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Anyone here use Maid/housekeeper?

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VegasAngel

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So, I have decided I want to have someone come & clean my house. I just havent figured out how to manage my time since my daughter was born. What I really wanted was a personal cook/chef to make dinner but I dont think I can afford one. Anway
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For those who use a cleaning service how often do you have them come? Is it customary to tip them? What is a fair starting price? I have a 1690sqft house I want them to do the living room, family room, kitchen, guest bath and master bath. Do you feel comfortable having a stranger in your house? I Like to think the best of people but these days you never know. Thanks for your help!
 
I had a variety of companies clean my house a few years ago after my first husband past away. I found that all the companies started out pretty good, but tended to miss things as the weeks wore on. I tried making a very specific list of things and even that didn't get done consistently. I tried some of your standard services like Molly Maids or The MAIDS which are all franchised first. But I wound up having better luck with the small mom & pop type company's.

I felt ok letting them in my house but I did always hid my jewelry box. They were bonded & insured but you have to prove they took it which is really hard and decided not to tempt fate.

My house is 1400 sq feet and I had them clean kitchen, dining, living, 2 bedrooms, 1 1/2 baths and 2 sets of stairs. Highest cost was over $100 per time. Lowest was around $50. The one I was happiest with was $65. I live in northern Indiana which is a lot cheaper for everythng compared to the coasts.

I had them come every 2 weeks, but realistically weekly is better. My house would go from looking really nice to looking really bad by the end of the 2nd week. I often wound up doing some cleaning on the weekends anyway. Weekly would mean that I wouldn't have needed to wash hardwood or tiles floors at all. Bathrooms need weekly cleaning...and realistically some basic wiping every day. Every 2 weeks meant I did in on the "off" weeks.
 
I have my home cleaned by a lady that has been with me for 5 years now and I could not imagine life without her! She comes every other Wednesday; I would love to have her every week but she is booked solid and only my husband, The Demon Dog and I live there so we somehow make do on that schedule. Plus, I do my own laundry so that's not a problem.

There was a thread on here a while back about someone getting some items of jewlery stolen, presumably by a cleaning person, and I slightly freaked out. Here, I will make a confession about this stupid thing I do and you all can *yell* at me for it. We call my cleaning lady "Grace" because that's what the person who introduced us to her said to call her. We have no idea what her last name is or even what her real first name is (she said it once but it had too many consonants and not enough vowels and so we stick with "Grace"!). We just a few months ago got a phone number that we can reach her at, although I don't know if there would be any real communication once the phone was answered anyway because she speaks about 3 words of English as far as I can tell.

Do I trust her? With my life! Well, OK, with my *jewelry* at least, and that's almost the same. A few years ago I lost a diamond out of my eternity band. A year later I came home after she had been there and on the dining room table sitting in the middle of a piece of white paper was my long lost diamond. I have no idea where she found it, and she could have easily taken it, but she didn't. Honestly, it was only 1/3 ct, but still it is worth SOMETHING.

And she and my dog like each other quite a bit, but is no easy thing to come by.

As for pricing, we pay Grace $100, but we have a 4 story townhouse in a major metropolitan area so that is probably more than what you would reasonably pay.


Not sure Vegas if any of this means anything to you (could just be the ramblings of Dee Jay brought on by too much cold medicine) but my advice is to get a cleaning lady!
 
I hired a local lady who is well known to me to clean my house once a week. She employs and oversees other workers as needed, but she is always the one who is responsible. She and her gals do a great job for me. My house is about 3200 sq. ft. and I pay $100. I have heard some scary stories about theft issues with some of the bigger cleaning services such as Merry Maids, but maybe that is just in my area who knows?
 
I think word of mouth or a bonded agency is best. I have always had live in help and also brought in cleaning help. I have a very large home and three kids, and it just seeme with laundry and bed changing the other stuff got neglected. Depending on where you live, I have heard of girls getting 25.00 per hour. If three girls come to clean and it takes three hours, then it is 75.00 times 3. Seems high to me, but that seems to be the going rate. I would ask around. Also, I would have your home priced by the job...not by the hour...seems to make more sense...otherwise they take their time when they clean. Be very specific about what you want done and how. Also, a lot of cleaning help do not do any laundry...which kind of sucks, since I have three sons and laundry was always an issue, even with my live in doing it all day long while my big kids were in school. Anyway, that is my opinion. Not to scare you, but I got someone from word of mouth and they stole from me over a period of time, including a Chanel purse, a shearling coat and a video camera...so it was pretty upseting to discover (I caught her red handed with my bag somewhere and had to call the police, it was a mess!) But usually, it works out, and it is nice to have the help!
 
I have tried and tried to find someone to clean for me. My house is 2 stories, 5 baths, 4 bedrooms, exercise room, game room, 2 livings, study, extra office. Lots of wood floors on first floor. My last housekeeper (mom and daughter) started out ok, $170.00 for just the downstairs! every other week. They came to me highly reccomended. They did ok, but they started showing up late, talking too much. Then one day hubby says where is my pain meds for bad knee? Hhmm? After monitoring the situation, yep, mom was taking a pill or 2 everytime she was here. And food was missing from my pantry, the good, gourmet kind of stuff! The last straw was when they didn''t show up to clean for a huge party I was having.

I want to try again, but it is so hard to find a good one. I also don''t like to be around when they clean, weird, huh?
So they have to be trusted!
 
I had my Marianna for about 16 years+, loved her. She passed away last year. Then I had her niece for the past year but she moved to be with one of her clients that was getting a divorce and was moving to NY. So now I have her friend cleaning for me. It''s been great, she is very thorough . Her English isn''t so great but she''s learning.
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I pay her $90 a week and she does laundry!! I guess if I were you, I''d find someone who comes highly recommended through friends. I''m not a big fan of agencies, sometimes you get different people showing up each week, and that would be scary to me. I''ve heard too many horror stories to go that route. Good luck!!
 
i keep thinking about getting someone to come in once every 3 weeks but i never get around to it. our friends use this one person religiously and they all rave about her and her daughter. so if we did ever get around to it, we''d use her as well. but our house isn''t that big and it''s just us so we manage to keep it pretty clean but when we are cleaning the bathrooms in particular i always think OKAY i sooo need to call that gal. hahaa. i have had friends who are not keen on the agencies and services...they prefer finding someone like this gal who they can use consistently and seem to be more effective. oh and they pay something like $90 for 1500 sq ft.
 
A friend of mine owns her own cleaning business. I talked to her and she said for a house 1300 sq ft she charges $60-70. She doesn''t do laundry or dishes. That''s in Jax, FL
 
We've had the same housekeeper going on 4 years now. We sold our house and moved into a condo in the city and it was farther than she wanted to drive which was a big disappointment. Then out of the blue she called us, said she missed us and agreed to drive into the city. We trust her completely. She has a key to our home and she can let herself in on her designated day. We've never found anything missing. If she finds change, she puts it on the counter. We have a 3000 square foot condo, with 3 bedrooms and 3.5 baths and she charges $100 to clean our home every two weeks. Of course, we generally keep it really clean to begin with and there are no children (unless you count the four legged kind), but we clean up after them too. Our expectations are simple. We don't expect her to change the linens or do laundry. We don't ask her to clean dishes. We just want the floors spotless, the kitchen and bathrooms clean and everything dusted thoroughly. I guess the only thing she does that is a tad annoying is she is a smoker. And she goes out on one of the terraces and uses foil as her ashtray, which winds up in the pull out trash bin in the kitchen. On cleaning days, the first thing we do when we get home is get rid of the trash bag.
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Otherwise, she's really terrific.
 
my next door neighbor cleans my house and takes good are of us.

when I went back to work full time, my husband and I got into fights about sharing the chores and cooking. clearly this wasn't working. the house stunk, and was gross and cluttered.

first I hired molly maid. Well, my house is not an office builidng and it didn't work out.

my neighbor asked me if i needed help. she is an enterprising woman of my age and sharp as a tack. Unfortunately she has a driving phobia or she could make a mint.

she asked for an 8 hour day one day a week. I pay $150 for the 8 hour day. she cleans a 1500 sq foot house, and mops the house (i have tile throughout). she changes the litterpans too. dishes, oven, stove, after she does the routine cleaning, she washes and changes the sheets. Then she does whatever laundry needs doing, folds, and PUTS IT AWAY.

she washes windows, curtains, cleans fridge, declutters, cleans out closets, i don't ask, it just gets done.

we have "moments". "I'm having a moment" we say to each other as we marvel at the neatly cleaned closet or pantry or fridge or underwear drawer.

she is a true english housekeeper in every sense of the word. she runs my home.

I spoke to her about getting a partner who drives and doing cleaning/personal organizing for a real business. she is considering it. she is real good with ADD people, like myself, who have a lot of clutter.

my home is clutter free now. and smells good.

edited to add: I draft my own sewing patterns on brown paper. one day she threw away a bunch of pattern pieces because she thought they were just bits of brown paper on the floor of the sewing room. Now i clearly write on the pattern pieces with a black sharpie marker. and she has has me trained to pick them up.
 
Every week when I''m cleaning, I say I AM gettng someone...but then I never do. Truth be told, I don''t mind it eventhough I work full time and am not home 7 am to 7:30 pm...

What I really need is someone to do the things I''m psycho about...vacuum and dust baseboards, vacuum couches WELL, lint roll drapes (cat hair!), vacuum and lint roll bed skirts (darn cats! LOL).....and scrub the shower stall (which is the only normal request!)..OH, how could I forget- how about get on her hands and knees with a damp sponge and get cat hair off of my bedroom rug? Yeah, they are SO NOT doing that! :)

I don''t mind vacuuming the wood floors and area rugs, etc. It''s relaxing...
 
lol mmm ... yeah we don''t mind the basics around the house typically but stuff like cleaning the blinds or hands and knees with the evil baseboards, or bleach pen''ing the grout etc...that is when i wish we had someone to do that for us. but so far we are doing it, i definitely have the moments though when i think i SOOO need to make that call!!
 
Date: 8/4/2006 9:35:30 PM
Author: moremoremore
Every week when I'm cleaning, I say I AM gettng someone...but then I never do. Truth be told, I don't mind it eventhough I work full time and am not home 7 am to 7:30 pm...

What I really need is someone to do the things I'm psycho about...vacuum and dust baseboards, vacuum couches WELL, lint roll drapes (cat hair!), vacuum and lint roll bed skirts (darn cats! LOL).....and scrub the shower stall (which is the only normal request!)..OH, how could I forget- how about get on her hands and knees with a damp sponge and get cat hair off of my bedroom rug? Yeah, they are SO NOT doing that! :)

I don't mind vacuuming the wood floors and area rugs, etc. It's relaxing...
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my lady is psycho about this stuff. get an anal retentive housekeeper.

edited to add: i got rid of the bedskirts.
 
Well, so far the quotes I have been getting are high. Merry Maids wants $280 for the first visit then from there over $100 p/hour. Lowest so far was $75 per hr. I really dont like the idea being charged hourly. What if they want to take their sweet ol'' time to clean? All the places I have called claimed their employees are drug & backround tested & pretty much wont steal. I just tell them I am not worried about them stealing because I have my house wired with a hidden video surveillance system (Which I dont). We do have a big gun safe I can put our valuables in & our personal documents are in a locked file cabinet. Now I did look into a peronsal chef. They charge anywhere from $150-250 to make/freeze 2 weeks worth of meals.
 
i would go with an indivudual rather than a service.
 
We have a family that comes every other week. They literally come as a team of 5 and do the whole house in 1-2 hours. I love them and do trust them, but I do put my jewelry in the safe before they come though. We pay them $70 and our house is 1100 sf. But almost every time I also give her clothes, products and home items too- I hate cleaning, I would have them come over every day if I could afford it :)
 
Date: 8/5/2006 12:59:53 PM
Author: VegasAngel
Well, so far the quotes I have been getting are high. Merry Maids wants $280 for the first visit then from there over $100 p/hour. Lowest so far was $75 per hr. I really dont like the idea being charged hourly. What if they want to take their sweet ol'' time to clean? All the places I have called claimed their employees are drug & backround tested & pretty much wont steal. I just tell them I am not worried about them stealing because I have my house wired with a hidden video surveillance system (Which I dont). We do have a big gun safe I can put our valuables in & our personal documents are in a locked file cabinet. Now I did look into a peronsal chef. They charge anywhere from $150-250 to make/freeze 2 weeks worth of meals.
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$280 for the first visit, that''s insane and so is even $75 per hour. I''d ask your friends for a recommendation as I said earlier or find someone through the paper. I know that isn''t the best route to go but you can interview them, get a feel for them and check their references. I''ve had friends that have had luck doing this.
 
Date: 8/5/2006 1:49:41 PM
Author: Kaleigh

Date: 8/5/2006 12:59:53 PM
Author: VegasAngel
Well, so far the quotes I have been getting are high. Merry Maids wants $280 for the first visit then from there over $100 p/hour. Lowest so far was $75 per hr. I really dont like the idea being charged hourly. What if they want to take their sweet ol'' time to clean? All the places I have called claimed their employees are drug & backround tested & pretty much wont steal. I just tell them I am not worried about them stealing because I have my house wired with a hidden video surveillance system (Which I dont). We do have a big gun safe I can put our valuables in & our personal documents are in a locked file cabinet. Now I did look into a peronsal chef. They charge anywhere from $150-250 to make/freeze 2 weeks worth of meals.
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$280 for the first visit, that''s insane and so is even $75 per hour. I''d ask your friends for a recommendation as I said earlier or find someone through the paper. I know that isn''t the best route to go but you can interview them, get a feel for them and check their references. I''ve had friends that have had luck doing this.
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but you''re paying for a team of three
 
I only know one person who uses a maid/housekeeper. She is well off and can pay someone any amount of money to do whatever she wants. I will keep calling around. I didnt see any job wanted ads for housekeepers in the paper so thats out.
 
i definitely think the best way to get someone is through referrals. even your neighbors may have a referral for you. there are lots of people out there, you just have to find them. this gal who does our friends homes does not advertise, she doesn''t need to. it''s all just word of mouth. i would also not use a service, my girlfriend used merry maids before she found this gal and they didn''t do a good job at all. anyway hang in there and keep searching!!
 
Gosh, I need to give the girl who cleans for me a raise! She and her mother come every other week and do the basic cleaning: floors, vacuuming, bathrooms, kitched, changing bedsheets, dusting. They stay a couple of hours and charge $50. The house is 2700 sq. ft., but they don''t clean 2 rooms.
 
It really depends where you are. I would NOT recommend a service at all. They are very expensive and usually charge by the hour-- and like someone said... they will take you for whatever they can get from you. I usually hire a cleaning service in we are hosting a party-- both before and after... and the first year in this area I had to work late all the week before the holiday party and left FI alone to deal with finding help. He hired a service-- I think it was Merry Maids. Team of four here for five and half hours. They cleaned the phones with toothbrushes! It was ridiculous . Cost well over 500 bucks. I was LIVID. All because I wasn't home and they took advantage of my fiance in the house alone. Since then we've used two ladies around here-- one my fiance picked because she spoke english (she and stole from us)... and another who didn't speak english but cleaned like a dervish (beauty salon referral). She was great and I had her come over every two weeks. Unfortunately she moved to Buffalo. I am not looking forward to finding another person around here. I've used another service here once-- a last minute decision and it was exhausting! I had to follow them around and constantly ride them to get them to clean in a reasonable amount of time. My house is only 2200 square feet and three of the rooms don't need more than dusting and vacumming!

My mother has a woman that comes to clean her house, my uncles house, and my grandparents house. She's wonderful. Been with them for years. Still looking for realiable reasonable help for our house. Would like to get someone in here more regularly but can't risk it until I find someone I can leave alone or with FI. Be careful. Word of mouth is really the only way.

ETA: Word of mouth. Call the following for referrals. Real Estate Agencies and If you live in an area with vacation rentals and such... rental management companies. Most will work with individuals (some will contract with services... but individuals are usually more cost effective). Also call some of the nicer beauty salons in the area and preschools/daycare centers. Sounds crazy-- but it's oddly effective. Anywhere many women converge is a good place to start. Like the gym. Our gym has a board where people will post their cards and adds. You can go that route... especially if you ask a personal trainer (female) if they know if the person is any good-- or if they can ask around for you from their clients. That's probably where I'm going to start looking for another person.
 
Gypsy I never thought about asking a realtor-good idea. Just so happens my husbands mother is a realtor. She must know of somebody or can ask around her office. I'll have my husband ask her I dont want to talk to her.
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5 1/2 hours to clean, omg. I dont think they would get away with that if my husband was home alone. They would probably be afraid of him (He has that kind of look). He would silently follow them around the house.
 
I have had someone periodically come in and clean my home for years and has been a true godsend. I got on this wave of having someone come in when I had to be on bedrest with one of my pregnancies. That was almost 15 years ago. After having the kids, having the lady who had started out as my livein nanny/housekeeper to clean my house was just part of my life. She came out once every two weeks. Babysat and cleaned so i could take care of clients I had( I had been a personal shopper for a time in between babies and saw some clientele once a month).

When she left the state, it was sad and challenging to find someone who I could trust and afford. I had a lady and her sister for 2 years and paid her $160 to clean my 4200 sq. foot home until she had to leave the country for surgery. I then hired the lady I now have to whom I pay $80 to clean my WHOLE house, PLUS reorganize and fold the linen cabinets or clean the fridge every two weeks. In my house, with 5 sons and my younger daughter, a dog and a busy hubby, this is a blessing.

The boys are constantly getting toiletry items out of the cabinet--toothpaste, mouthwash, hair products, etc.--so the cabinets are messy and with attempting to get them to change pillowcases and sheets, well, it is pretty disorganized by the time she comes.

I have mostly tile downstairs and in the upstairs baths, so that is easy for her to clean, but I have an outside refridgerator as well as an inside one which gets alot of action, so they are in need of cleaning and sanitizing. Obviously, on her "off" weeks, the boys, my daughter and I, manage the house. Our dog is fine with her as well and she is VERY honest and has helped find my little son''s wallet when he mispalced it. Every penny and dollar was in it when she gave it to him. My hubby is very lazy about leaving his coins out on his dresser and she cleans and leaves his money in the exact spot for him.

Our lady does not do laundry and I prefer it that way, though the previous help did wash my sheets. My sheets are of very high thread count and I like having them washed while the help is here and dried and put back on the same day. You just get used to 600 or 1000 thread count sheets!

BTW, I live in the Orangecrest area of Riverside in CA...
 
Date: 8/5/2006 2:36:32 PM
Author: VegasAngel
I only know one person who uses a maid/housekeeper. She is well off and can pay someone any amount of money to do whatever she wants. I will keep calling around. I didnt see any job wanted ads for housekeepers in the paper so thats out.
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I''ve usually seen them listed under the "Services" or something along those lines. Usually not the want ads.
 
My first wife and I used "The Maids" every other week. I continued them on my own for a few years. When I got married again and had kids in the house - we went to every week - but my wife did not like the quality of "The Maids" and they were charging about 100 per week for a 1400 SF home. So my wife checked with some friends in the area and got one two of their maids (not a service) to come to our home once a week for $70. It took a while to train them on how we liked to have the home cleaned - and to get them use the right (safe) clearing supplies we furnish them.

It is nice to know our maids personally - rather than some service. I trust them - and we can ask them to do little extras now that we did not want the service doing.
 
Date: 8/4/2006 12:07:20 PM
Author:VegasAngel
So, I have decided I want to have someone come & clean my house. I just havent figured out how to manage my time since my daughter was born. What I really wanted was a personal cook/chef to make dinner but I dont think I can afford one. Anway
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For those who use a cleaning service how often do you have them come? Is it customary to tip them? What is a fair starting price? I have a 1690sqft house I want them to do the living room, family room, kitchen, guest bath and master bath. Do you feel comfortable having a stranger in your house? I Like to think the best of people but these days you never know. Thanks for your help!
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do you work full time?
 
Well Ladies, for my 2 cents...I personally would advise you to hire a private person who does cleaning...not an agency...here in Canada, they way over-charge. Ok, now don''t everyone start calling, but I was a house cleaner...and I charged hourly...usually for however it took me the first time to do the job..then that was the rate. I worked at one place that took me 45 minutes to an hour and I did the job for $20...that is the lowest flat rate seeing as there is gas involved and all...but an agency call Merry Maids estimated $75...needless-to-say I got the job with open arms - lol - all I had to do was 2 baths and the wood floors and a minimal dusting - using all the newest easy gadgets.
My advise tho, if you hire someone personally...be honest with them and upfront - it will keep a good relationship between you and your cleaner and chances are you will have a cleaner who will give their 100% for you :}:}:}
All the best in your search!!

Wifey2b :}
 
i can understand a first cleaning costing more: most houses need a thorough cleaning first go around.

movie zombie
 
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