Do you, or did you have a cleaning service?

fuzzybuddy

fuzzybuddy

SF VIP
Location
The Sticks, Northeast PA.
Il Mary Ali's thread about cleaning services got me thinking about them.
Do you have one or did you have one?

When I got out of the hospital, I got one. At first two workers showed up, then only one. The time they worked went from 2 hours to 20 minutes. At that time, it was $100 each time they came. Then it was $140 for 20 minutes.- You can imagine what a bang up job they did in 20 minutes. Plus, each time, there were new workers, who seemed like they were hired on the way to my house, they had no idea what to do. I may be too judgmental, but some didn't seem all that trustworthy. Anyway, I quit the service.
 

The only time I've ever had anyone cleaning my house was in Turkey. Mukatas came twice a week to clean and wash clothes in the bathtub. When I acquired an old Maytag wringer washer, she was ecstatic.

I paid her $2 US, two eggs, and all our empty cans. Per her request, I opened them from the bottom so that she could put them on her shelves and make her neighbors jealous that she had American canned goods.

She also had the "privilege" of going through our trash and taking anything she wanted.

I would love to have someone come in now and do the things I hate doing......which, to be frank, comprises of most housework. I'd settle, though, for soneone to do the more onerous tasks, like cleaning behind the toilet and scrubbing the shower/bathtub and tiles. Also, the neverending job of dusting I'd gladly pass on. I don't mind laundry and dishwashing.
 
I've had a few periods in my life when I've hired weekly or twice monthly cleaning people for long stretches of time, but they were self-employed rather than being attached to cleaning services. When my budget changed or I realized that the amount of work they did (and I needed done) wasn't worth the cost, I discontinued their employment.

When it's time to hire a cleaning person again, which will surely happen if I live long enough, I'll do what I've always done - ask for recommendations from neighbors or friends.
 

Last edited:
I tried a service once but I had to mop the kitchen floor after they 'cleaned' because they left it streaked with dirty water.

My mom had really good luck with hiring house cleaners, but she didn't use a service, she hired an independent house cleaner. She had the same one for years and years in Colorado and they became really good friends. And then in Nebraska it was similar, same cleaner for years and she was very kind to my mom, such as bringing her homemade soup.

I don't know how much the Colorado person cost, but the Nebraska person was $200 twice a month (total $400), and she stayed for 3 or 4 hours and did a great job cleaning.
 
No. I wish I could trust someone to do it.
When my mom got bad, social services sent a "care worker", but all she did was sit on the sunporch and smoke. I could smell it as soon as I opened the door when I got home from work. I thought that was a bad thing to do in a sick person's house. I complained and she never showed up again.

I've seen ads on TV for a business that says it will clean your whole house for $16, but I fear there's a catch to that.
 
Back in the 80s I had a cleaning person that was supposed to come once each week.

It provided me with the incentive to be neat and keep things in order.

It started out fine and gradually got to be a nuisance so I put an end to it.

For me, the best solution has been to get rid of all but the bare essentials, organize, and do a little cleaning project every day.

I’ll probably revisit the idea if and when I’m unable to manage.

A final thought would be to hire yourself for the same amount you expect to pay and reward yourself for a job well done! 😉

Good luck!
 
Remember when I was the cleaning fairy? LOL My advice if you're considering hiring someone to clean for you is to ask friends, relatives, neighbors for recommendations of independent cleaning fairies.

I liked cleaning and liked leaving an orderly house that smelled good when I was done, knowing that my clients would come home to a clean house and be glad I'd been there. My idea was that near enough wasn't good enough, and I always cleaned as though I was cleaning my own house. It had to pass muster with me before I was satisfied that it would pass muster with my clients. Must have done a good job because in 10 years I never got fired.

My clients were rarely home when I was there, and I had keys to all their homes. One client gave me the combination to his safe and just told me to pay myself when I was done. I always left him a note with how long I was there and how much I paid myself.

When I started, I charged $8/hour, after two years raised it to $10/hour, then finally started charging a flat fee of $100 for a 3 bed/2bath house, $125 for 4bed/2.5bath, $150 for a house on three levels.

For a first-time cleaning for a client who hadn't ever had a cleaning fairy, or for a one-off, I charged $150. Those were usually all-day jobs and brutal work!

On an "easy" day, I'd do two 3bed/2bath houses. On days when it was a bigger house, only one. My clients were all within 10 miles of home (my favorites were the ones across the street or just a block away in our subdivision :)). My least favorites were a McMansion comprising 5,000sf with 5 bed/5.5 baths and a 4bed/3.5bath on three levels.

I don't know what the rates are these days. IIRC, I made between $500-$700/week.

I had to stop when the first retinal problem threatened to detach. A lucrative enterprise but not worth going blind.
 
Georgiagranny said:
Remember when I was the cleaning fairy? LOL My advice if you're considering hiring someone to clean for you is to ask friends, relatives, neighbors for recommendations of independent cleaning fairies.
Click to expand...
We have never had a cleaning fairy, but we are in the market for one. Like others have said, the so called professional companies are anything but. Such people are hard to find but they are out there.

How do I know? My wife heard, through a colleague, before she retired, of a mother struggling to make ends meet. A hard working person, she has been our ironing fairy for the last fifteen years. Imagine, no ironing for fifteen years!

It gets better, a couple that we met at the various functions that we go to have been our gardening fairies for the best part of ten years. Our garden takes a fair bit of looking after and this green fingered couple seem to make light work of it and they are only about ten years younger than us.

Those helpful fairies give us hope that the right cleaning fairy will come along, eventually, but for now, I do the ground floor whilst the lady does upstairs. As for the stairs themselves, she does the vacuuming and I dust and polish the banister and rails.
 
debodun said:
No. I wish I could trust someone to do it.
When my mom got bad, social services sent a "care worker", but all she did was sit on the sunporch and smoke. I could smell it as soon as I opened the door when I got home from work. I thought that was a bad thing to do in a sick person's house. I complained and she never showed up again.

I've seen ads on TV for a business that says it will clean your whole house for $16, but I fear there's a catch to that.
Click to expand...
That's the trouble with having to trust a perfect stranger in your home. I remember when my daughter was about six, and had the chicken pox. I had just started a new job and couldn't stay home with her, so I found that my insurance would cover a visiting nurse's aid while I was at work. When I got home that first day, my daughter informed me that this woman had gone into my bedroom and read my private journals. She had no business going in my bedroom! I called in a complaint and she never came back.
 
Yes, we have a lady that comes in twice a month and cleans. My wife washes the clothes and bed linens. Our cleaning lady does an excellent job and puts in about 5-6 hours per day she is here. In the spring and fall, she dies a 2-day cleaning, which means getting behind the stove and refrigerator and doing the windows.
 
My mother had a cleaning lady come in when her health was getting worse. She came once a week and then she said she really only needed to come every other week. This was a small town and she was so good to my mom. She would sit down and have a chat and tea for a while with mom. The timer would start after socializing was over. She was such a nice lady. She even brought homemade cookies to mom and dad. I bet you can’t find someone like that anymore.
 
StillLearning said:
My mother had a cleaning lady come in when her health was getting worse. She came once a week and then she said she really only needed to come every other week. This was a small town and she was so good to my mom. She would sit down and have a chat and tea for a while with mom. The timer would start after socializing was over. She was such a nice lady. She even brought homemade cookies to mom and dad. I bet you can’t find someone like that anymore.
Click to expand...
My mother had a cleaning lady like that.

She came once a week for four hours.

My mother looked forward to her ‘visit’, it was more like a play date for my mom.

The woman did the routine cleaning but she was also willing to help my mom with projects, run errands, etc…

I think if provided a nice change of routine for both of them.
 
I had, [for a time] the best housekeeper in the world. She was young , efficient , and charged $25 p/hour, but almost always worked 3-near 3 hours, but charged only two. She was here on many days, but on many days charged nothing. She even shoveled snow !!

But I lost her to love .... [grin] .... she met a young man who was moving out of state, and she moved with him .......:(
 
rgp said:
I had, [for a time] the best housekeeper in the world. She was young , efficient , and charged $25 p/hour, but almost always worked 3-near 3 hours, but charged only two. She was here on many days, but on many days charged nothing. She even shoveled snow !!

But I lost her to love .... [grin] .... she met a young man who was moving out of state, and she moved with him .......:(
Click to expand...
Too bad I wasn't living near you. I was a house cleaner for 30 years. I had 2-3 houses a day. A lot of work, but payed well, and I was my own boss. I had helpers about half the time. One thing...( It is EXTRA to do windows! ) :)
 
NOPE.

But my ex-husband’s second wife sure has one. And a pool service too when they had a pool. He loves to tell people that I’m a gold digger, but she has the Coach bags and shops at all the mall stores and gets her hair colored at the salon, not me. (But I am the Family Scapegoat, so if he was mad at her, he would yell at me.)
 
rgp said:
I had, [for a time] the best housekeeper in the world. She was young , efficient , and charged $25 p/hour, but almost always worked 3-near 3 hours, but charged only two. She was here on many days, but on many days charged nothing. She even shoveled snow !!

But I lost her to love .... [grin] .... she met a young man who was moving out of state, and she moved with him .......:(
Click to expand...
I hope you tipped her well. Working for three but you paying for only two is wage theft.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top