Who has a maid/cleaning service? Is it worth the cost?

[Jas12]

So last night, as I was bemoaning the number of chores i had lined up for the night, DH said to me "okay, i don''t care how much it costs, we obvioulsy can''t keep on top of house work, so hire a cleaning service" ....

This came after i was reading Sunkist''s thread about keeping house with a 2 month old and i was complaning that my own home was suffering under my current regime! So ya, perfect timing!

DH and i are in the process of building a home (he is doing the contracting and about 75% of the labor himself so he''s home maybe 2 hours of the day for dinner, so not much help to me). I am not the best of house cleaners on the best of days. Dh usually does all the laundry, floors, deep cleaning, and i do the tidying and meal prep etc. But with him working so much, a messy toddler, being pregnant, working full time plus another contract writing job, i am toast by 7pm and house work is the last thing i want to do. I do need help.

So my question is, do you have a cleaning service? What do they do? Do you hire them per week or month? Is it worth it ? How important is it to you? Would you cut back on say, dinners out during the month, if it meant keeping your cleaning service?

Personally, I couldn''t imagine hiring someone pre-kids. Not that i didn''t want to, but i think i felt like it was something i should be able to handle on my own. And i did, for the most part. With kids however, i hate how much time it takes away from everything else, so I am seriously considering it!

 

[lover in athens]

jas,
ABSOLUTELY worth it. worth every penny, imo. there is NOTHING better than coming home to a clean house (that you didn''t slave over yourself)!!

 

[Kaleigh]

We have someone come twice a month, actually two of them come. They do a great job and to me it''s worth it. Completely. They help with changing the beds, I have a bad neck so that is nice. They wash the floors, vacume, dust, wash windows as needed, and polish silver as needed. The clean the stove and do a great job of decluttering my kitchen and do a great job in the bathrooms. They are thorough, on time and very polite. They can''t speak a lot of English but we get by well enough.

I think you''d really love having the xtra help Jas!! You have your hands full!!!

 

[Burk]

I think it's absolutely worth it. Our cleaning lady comes every other week for 3 hours and we pay her by the hour. She does the deep cleaning. I dust, vacuum, ect in between cleans but she does dusting from the top of the ceilings down, she moves furniture to vacuum, ect. I leave her notes with different tasks like windows on the weeks I want them done. I am pretty anal about a clean house so it's very important to me because I just don't have the time/energy to clean my bathrooms the way she does or really do a deep clean. I keep it presentable, she does the REAL cleaning! I say go for it!!!

 

[April20]

Worth every.single.penny.

My girl comes every other week. She does general cleaning- floors, bathrooms, dusting, kitchen counters, appliance faces, etc. I will add in more "spring cleaning" type items as needed and pay extra for those. I pay $80 for each visit- we have a 1600 sq ft house- 3 bed, 2 bath.

 

[TravelingGal]

Worth it. I pay $60 every other week. My nanny also cleans my house and she''s been gone on vacation (possibly MIA as you know) and I''ve had to clean. It''s a pain...not hard work, but time consuming and I''d rather be relaxing during Amelia''s nap time, or when I put her down for the night. If I were a SAHM, I would still want the help for deep cleaning.

 

[vespergirl]

Ours comes every two weeks, and it''s great - they send 2 or 3 ladies, depending on whether we''re having all 3 levels of the house done, or just the top two (our basement is our playroom & MIL suite, so I only have that done when company is coming).

We started having a maid when we first moved in together, because we were both working full time, and I hate cleaning, so it''s the last way that I wanted to spend my weekend. Now that I''m pregnant with a 3 year old, though, it''s essential. I just don''t have the energy to make it as clean as I like it.

 

[phoenixgirl]

We have them come every two weeks for $85 ($2210 for 26 cleanings a year). If I remember correctly, having them come once a month would have cost $135 per visit ($1620 per year for 12 cleanings). So obviously every two weeks was a better deal. If I want to cut back on the expense or the house isn''t too dirty, sometimes I call and cancel a cleaning (but still retain the $85 per cleaning price).

And yes, it''s worth it. It''s just not something I''m willing to spend hours doing every week. Even before Claire I wasn''t willing to spend my time that way if we could afford the maids.

I do wonder if I''ll have to give it up if I decide to stay home full time. I don''t want to, but obviously $2210 a year isn''t chump change, so I should probably prepare myself mentally for this eventuality (deep breaths, deep breaths . . .). I can totally see myself asking for a maid visit for a birthday or anniversary present in that case!

 

[curlygirl]

Mine comes EVERY week and it''s totally worth it. With a full time job and 2 kids, there is no way I can keep up with the grime! We definitely straighten up every night and do some extra cleaning if necessary--spills, etc.--and I''m super uptight about the cleanliness of my bathroom so I probably clean it one more time during the week but other than that, it''s just nice to know that someone will come and do the really difficult stuff. She cleans our hardwood floors on her hands and knees, scrubs the kitchen and bathroom, empties the dishwasher, folds the laundry, waters the plants, dusts, etc. Plus she often brings gifts for the kids and chocolates for us and she''s a very nice lady (62 years old and has more energy than I do!). In all honesty, I''m probably a better cleaner than she is but I just don''t have the time so I don''t mind having her come in and doing her thing. It makes such a difference.

 

[vespergirl]

Hmm... I wonder if I''m paying too much for my service now - I am paying $110 every two weeks for a 4 bed, 3.5 bath house with a finished basement. I am in the Washington, DC metro area. Does anyone else pay that amount for a house that size?

 

[Mandarine]

WORTH EVERY PENNY.

I had a cleaning lady come every other week before the boys...and now every week. It''s worth every single penny.

She changes the sheets, washes our towels, cleans, folds any laundry that''s in the dryer, dusts, vacuums, mops, cleans bathrooms, vacuums the sofa, cleans the kitchen....

 

[TravelingGal]

Date: 1/19/2010 2:01:55 PM
Author: vespergirl
Hmm... I wonder if I''m paying too much for my service now - I am paying $110 every two weeks for a 4 bed, 3.5 bath house with a finished basement. I am in the Washington, DC metro area. Does anyone else pay that amount for a house that size?

My friend pays that much (or $120, I think) for a 5,000 sq ft home with 6bd and 5 bath. She has them come in every week though. I think she''ll be having them come in more when the trips are born!

 

[Mandarine]

Forgot to add, I pay $15/hour and have a big house (5bedrooms). I pay anywhere from $90-$115 when she comes to clean.

 

[Jas12]

okay, i think i am convinced

I ''ve never heard anyone say that they stopped having a cleaning service come in, so i was expecting positive reviews, but my experience is limited. When i mention it to friends they kinda give me the eyebrow. I almost feel like i am being judged for not "doing it all". But honestly, i don''t care, nor do i want to do it anymore!. I think it''s b/c I don''t live in a big city and the average family would consider a maid service a major luxury. But it is really not a huge expense (esp if you budget for it).

 

[steph72276]

If I were working full time again, I would hire someone. Being a SAHM, I can''t justify it to myself even though my husband would say go for it. After working all day, especially being pregnant, I''m sure that''s the last thing you want to focus on. I say go for it!

 

[phoenixgirl]

A slight tangent . . . DH is always saying he wishes he could be a SAHD. I secretly think he has no idea what that would entail. So I asked him if he would have a maid service in this alternate universe in which he is a SAHD. He said no, he would just spend an hour or two a week cleaning (of course, I spend this much time on the house with the maids). This from the man who announced last week, "I cleaned the kitchen for you!" which meant, "I emptied the dishwasher!" There was dried breastmilk visible on the counter, for goodness' sake. (He can't even keep the one part of the house I don't touch clean: the top of his dresser). But I just gushed about how nice it was of him to do it . . .

 

[Rachel9]

Our helper comes once a week, she's part of our home expenses. IF I had to cut back to afford her I would definitely stop going out/cut back to keep our home SO clean.
I have twins, DH works long hours, I only work 2 days per week but bring lots of it home, there's no way I can do it all.
She cleans bathrooms, dusts, all floors, windows in and out, ovens, stove, BBQ, fridge, freezer, garage. I don't like anyone doing our laundry or beds, yep I'm quite particular about things, She is indispensable.

ETA # bathrooms, my bad.

 

[Pandora II]

I have an 800 sq ft house and a cleaning lady who comes EVERY week for 3 hours - and has cleaned for DH for the last 9 years.

We pay her £10 GBP an hour.

She washes the floors, cleans the kitchen and bathrooms, dusts, tidies up and does the ironing.

I would give up a lot before I would give up my cleaning lady!

I feel no guilt or shame about it: everyone I know here has a cleaner; I don''t want to spend the time to clean my house and I hate cleaning; I''m a nice person to work for and my cleaner likes coming here plus she needs the money.

 

[gailrmv]

We didn;t have cleaning help until last year. Now that we have gotten used to them, it would be so hard to go back. Ours is a team of 2-3 people who come every 2 weeks (sometimes every 3 weeks) to do the deep cleaning. They started working for me when I was pregnant and it was hard for me to clean. Now that I have a baby, it's hard to find the time. I feel like it has freed up hours of my time and also eliminated a lot of stress in our household. Dh and I do all the decluttering the night before so that they don;t have to move anything. The spend about 2 hours here. They vacuum, clean the wood and tile floors, clean the bathrooms, deep clean the kitchen, change the sheets, and dust. They do a great job, and it also forces us to put things away the night before!

Vesper I pay about the same for fewer rooms, so I don't think you are overpaying (although I do have dogs, who make it messier).

 

[vespergirl]

Date: 1/19/2010 4:19:59 PM
Author: phoenixgirl
A slight tangent . . . DH is always saying he wishes he could be a SAHD. I secretly think he has no idea what that would entail. So I asked him if he would have a maid service in this alternate universe in which he is a SAHD. He said no, he would just spend an hour or two a week cleaning (of course, I spend this much time on the house with the maids). This from the man who announced last week, ''I cleaned the kitchen for you!'' which meant, ''I emptied the dishwasher!'' There was dried breastmilk visible on the counter, for goodness'' sake. (He can''t even keep the one part of the house I don''t touch clean: the top of his dresser). But I just gushed about how nice it was of him to do it . . .

LOL!!! My DH is really anal about certain things, like the laundry, but when it comes to cleaning other things, I just wonder how he can''t see certain things!!! Like, he''ll vacuum the whole house without dusting anything, and there will be cookie crumbs all over the coffee table ...

I will be the first to admit that I hate cleaning, so I put it off, but when I do it, it takes me 6 hours to scrub my house because then I can''t ignore a single detail.

 

[Mara]

YES and YES. I love our cleaning ladies, we have had them for 3 years now. They are independent and it's one main gal and 2 helpers. They come 2x a month and they are priceless. They clean our house (1700 sq ft) for the same price ($80) as my Mom's 2500 sq ft house so I know I could ask to pay less since I have referred people to her but I don't even care about the extra $10 I'd be saving, or whatever. To not have to clean our 3 toilets a few times a month or mop our floors is worth it, plus there are 3 of them for 2-3 hours so they don't make much.

We both work so it would take us a few hours every few weekends to clean the house and our time on the wkds is so precious it just doesn't make sense. And they do a much better job than we do frankly.

They do everything, even baseboards and blinds cleaning, and if I leave them a note like 'please clean fridge' they will do that too and it's not extra. They don't do laundry or anything, just all the regular house cleaning stuff but that's fine as we wouldn't want them to do anything else.

The only downer is that sometimes they break things, it happens very infrequently but MY stuff is not as important to them as it is to me of course...so maybe 2x a year we have something broken. Otherwise, love them.

I am so happy we already have this setup for when the kid comes, I might up them to once a week for the first month since I am sure we'll be like zombies but for now we're leaving it 2x a month.

Greg was not sure to start since he always felt like you clean your own house, but most everyone we know has cleaning help with full time jobs. And now he is like 'when are the ladies coming????'...hehee so he loves it too.

Oh and random note but Greg is really anal about the kitchen being clean so he keeps it really clean in between the visits and we keep our house really 'neat' in general so people always come over and think the maids were just here which I think is hilarious.

 

[iluvcarats]

Totally totally TOTALLY worth it!

 

[lulu]

I''ve been cleaning the Florida house myself, which makes me appreciate my weekly cleaning lady in Michigan Absolutely worth it.

 

[Kit]

OMG--so worth it!! Do not hestitate to get help with cleaning. I have had a service or cleaning person for the past several years and sometimes I think it''s why I''m still married.

Don''t just think about the hard dollar cost. We pay $90 every other week for a top to bottom cleaning (we live in NoVA). Think of all the hours that you would have to yourself over the course of a week, month, year, if you didn''t have to clean yourself. If you and your DH both work like we do, time is a highly precious commodity for you and has a value.

Honestly, if money got tight I would get rid of dinners out, cable, lots of other things before the cleaning service. It helps me keep my sanity. I would not be a happy camper if I had to clean my three level townhome by myself (let''s face it, DH would be doing like 5% of it) and we would be fighting constantly.

Vesper, I think you are good--our TH is 1400 sq feet, 2 beds 2 baths, so I think you are getting a great deal.

Phoenix, I loved the little tangent you wrote about your DH. Sounds like that went down in my house just yesterday!

 

[Kay]

Date: 1/19/2010 2:01:55 PM
Author: vespergirl
Hmm... I wonder if I''m paying too much for my service now - I am paying $110 every two weeks for a 4 bed, 3.5 bath house with a finished basement. I am in the Washington, DC metro area. Does anyone else pay that amount for a house that size?

We pay $100 every two weeks for 2 ladies to clean our 4 bed, 2 bath 2100 sq ft house in San Diego. It is totally worth it to us because DH and I both work, and time on weekends or evenings with DD (and each other) is very precious. The cleaning ladies dust all the furniture and baseboards, vacuum carpet and rugs, dry mop the wood floors, make the beds and thoroughly scrub the kitchen and baths. They would probably do laundry too, but I can''t stand having someone else do my laundry.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Date: 1/19/2010 3:17:35 PM
Author: steph72276
If I were working full time again, I would hire someone. Being a SAHM, I can't justify it to myself even though my husband would say go for it. After working all day, especially being pregnant, I'm sure that's the last thing you want to focus on. I say go for it!

I'm also a SAHM so we do not have a housekeeper. I have to say that because I'm only motivated to a certain level, that it would be worth having a housekeeper to touch up on stuff such as windows that I space out on and never clean. I'd love to have a once-a-month helper to go over the stuff I generally do not do. Basically have someone in for the deep cleaning. I'm great at cleaning off the sink and mirrors and that's about it.

I also need:
An accountant
A gardner
A nanny

 

[msb700]

DEFINITELY go for it! over here its the norm to have live-in help..so i''ve got one..which is a dreaaaaaaaaaaam...wake up to a clean house everyday!!! its like magic....i''d be getting raised eyebrows if we DIDNT have one...

BUT i didn''t have one pre-kids either...didnt think it made sense!! plus i was fine doing everything on my own...post kid, long working hours and side business? i hired one immediately and havent looked back since..

 

[Mrs Mitchell]

Jas, who in their right mind would judge you for this?! There''s nothing to be gained / be proud of from trying to do it all, you''ll just wear yourself out. Get a cleaner, as often as you can possibly afford. I''d have mine live in if I could swing it.

As it is, she comes once a week. I pay her well for her skill and time (and cleaning is skilled work, as far as I can see - not a skill I have) and we''re all happy. I''d probably go to twice a week when I''m working again - once for the basic clean / tidy and once for the deeper clean.

 

[lovelylulu]

For the last year or so, we''ve had a "green" cleaning service come in sporadically i.e. right before my mom visits, before holidays, etc. However, I''ve been noticing that the frequency has been increasing - they just do such a good job. I''m pretty good at tidying up the place, but hate to scrub/deep clean. Now that we have a babe on the way and both work full time, I think that we''re going to make it a more regular thing. A clean house just makes me feel better, even if everything else is still pretty chaotic!

jas - just do it

 

[Jas12]

MrsM--i know, it''s silly to want/try to do everything, esp when i suck at it. It''s just that i got a few comments like "oh, must be nice" or (my fave) "seriously, who does that?" Like i said, it''s a lower SES group in my city, so it''s rare, but i don''t care.

Lulu--oh, you bring up my next question. I don''t think we have a green cleaning service here. But DH & I want the cleaning to be done with non-toxic stuff. I guess i can request this and if they don''t have it, i can supply my own products??