Chuseok, otherwise we would have given her something for that holiday, too.