Yep. It was one of my requirements when we decided on our purchase budget for a house. I told DH I wanted to be able to afford a housekeeper. We have a 1,300 square foot, 3 bed/2 bath house and pay $80/visit, every two weeks. For now, it is just H and me (and our dirty little dog), though we do have a baby on the way. We both work full-time.
No, and I probably wouldn't unless we were rich. Maybe for a deep cleaning once a month but with just three of us, it's not hard to keep the house clean. On Saturday we take and hour to give the house a really good cleaning and it's pretty spotless after that.
I hired someone to do a deep clean 2 days before Christmas, and it was the best gift I could have given myself.
I increased my hours from 20 to 30/week as of January 1. Once we see how that works out money-wise, I may pull the trigger on hiring someone on a regular basis.
No, we don't. We don't have kids or any reason to do this, unfortunately haha
"I dont like to clean" is a perfectly acceptable reason lol I mean, I can't afford it, but if I could, I'd have a cleaner even if I didnt have kids, didnt have pets, and never left the house!
This is true! I meant more with our budget, it definitely doesn't fit in as a need maybe some day...
Post by melodramatic26 on Jan 31, 2015 17:18:22 GMT -5
We do now that we moved into a much bigger house. We both work in FT positions that are require more than 8 hour days. Our time on the weekends is too valuable to be spent on housecleaning. Best $100 we spend. Biweekly cleaners has cut out 75% of our arguments.
Post by adhdfashion on Jan 31, 2015 17:27:44 GMT -5
I need to hire out. Most cleaning ladies around here run between $20 to $25 an hour with a 3 hour minimum. I have been asking around trying to find some decent and trustworthy. /Crosses fingers I sah and H works. We have two kids and a cat. Oh and a baby on the way. Hence the the cleaning lady.
2 adults in the house + 2 kids + 1 dog. H works PT, and I work FT.
We hired one company, and they did a crappy job. We complained, and they sent out another team the same day. The second team did a better job, but I am unwilling to take the risk again. It was a PITA to deal with them. They were also fairly expensive.
I'd love to have someone do a deep clean 1x a month - focusing on the kitchen and bathrooms + non carpeted floors.
ETA: Just looked it up. The service that did a crappy job charged $200.
I had the same experience. The group was fucking terrible. I had to call them back twice to reclean and they still sucked. I also have really low standards. That sort of ruined it for me. I had to micromanage so much those couple months and it sucked.
Nope but I plan to someday. We both work FT and have kids. It's not in the budget now but as daycare costs go down when they start school I plan to use some of that money for at least once a month since we really won't have time as they get involved in extra curriculars.
Not right now. We used to, but we've been spending/saving money on fertility treatments. So we cut that. I'm hoping to lick it up again soon. It's.....a lot trying to work, keep up with a kid, and keep this place clean.
2 adults in the house + 2 kids + 1 dog. H works PT, and I work FT.
We hired one company, and they did a crappy job. We complained, and they sent out another team the same day. The second team did a better job, but I am unwilling to take the risk again. It was a PITA to deal with them. They were also fairly expensive.
I'd love to have someone do a deep clean 1x a month - focusing on the kitchen and bathrooms + non carpeted floors.
ETA: Just looked it up. The service that did a crappy job charged $200.
I had the same experience. The group was fucking terrible. I had to call them back twice to reclean and they still sucked. I also have really low standards. That sort of ruined it for me. I had to micromanage so much those couple months and it sucked.
I think you almost have to go independent/small, instead of something like merry maids. They were way expensive, and I've not heard great things about them.
I found mine because she'd been "passed down" so to speak, to my friend when Friend bought the house. The lady had cleaned the house for both the previous owners, and they both liked her so much that they left her contact info with the other house papers when they moved out. Friend's husband is crazy and won't let anyone but Friend clean the house (don't even get me started on that mess), so when I was chatting with her about looking for a cleaning lady, she gave me the info left the previous owners left.
Ask around and see who some people you know use if you're still interested in finding one!
Post by whereintheworld on Jan 31, 2015 18:21:15 GMT -5
2 working parents FT (out of the house 7:30am-5:30pm) and 3 kids under 5.
We have them come every two weeks, $80 for 3 hours. HCOL, 3bd/2ba, 1,500 sq ft home. I'll cut SO MANY THINGS before I cut the cleaning service. I still have to do tons of organizing and tidying but this takes the scrubbing out of the equation and is so worth it.
Not right now. We used to, but we've been spending/saving money on fertility treatments. So we cut that. I'm hoping to lick it up again soon. It's.....a lot trying to work, keep up with a kid, and keep this place clean.
Well, that's one way to clean!! lol
Lol my autocorrect has been AWFUL lately. It's this new iOS. And the flu fog I'm in.
I would really like to do this, because I think that it would relieve some of the factors that cause us to argue. We both typically have to work at least some amount over 40 hours per week, so it would be nice to not worry about spending our home time cleaning. Unfortunately, it's not in the budget, and H thinks it's a stupid idea.
This is why we started and why we continue.
Ditto. I hired her while dd was in the nicu and I was stressed and driving back and forth all the time. I loved her so much, and realized how much less dh and I were arguing about cleaning, and I won't go back.
We both work FT and have a 20 month old. Our housekeeper comes once a week and charges $80 for about 2000 sq feet.
Post by leancuisine on Jan 31, 2015 19:14:45 GMT -5
How often are you guys home when the cleaners come? I would love someone to do a deep clean maybe once a month but me and my H are both pretty iffy about strangers our my house when we aren't home.
I had the same experience. The group was fucking terrible. I had to call them back twice to reclean and they still sucked. I also have really low standards. That sort of ruined it for me. I had to micromanage so much those couple months and it sucked.
I think you almost have to go independent/small, instead of something like merry maids. They were way expensive, and I've not heard great things about them.
I found mine because she'd been "passed down" so to speak, to my friend when Friend bought the house. The lady had cleaned the house for both the previous owners, and they both liked her so much that they left her contact info with the other house papers when they moved out. Friend's husband is crazy and won't let anyone but Friend clean the house (don't even get me started on that mess), so when I was chatting with her about looking for a cleaning lady, she gave me the info left the previous owners left.
Ask around and see who some people you know use if you're still interested in finding one!
LOL we totally did.
Plus these people came with recommendations. It was a disaster. I just don't have energy to do it again.
How often are you guys home when the cleaners come? I would love someone to do a deep clean maybe once a month but me and my H are both pretty iffy about strangers our my house when we aren't home.
Dh was the same way. I work from home so I'm usually here when she's here. I have left to run errands and stuff with her here though. She's been working for us for almost 2 years, so we're very comfortable with her now.
We used www.betterlifemaids.com/ in St Louis. They have tons of good reviews on line. They actually had two teams here (4 people, 2 of which were Team Leads) and they still did a shitty job.
How often are you guys home when the cleaners come? I would love someone to do a deep clean maybe once a month but me and my H are both pretty iffy about strangers our my house when we aren't home.
Never. I hate being around when she's here. I feel lazy and in the way. I've actually only personally interacted with her twice. I leave a key and check in the garage for her on the day she comes over and she leaves the key in the mail slot when she leaves.
Post by christy082 on Jan 31, 2015 21:00:07 GMT -5
Yes. H works full time, I currently work part time. We started having them come every 2 weeks when we both worked full time (I used to work three 12's and when I went to five 8's, we hired them). When I went part time we eventually dropped them to monthly to save money, but once I got pregnant and got into late second trimester, we went back to every 2 weeks. And I plan on keeping it every 2 weeks after baby arrives.
H still does the trash and cleans the basement monthly (or, is supposed to). The weeks we don't have the cleaners come, I generally do everything, except lately since I'm very pregnant, H has been doing more to help me.