Well...decided to hire someone to help with cleaning

Marie5656

Marie5656

Well-known Member
Location
Batavia, NY
After a lot of reflection, and pushes from my niece, I have decided to hire a house cleaner. My apartment is not big....but I am going to do what a friend here does. She has someone come in once a month to do a deep cleaning. Floors, tub, stuff like that. I am finding it is harder for me to keep up with the bigger stuff. My friend provides the supplies for cleaning, and pays in cash. The girl charges her $25 an hour for general cleaning. I guess the girl will do laundry to if people want, but I am OK with that..may just have her help me put it away and stay tidy.
With my issues with my hip lately, I have not kept up with big cleaning the way I should. So, the first time, I think I will pay her more. Then her regular rates after.
I am sure after the first time, I will not need her regular, except for right after my hip replacement surgery..to do stuff I cannot.
 

Good for you Marie, very sensible idea. 😊

I too may get some help in....
Yes, I can imagine sitting there swigging a drop of my favourite brew in one hand and a cat of nine tails in the other, giving my new helper the occasional gentle flogging. I jest. 😊
 

Sounds like a good deal.

It will take a little time to learn how to use the additional help to your best advantage. In the beginning, you will probably have trouble keeping her busy and after she leaves you'll think of a hundred things that she could have done to help make your life easier.

My mother had help once a week for four hours. The woman stripped the bed, put the laundry in the machine when she arrived, did the running/lugging to load the dryer, made the bed, etc... between other routine chores like dusting and mopping.

It took them a while to get used to each other, but eventually, a schedule emerged and they got used to each other's way of doing things.

Try to relax and enjoy the ride.

You've earned it!
 
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Best wishes that it all goes as planned Marie. That's a very fair price to pay. Many years ago I did housecleaning for a living and didn't get paid nearly as decent as that even for being long ago. It is hard work to deep clean and deserves the amount you want to give her. Good luck with it.
 
Aunt Bea said:
The woman stripped the bed, put the laundry in the machine when she arrived, did the running/lugging to load the dryer, made the bed,
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That would be my main reason for hiring help someday. I can still vacuum, dust mop, clean the bathrooms, wash windows, even clean the outside of the house's vinyl siding -- but making the bed is a daily trial and putting the fitted sheet back on after washing is almost impossible. Why did they start putting the elastic all the way around?:mad:
 
Where I live, we are getting a yearly "Management/Maintenance" check-up on all of the apartments in the complex.
They are very thorough too.
... everything has to be 100% clean and working correctly ... all doorways and windows open properly, and electric sockets, smoke detectors, and sprinkler system all working. They check for any clutter and hazardous items.

I see people taking more trash bags than usual out to the dumpsters these days.. :)
 
Bonnie said:
Where I live, we are getting a yearly "Management/Maintenance" check-up on all of the apartments in the complex.
They are very thorough too.
... everything has to be 100% clean and working correctly ... all doorways and windows open properly, and electric sockets, smoke detectors, and sprinkler system all working. They check for any clutter and hazardous items.

I see people taking more trash bags than usual out to the dumpsters these days.. :)
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That seems like an excellent idea to me.
 
Marie, make a list of all the things that you would like done and if there’s anything specific methods for some items. Never count of the cleaner remembering your instructions. One day we came home to every bit of furniture waxed, except wax was never to be used on it and she’d forgotten. Also, prioritize.

We also went through and picked up newspapers, etc before she came.
 
Della said:
That would be my main reason for hiring help someday. I can still vacuum, dust mop, clean the bathrooms, wash windows, even clean the outside of the house's vinyl siding -- but making the bed is a daily trial and putting the fitted sheet back on after washing is almost impossible. Why did they start putting the elastic all the way around?:mad:
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..to stop it slipping off when you're making the bed, and to stop it coming undone during the night, but if you're struggling to make the bed with fitted sheets, perhaps you might want to invest in ordinary flat sheets. :)

If I had a cleaner I'd want them to do the things that cause my back to hurt... cleaning the bath..vaccing the stairs, changing the beds... cleaning the stove and the oven... cleaning the windows ( not cuz the latter makes my back hurt but no matter what I do I can't ever get my windows streak free)
 
Kaila said:
The friend was, or the housekeeper?
:giggle: ;):LOL:
Nevermind, we do not need that answer. :love::ROFLMAO::geek:
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Don't know why you changed your mind about the answer but you opened the box baby. :LOL: No our friend (he was my husband's too) was lazy. I used to tell him he needed to get more exercise and he kept putting it off. He bought this big ole house but unless he was letting family members crash there, he mostly lived alone. Unfortunately, he passed away unexpectedly Jan 2020, 11 months after my husband. But he lived the kind of life he wanted and treated himself well...except he certainly could have taken better care of his health.
 
Marie5656 said:
After a lot of reflection, and pushes from my niece, I have decided to hire a house cleaner. My apartment is not big....but I am going to do what a friend here does. She has someone come in once a month to do a deep cleaning. Floors, tub, stuff like that. I am finding it is harder for me to keep up with the bigger stuff. My friend provides the supplies for cleaning, and pays in cash. The girl charges her $25 an hour for general cleaning. I guess the girl will do laundry to if people want, but I am OK with that..may just have her help me put it away and stay tidy.
With my issues with my hip lately, I have not kept up with big cleaning the way I should. So, the first time, I think I will pay her more. Then her regular rates after.
I am sure after the first time, I will not need her regular, except for right after my hip replacement surgery..to do stuff I cannot.
Click to expand...
It would be awesome if your medical insurance and/or medicare will help pay for this. Wouldn't hurt to call and ask.
 
hollydolly said:
..to stop it slipping off when you're making the bed, and to stop it coming undone during the night, but if you're struggling to make the bed with fitted sheets, perhaps you might want to invest in ordinary flat sheets. :)
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I understand the purpose of fitted sheets, but only recently have the makers started putting the elastic all the way around rather than just at the corners -- which was always sufficient to stop it coming off in the night.

With the elastic all the way around the sheet turns into a scrunchy that pops off the first side while trying to make the second side. Worse, inside the dryer, it turns the entire sheet into a drawstring purse that collects the rest of the load inside so that it doesn't dry.

As for investing in flat sheets, well I've always bought sheets in sets that include, one fitted sheet for the bottom, one flat sheet for the top, and two pillow cases. I've tried using flat sheets on the bottom, but, as you said, it comes undone in the night.
 
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I see what you mean... I just checked all my bottom sheets and they're all elasticated all the way round.. never had a problem, and I think that might be in retrospect because I buy deeper than average sheets.. . I have a fairly deep mattress anyway but I buy extra deep fitted sheets, so I never do have a problem with them coming undone.. perhaps the solution for you .. (y)
 
Good for you Marie, my wife and I have had domestic help long before old age crept up on us. We have a cleaning fairy, she's very good, we have a husband & wife team who are our gardening fairies and we have an ironing fairy.

Back when both of us were working we took a view that what precious time we had together we should enjoy, that's how it all started. You could say that we have a window cleaning fairy and a car maintenance fairy too. Who said there's no such thing as fairies?
 

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