Open Thread: Hiring a Cleaning Service

253 Comments

1. I was a holdout for quite a while until I took a role which has me traveling several times a month and my weekends became very precious. We have no kids, but have two cats who shed like crazy. I found my independent cleaning lady on Angie’s list. I researched the more structured approaches, and didn’t like the requirement that they come out on a scheduled time (plus they were more expensive).

   We definitely clear the clutter out before she comes to clean, and I try to schedule them on a Saturday when I’m working from home. That way they I don’t have to worry about them staying on task, they ask me questions, etc. They certainly don’t get all the details, but they get everything clean enough that I can spend my time working on my nit-picky details (i’m talking about dustig floorboards, etc). I do have trouble telling them what I’d like them to do different, but that is more a reflection on me, not them.

   I felt guilty at first but it has been very worth it the 100 bucks, especially with the flexibility that an independent lady provides.

2. I have a really sweet cleaning lady who predates my marriage. I didn’t have a cleaning lady when I lived alone, but decided to take the plunge when I shacked up with my now-husband. Our housekeeper was recommended by a friend, and she comes every week. We’re not usually there when she’s there, though we pop in occasionally.

   As for taking stuff, I do keep things like small electronics and jewelry out of plain sight, but we have things like laptops and silver out and it’s never been a problem. It’s a bit of a leap of faith, but we pay her well and it’s probably a pretty good gig for her. She does sometimes bring her sister or aunt to help her clean, and I’m more worried about one of them taking something than I am about her taking something. It’s never happened, though.

   My husband used to do most of the communication (he speaks her language pretty well), but now I do because we text each other. It sounds a little dorky, but it works great. She has a good command of conversational English, but some concepts are hard and I have talked to her high-school daughter if we can’t understand each other.

   She has four kids of her own, including one who is a little younger than my oldest, so I do give her hand-me-downs if she wants them.

   While I try to clean before she comes, it doesn’t always happen with the two kids. It doesn’t seem to bug her much or affect how much work she does.

   We had a biweekly housekeeper growing up, so I’m pretty comfortable with the whole thing. That said, the whole idea gives my sister hives, but my sister has had very bad luck with finding people.

3. Lawyers – what does “case dismissed on motion of defense” mean?

   1. The Defendant made a motion to dismiss (could have been done orally at a hearing) and the judge dismissed the case. Usually would occur in a criminal case if the state didn’t have any real evidence to support their charge, or in a civil case if the Plaintiff failed to pursue the case (i.e. it just sat on the docket for a year or more with no activity). Hope that helps!

      1. Thank you! This helps.

4. I’ve had a recommendation from another ‘retter sitting in my inbox for nearly three months. I just called them. Yay for the soon-to-be clean house.

5. I would love to hire cleaning ladies but I am a slob and have stuff lying around the house… clothes thrown on chairs; papers and books everywhere; clean laundry sits unsorted for weeks. If the cleaners, as everyone says, do not move this stuff, there is no point.
   I have kids and realize that I am a bad example. However, beyond keeping everyone fed and dressed in clean clothes, I just don’t have the motivation or energy. I’d rather spend the time exercising, reading, or doing things with the kids. My husband works a lot and he needs to visit his elderly parents 2/week, so I cannot ask him to pitch in.
   It has come to the point that we clean only when company is expected, which is about once a month…

   1. If you think it would help you, I would say to talk to some cleaners and see what they can do. If I leave a pile of clean clothes on the couch (I fold the drying rack before the cleaners come, and that generally means everything on it just gets piled up), the cleaners will fold them. If we wanted it, they would be willing to do laundry and change the sheets. If we leave things out in the kitchen, the cleaners will put them away in the wrong spots, but I’m sure if we talked about it/labeled cabinets/etc., that could be more helpful–for now we just try to put things away beforehand.

   2. Anon, it sounds like you and your husband are setting great examples for your children. They see you and your husband keeping everyone fed and dressed, taking care of yourself with exercise and reading, spending time with them, and taking care of extended family. If they learn by observing you that all those things are more important than a clean home, you’ve done well.

      If that doesn’t make you feel better, you can take comfort in the fact that people are often determined to keep house differently than their parents. My mother’s house has always been immaculate, but I’ve also that she is incapable of sitting down – she can’t catch up with me over a glass of wine, watch a movie, etc., because the counter isn’t clean or the coffee pot needs to be rinsed or a lamp needs dusting. I love her and am sometimes jealous of her clean house, but I’ve decided to make time with my family a priority.

      That said, if it would make you feel better, follow rosie’s advice :)

      1. This. A clean house should not take precedence over the things that really make life worth living.

      2. I could have written exactly the same thing about my own mother. Part of my sloppiness I think is leftover rebellion.

   3. The cleaners *can* move stuff like that, if you want them to and you pay for it. Most people don’t want them moving stuff. But they’ll do whatever you want, within reason, including changing your sheets and folding your laundy. You just have to ask and pay for it.

      My mom was a so-called bad example like you, and I grew up just fine and hired a cleaning lady to keep my apartment civilized. So don’t worry about it.

6. Very timely post!
   Any reccs for people in the Palo Alto area?
   I would like someone to come once a month or so to do the stuff I hate doing– floors, bathroom etc.
   We have a 2 bedroom apartment and don’t really have a great vacuum cleaner… do you guys provide those things or do the cleaners provide their own?

   1. re: vacuum cleaner. My old vacuum was awful. She left me a note about three months in ordering me to buy a vacuum and including a picture of the model she wanted. It was an $85 canister vacuum with lots of attachments that was available at Orchard Supply Hardware.

      1. This. Mine finally called and told us we had to buy a new vacuum. She brought her own in the interim. Our dogs shed so much that we bought a shop vac for her to use! We moved out of our old apartment and into a house (taking our cleaner with us), and my BIL bought us a new special “pet” vacuum for Christmas … which we joked was really a gift for the cleaner. Ha. So now she uses that (until it inevitably dies) … but our house looks so much better now, though (the shop vac tends to blow a lot of dust and particles into the air, but it gets the fur our of carpet really well)!

   2. We just started using Roses House Cleaning, which has an office in PA. Their first visit was last week and they did an excellent job. We’ll see them again next week. I can check back in and let you know how they’re doing, but things look promising. Our vacuum is very crappy – they brought their own which worked much better.

   3. The company I owned provided vacuums (Dysons). We only used the customer’s vacuum if they really wanted us to.

   4. Anon0321, search for my name upthread. I posted a name and contact number for the lady I used when I lived near you.

   5. We have a Dyson that our cleaning service won’t use. They bring their own and I was told by the manager during our pre-cleaning consultation that this is for insurance purposes. So I guess it would depend on the cleaner…

      1. I can see why the service wouldn’t want to use your vacuum (even if it’s superior to theirs). I doubt my company’s insurance would have covered it if one of my employees broke a customer’s vacuum, and the employees were not known for being gentle on ours.

7. This is only minor hyperbole– having a housecleaner has saved my marriage. I’m picky, he’s not and we’re both busy. Now our free time is spent actually enjoying each other’s company instead of vacuuming and scrubbing the toilets.

   1. I don’t think that’s even remotely hyperbolic ;) My SO & I used to fight about doing laundry, now we send it to a laundramat. Problem, solution, and no more fighting. If only everything was so easy!
      Seriously, life is so short and we are all so busy, eliminating that one big chore so you can have a nice evening together where you’re in a good mood because you came home to a clean house is priceless.

8. I happily use a cleaning service once per month. I have never given them a key, so with me or my DH have to stay home for a few hours on the Saturdays they come. But an advantage of using a service rather than an individual cleaning person is that they send 2 people (in their uniforms so we know who they are) instead of one, so the cleaning gets finished faster. To me this is well worth the money, $100 per cleaning. I like that it forces us to organize and pick up after ourselves periodically.

   1. For pricing comparison, I live in downtown DC and have a 2000 sf condo. If I had the company I use come more than once per month they would charge me less per visit.

   2. I posted lower down about my experience, but I don’t think that having a larger service is the only way to have multiple cleaners at once. Our prior cleaners were part of a smaller service (the owner and her husband cleaned our place, and I’m not sure she had other employees at that point), and our current cleaners are again a small service, but 3-4 people come each time.

      1. It looks like you and I use a similar size service. The service I use isn’t a large Merry Maids size one. It’s owned by a husband and wife who sometimes are the cleaners who come, but usually they are not. They are big enough to have a checklist of tasks that they cover and to be insured.

         1. Gotcha.

9. We hired our housekeeper through a referral from a friend about 3-4 years ago. I held out for a long time because I felt like I ought to be able to keep my own house clean – But I hate cleaning. I hate it. And my husband and I both have full time jobs, much more than full time in my case, and wouldn’t we rather be doing something enjoyable with our free time?

   I would not hire a “service” or company to clean my house. I don’t think they pay their people what they are worth for what they do, and I would rather support a sole proprietor and let her keep the money.

   That does bring me to another issue; that of taxes. People in cash businesses underreporting their taxes is one of the things that drives me more crazy than just about anything. But I am just not sure what I can do about it.

   I have no concerns about security. She has a key and comes when we are at work. Occasionally we will be there on the cleaning day if we are on vacation or maybe I am working from home that day, but I don’t worry too much about it. It’s not my job to stay away from the house while they are there although to stay out of their way as much as possible would be nice.

   I disagree with whoever said you should buy the products they like. I like natural cleaning products, not harsh chemicals, and if I am paying someone to clean my house, they should use what I want to use, not tell me I need to buy some Comet.

   Yes, housecleaners “straightening” and putting away your stuff (in the wrong place) is an issue. Nothng can be done about it except try to put things away before they come. Which really, I should be doing anyway. I don’t consider that “cleaning for the cleaning lady” – picking up clutter is a whole other activity than cleaning.

   We pay $90 for a 2800sf home every other week, which she only just recently increased from $80. I consider that very fair.

   1. Wow – $90 for a house your size is a great deal. My house is the same size and I pay $145. My cleaner uses her own supplies, though, as she likes a certain kind of natural cleaner for her own health reasons.

10. We had a service when we lived in Northern New England that was amazing. It was a husband/wife team (the website made them seem bigger, but I think it was down to just them, at least when we hired them). Bonded and insured. Fine with our dog. Very straightforward about what would be cleaned and our priorities in case they could not finish it all. We had cleanings every other week, $75 per cleaning ($25/hr for 1.5 hours), and our house was 1400 sq ft. Great about communicating via both email and phone. One time they had to come on a weekend because of snow on the usual cleaning day, and she brought me homemade bagels since she knew I’d be home. We reciprocated with some canned stuff and tipped around the holidays. They would use green cleaners, conventional cleaners, or homemade cleaners (vinegar and baking soda type stuff)–we asked for homemade cleaners unless they thought that something else was needed. We were home the first few times, then we gave them a copy of our key.

    Now, DC area, we have a few people come in that are part of a small service recommended by our apartment concierge. At first we weren’t so happy–they cancelled on very short notice, and we a hard time ascertaining if they could use green cleaners. Now things are a bit smoother. They’re fine with our pet and are bonded/insured. After a few times of my SO being there, we gave them a key, but they need to get the FOB from the concierge to get into our building. $85 per time for our 1200 sq ft apartment.

    I am not that concerned about theft once we have met the people that will be in our home a few times.

    One thing I like that my parents do with their cleaners is if my parents will be out of town for a while and will miss cleanings, they pay for them anyway. It’s not the cleaner’s fault that my parents are going on vacation, and the cleaners are not getting any paid vacation. I’m not in a position where I take multi-week trips, but I think it’s a good policy and something I plan to do if/when I’m in that position.

11. We used Angie’s List to find a locally-owned cleaning service and have used them for about 2 years. We pay $130 every two weeks for them to clean a 2,600 square foot house. My husband and I never cleaned the house on a regular basis and would get into horrible fights during any “pre-hosting” cleaning. Finally, I told him that I was too stressed with work to deal with cleaning, not cleaning, and fighting about cleaning and that we were going to hire someone to clean our house every two weeks. For a while he would complain about it but after a couple of times when we didn’t get the biweekly cleaning (for example, because we were out of town), he realized that the house looks a lot better when someone (anyone) is cleaning it regularly.

    Generally, I’m really happy with the service we hired. We usually have the same two women, and if something is left undone I just leave a note the next time. It’s completely worth it.

    1. In terms of security, we gave the service the key to the push lock, but not the deadbolt, on the front door, so they only have access to the house because we unlock the deadbolt on cleaning days.

12. Put me firmly in the pro-cleaning person camp. Currently, don’t have someone because can’t figure out if it’s worth it. But in previous relationship with much larger apartment, the person we had was a godsend. She did laundry, put things away, cleaned, got the occasional something from the store, and once a week I knew I was coming home to a perfect apartment. The woman who did our cleaning has since become a home health aide so I don’t think she cleans anymore, but it was great having her around. And even though I knew she didn’t always do the most thorough job, it was fine because a) she would always do something if you pointed it out, and b) if everything “looked” clean every week, I didn’t mind moving the couch myself to get the dust bunnies once every other month or so.

    My hesitation now is because the main thing I’d want someone to do is laundry/putting everything away and we send our laundry out because the laundry in the building is inconviniently located/generally not great so it seems silly when the apartment cleaning is straightforward (SO and I do it once a week in about 2 hrs.). Plus, in my current post, I am a bit concerned over the tax implications and just haven’t had the time to sit down and figure it all out.

    I do recommend only hiring through personal references – I do almost everything by word of mouth these days (doctor, tailor, etc.) and am a much happier customer. I also think people tend to do a better job when they know they’ve been referred to you.

    As far as reorganization, I would just tell the cleaning person what you expect. For instance, with our lady, she would just make neat stacks of things so everything was very easy to find, or she would put it away if she knew where it went.

    1. “The woman who did our cleaning has since become a home health aide so I don’t think she cleans anymore, but it was great having her around.”

       You never know – when my grandmother’s Alzheimer’s progressed enough that she no longer cleaned, we hired a cleaning woman for her and my grandfather. We made sure to hire one who was also a home health aide, so she could care for grandma if it came to that. (It can be hard to get people with Alzheimer’s adjusted to new people.) Worked great.

13. My now-DH and I have hired cleaning services off and on for the past few years, and are now back on. The main problem we’ve had is lack of business skills/professionalism – calls that aren’t returned, staff that shows up late or early, last minute cancellations, 3 people come for 2 hours instead of the 2 people for 3 hours we were told. We’re both lawyers, so it drives us crazy. We’ve let all those cleaners go, but having cleaners come every two weeks is seriously one of the best things for our relationship.

    This time, we decided to be more systematic. Starting with listings from Yelp for licensed, bonded, insured companies, we called a bunch of cleaners with good ratings, and judged them on the professionalism of their responses. One cleaning company, with excellent Yelp reviews, was very professional in its response, so we gave them a trial last week. I could have eaten off the floor, it was so clean. The owner was also willing to waive the initial hefty “deep clean” fee because we had recently tried another service, and promised to do a every-two-weeks 3-month cleaning trial with his company. Our apartment is 1100 square feet, and it was $85.

    I was initially uncomfortable with hiring someone because I felt that was a “rich people/snob” thing. Someone in my family cleaned hotel rooms to put herself through college explained what others here have said – you’re putting money back into the economy, directly in the hands of someone supporting themselves (if you don’t go with Merry Maids or something).

    We’re still figuring out the security issues. For the moment, we put the valuables out of sight and are home while they clean. If we like this company after a couple more cleanings, we’ll buy a safe for the laptops, camera, jewelry, and external hard drive and give the service a key.

    Re: organizing – yeah, they loaded the dishwasher in a way I didn’t like, and a few clean utensils ended up in strange places, but our kitchen is small so it takes less than five minutes to fix that. We use their visit as a prompt to put or throw away all the stuff we should have already put or thrown away anyway.

    Seriously, the best money spent on my relationship/marriage – way better than spending $80 on date night. If the house is clean, we can enjoy date night IN, although sometimes we go out anyway. A housecleaning service is a priority in relationship maintenace for us.

    1. Congratulations on getting married! (Last time I was on corporette you were looking for shoes for the wedding.)

       1. Aw, thanks Mary Ann :)!

14. Thanks!

    1. For ITP/NE, we have been very happy with Sponge and Sparkle based in Chamblee.

       1. Thank you!

15. I’m another one who just hired a cleaner – they came 2 weeks ago for a big catch-up cleaning and start the regular bi-weekly cleanings tomorrow. (Also, add me to club who were finally prompted to do this by way of pregnancy – my energy levels sucked well into my second trimester, it’s getting uncomfortable to bend to scrub and such now, and while my husband was willing to pick up some of the chores that are normally on my plate, tax season means he can barely keep up with his own usual chores, and our house was consequently getting pretty disgusting.) So far, so good. The current plan is to stick with this through the end of the calendar year (so a few months into my return to work after maternity leave), at which point we’ll reassess based on how our budget plan, schedule, etc. are working in real life-with-a-baby instead of hypothetical life-with-a-baby.

    Our approach on some of the various things that have come up here:
    * I was wary of big franchise services like Merry Maids (thanks to Nickel and Dimed, like some others have said) but live about an hour away from anyone we know who could have given a personal reference, so I went with what I could find on the internet, going with a local service I found via Yelp that had good reviews and references, and whose owner responded promptly and professionally to my inquiry. I was more comfortable with a service that sent its employees than employing someone directly, though I would have considered that if I’d had a great referral from someone I know.
    * I telecommute one day a week and so scheduled the cleaners for that day (this addresses security/theft concerns, pet issues, etc.)
    * One reason I’d put off doing this was because my husband is a pat rack and visual organizer (e.g. piles of paper covering horizontal surfaces), and the pat rack trait is unfortunately inherited from his mother – whose house we purchased and whose belongings still haven’t been dealt with. Solution: the two rooms that are currently used almost exclusively for storing my mother-in-law’s stuff are closed off on cleaning day, as are the office spaces. The kitchen table and counter still collect piles that need to be dealt with before the cleaners come, but I actually welcome this – they can’t get too out of hand in the space of two weeks.

    1. It’s funny you mention Nickel and Dimed because that was what turned me off from the big services. Which is funny because I consider N&D for the most part to be a ridiculous bleeding heart rant, and far removed from reality (no one living paycheck to paycheck is going to just up and move across the country, unless maybe they are a refugee from Hurricane Katrina). But something about that experience with the maid service stuck with me.

16. Why not “cleaning person”? I realize that most are, in fact, women. Still, why perpetuate the stereotype unnecessarily? It may be PC, but I am glad not to have joined the profession of lawyer-man.

    1. I was waiting for this comment. Absolutely agree. Can’t believe it took this long for someone to point it out, and that so many people repeated the comment.

    2. Your example doesn’t even make sense. “Lawyer” has always been a gender neutral word. In this case, woman or lady is an accurate description. Should I start calling our handyman a handyperson? This need to be PC all the time is just out of control.

       1. If my handyman were female, I’d totally call her my handylady. Because hey.
          -The Engineeress

       2. I agree that the “lawyer” example doesn’t make sense, but I don’t see any reason to say “cleaning lady/woman” instead of “cleaning person/service.”

          Linda Greenlaw (fishing boat captain) talked about why she was okay calling herself a “fisherman” but thought “male nurse” was silly (unless the nurse only had male patients), but unforuntaley I cannot remember enough of the details to be more useful here. (Yes, I read strange books.)

          1. I loved Linda Greenlaw’s book!

    3. THIS

    4. It’s an accurate description if you are talking about a specific person (your “cleaning lady”) but is not necessarily accurate if you are looking for “a cleaning lady”, unless of course you only want a woman. I don’t think the conversation is about finding a person to clean your house who is a woman–if it is, that only furthers my point.

    5. Right. How about just ‘cleaner’?

    6. Not to mention the fact that with many of the commenters discussing or hinting at the WOC they’ve hired, I wonder what message we’re sending in this country when upper/middleclass, (mostly) white women are free to work outside the home in part because we’ve outsourced this task to poor, uneducated (mostly) women of color. On an individual scale it may make my quality of life better to have a clean house without doing it myself, and it may make her quality of life better to have income from a safe and reliable source, but it still feels like it’s perpetuating a world where women are responsible for cleaning up after everyone else, and where POC are expected to serve white people (and be grateful for the opportunity).

       1. I think there’s another way to look at it, Vanessa. Growing up, my lower middle class family had a housekeeper from Central America. We shopped mainly at Target on sale with coupons, but a housekeeper was my mother’s one luxury. The housekeeper didn’t speak much English, and was not educated beyond middle school in her home country. She came to the US as a young woman with nothing (but was legal) and the father of her two toddler daughters was not around. Our hiring of her, as well as many other families, enabled her to support her daughters. We paid her when she was sick or when we went on vacation (camping) so she could have a steady income. Over a dozen years of employment, my family helped her navigate things like picking good public schools for her daughters , navigating parent teacher conferences, and filling out official forms, and other things she didn’t know how to do. She raised her daughters right – they were among the few that our housekeeper knew who did not end up pregnant and/or dropping out of high school. My parents helped her daughters find scholarships for college and deal with the college application process, as college counselors weren’t available at their high school. Both daughters have since graduated from college, the first in their families to do so EVER, and have successful careers. Their mother doesn’t have to clean houses anymore, and she has said how grateful she was for my family’s help over the years. So, I think that while you may be right that housekeeping perpetuates one generation of WOC serving white people, it can also provide the support that’s needed to push the WOC’s children into the “American Dream.” It just takes a little longer than it should.

17. I work for the government and we’re having a health insurance kerfluffle. If you are comfortable sharing, what is your deductible for single and family? Responses from other government workers or people in the Midwest are extra-appreciated.

    1. If you just want to compare insurance policies, check out opm[dot]gov/insure/, which I think has a good comparison tool (assume you’re asking about fed govt).

       1. Local and self-insured. They are talking about quadrupling our deductibles and I’m trying to get a sense of whether or not that’s in line with other places.

18. Our first cleaning lady was located, vetted and hired by my husband as my birthday present my 3L year. Best birthday present ever. We did not have any kids or pets yet, but neither of us particularly liked cleaning. And because it was my birthday present, it avoided the question of whether I could be doing something else with the $70 every 2 weeks. It was my gift, so I didn’t have to give it back. She worked for us through our first child and eventually retired because of arthritis.

    After some trial and error with another independent (who stole small things) and a cleaning service (that didn’t do as good of a job as an independent ), we settled on a pair of sisters who were recommended by the builder of our new house. He used them for all of his final cleanings prior to move in. We started with every other week, but with 2 kids and 2 full time careers we have forked over the money to have them come every week. In addition to the standard cleaning, vacuuming, sweeping and dusting, they strip and make the beds, wash the sheets and towels, and do all of the kids’ laundry. It is worth every penny.

    1. We have someone every other week but I always tell my husband that if we win the lottery or if he gets some unheard-of raise, we’re upgrading to every week. THAT will make me feel as though I’ve arrived!

19. Anyone have any recs for Tampa? I despise deep cleaning, so it would be a dream come true to come home to a squeaky clean house!

20. Great post, Kat! I’ve been waffling about getting a cleaning lady since I started working. After reading this thread, I think I’m ready to take the plunge.

21. My hubby and I don’t always love cleaning, we do love having a clean space, so we focus an hour or two each weekend on cleaning. I only hired help once, during a busy period at work immediately before we were hosting Thanksgiving dinner, and *we never noticed the difference*. I had hoped a different set of eyes would get dirt I hadn’t noticed until it was gone, but no dice. What a waste of money.

    I’d only give it another go if I physically couldn’t clean (due to incredible time demands or illness) AND with the recommendation of someone whose standards are as high as my own.

22. What are some things your housecleaner does that you really appreciate? We’re going to do an initial walk-through and list of things for the quote, and I’m wondering what to ask for beyond the kitchen/bathroom and vacuum.

    1. Change the sheets. If you Google different cleaning services in your area, you can usually find a task list on their website to get an idea of what’s normally included. I would love if someone could fold our laundry too.

    2. Cleans the blinds and the baseboards. Never even occurred to me that blinds get dusty. Also, cleans the litter dust from around the litterbox.

23. Does anyone else really like cleaning? or I am I the only one..

    1. I do! It relieves stress for me. I like the act of cleaning, and I love the feeling of victory once I’m finished, as though I’ve conquered my apartment. During law school I used cleaning as a stress reliever/procrastination tool during exam time. I have never lived in such a clean environment as during law school exams.

    2. I only “enjoy” cleaning after big events, i.e. end of a semester, after the bar, done with a big project. It is cathartic for me.

       But now I’m having the hardest time keeping my small one-bedroom neat and clean. I live alone and don’t pull the hours that a lot of the attorneys on this blog do, but I always fall behind now (because I rather go to the gym after work and sleep at night).

       Super frustrating and looking into whether I can afford it at least once every few months.

24. We clean ourselves. My SO will pick up stuff and do dishes and run the vacuum, but things like dusty baseboards and bathroom grout grime do not seem to phase him. I do a big cleaning once a month and the two of us stay on top of the rest doing a little here and there. I am a neatnik obsessive, I admit it (grew up in a messy house and siblings and I are all like this) and it sometimes bothers me that SO will wait a little while to put away dishes, etc. but I realized that I had to let go a little or else I would do it all myself. I’ve been thinking about contracting out the big cleaning but worry it would not be up to my (obsessive) standards and also I have a dog that is weird with strangers.

25. When we first got a cleaning lady (also when near giving birth to first baby) my husband and I needed to figure out how to fund it. We decided that for the first year, we would forego anniversary, birthday and Christmas gifts to each other. It was soooo worth it to come home to a spotless house once a month.

    She was a word of mouth referral, so I trusted her. It also helped that I was on maternity leave the first couple of times, and my husband has a flexible work schedule so she knows he pops in and out throughout the day.

    She does the cleaning I just would not do – appliances, scrubbing floors by hand, wiping out kitchen drawers, baseboards, etc. She does a much better job than we do.

    We do have to pick up the night before (although she has told us she doesn’t mind) but we pay her hourly, so I’d rather not pay her $25 an hour to do the easy stuff like putting towels away. She will do anything we ask. She said some clients have her clean their garages, fill their birdfeeders, etc.

    After a couple years, we hired her for an extra 4 hours a month and gave her a list of “big” cleaning jobs to work on in the extra time. It included things like going through our huge linen closet and throwing out expired medicine, wiping shelves and reorganizing. She also did every one of our kitchen cabinets, all our kids closets, etc. That took maybe 4 months and now she is back to a regular schedule. I plan to do this every 18 months/2 years with her because it is so nice to have someone reorganize my pantry shelves and throw out the 3 bottles of bbq sauce that I forgot I bought.

    We tip her generously at Christmas, buy girl scout cookies from her daughter, recommend her highly to our neighbors and feel like we hit the jackpot!

    We mostly communicate through notes or email and I’m yet to find something that she missed or didn’t do well. She did let me know that lately it’s taking her longer to do the standard cleaning, so she is going to start charging me for an extra 30 minutes. I’m fine with that and glad she brought it up, because I do want to pay her for her time. (which my husband verified because he’s been around more lately and noticed her days at our house are longer.)

26. I’ve worked with a housekeeper since the days of being a single career woman in a 1BR apartment — started about 1-2 years into being an associate in MidLaw (San Francisco). All of my housekeepers have been independent; I hired the first woman’s company on the recommendation of a co-worker. That owner sent out different employees of hers but it would always be the same person for 2-3 years. This continued through moving in with DH to a 2BR apt. We have no kids and no pets.

    After the last person from that independent business seemed to be getting less thorough and less careful, and I changed jobs (going to less income to switch practice areas), DH and I stopped working with her, and asked for our keys back. We missed having someone come in regularly to do the heavy cleaning so we’re back to once per month with a new individual woman recommended by a different friend. We pay her $20/hour and her regular visit is a five-hour visit, so it’s $100 for a 2BR/2.5 BA apartment — about 1800 sq. ft. Very much worth it. We do the clutter pickup/putting things away the night before our housekeeper comes over. Since she comes only 1/mo., I generally Swiffer the wood floors/wipe down sinks and toilets/vacuum LR and DR rug once in between her visits. She focuses on the kitchen and bathrooms, and will do one big additional task each visit — like cleaning the oven or the fridge shelves. We do our own laundry.

    1. Oh, and we gave our housekeeper her own set of keys after her first two deep-clean visits (the first of which I was here for and did a full walk-through with her to show her where the recycling, etc. is in the building).

27. I’d love to know how much everyone pays for their cleaning service (I often wonder if I’m getting ripped off). Post your city, home size, cost, frequency, and whether it’s a service or an individual.

    I’ll start:
    DC, large studio, $90, monthly, service.

    1. I like this idea! DC, townhouse, 1800 sq ft/3 bd, 2 bth, $90 every two weeks.

    2. Baltimore; about 1/2 of a large house (not sure of sf); $90 for biweekly/$80 for weekly; small service (they send teams of 2-3 people each time).

    3. I’ll give one of my sample quotes from when I owned my company :)

       Northampton, MA
       1500 sq ft
       Biweekly
       Service — small local business
       $85

    4. SF Peninsula, 1100 sq ft, 2/2, $85 (2 people for ~2 hours), every two weeks. Service, licensed, bonded, insured. No laundry, but both indoor and outdoor (patio) cleaning.

    5. Bay Area: 2 bd/ 1 ba – 1000 sq. ft.; $75 every two weeks; individual who brings helpers (1-2) with her.

       Recommended by a friend, and like other have said, best investment in our marriage and careers EVER!

28. Oops – and individual.

    1. Ack – that was meant to be in reply to myself above ( I got yelled at for posting too quickly and got flustered).

    2. Thanks. That’s a good deal – if i had mine biweekly it would be $70 for my studio. DC is so expensive.

29. So glad this was posted — my parents came to visit my husband and me a few weeks ago, and I hired a cleaning service for the first time ever. I had all of the aforementioned guilty feelings (we don’t have kids or pets, and I’m not going to lie — we watch a fair amount of TV and movies on the weekends), but it was so awesome to come home to after a long day of work.

    My only issue with it is that I live in Greenwich, CT and the cheapest service I could find was $145 for two people for an hour and a half. We have a one bedroom apartment that is probably not even 800 square feet, so that seemed like a lot to me, especially since I heard people have their entire houses cleaned for $100. Is anyone in the Greenwich/Westchester area that can recommend a cleaning lady or cleaning service, I’d love to have them come every two weeks?

30. We use a service to avoid any Zoe Baird tax issues, especially as my husband is a prosecutor. I just don’t want to risk having a cleaning person deemed my employee at some later date. The service employs the staff and uses its own tools and supplies, which gives me peace of mind.

31. My husband and I had always cleaned our own 1br condo. Then in the course of a year, I went from law student to BigLaw associate, we had a baby, and we moved from a 1br condo to a 3-story Victorian rowhouse with all kinds of dusty nooks and crannies. Working together, we could get the condo spic-and-span in one hour, but the house would take at least 4 hours — and we had less free time than ever. If I only have 10 free hours a week, you better believe I’m not spending 4 of them cleaning.

    We got a referral for an independent cleaning lady from two friends who had been using her for years. We pay $115 for 4br/2.5 baths/no shedding pets. We generally keep things picked up, so she really just needs to do the actual cleaning, and we don’t have a “reorganization” problem. She mops, vacuums, wipes surfaces, does window interiors, dusts, and cleans the bathrooms. If I want her to do something special (e.g. clean the oven after Thanksgiving), I just leave a note and an extra $20. She has a key and lets herself in.

    As for standards, you have to compare her work to what you could reasonably accomplish in the same amount of time — not to a flawless house. Of course there are things that *could* be cleaner, and occasionally I’m tempted to think, “Hey, those baseboards are not sparkling!” Then I realize that I’m only paying her to clean for four hours, and if I cleaned for four hours, the baseboards most certainly would *not* sparkle. In fact, she does a heck of a lot more in four hours than I could.

32. I’m looking for a cleaning lady, again. Unfortunately the last cleaning lady in sweeping swept up toys from under the sofa and threw them in the garbage. The cleaning lady before that didn’t show up once, after we prepaid her. The cleaning lady before that had the theory that everything needs to be off the floor, but where it goes is irrelevant. So we ended up with shoes on the bookshelf and screws in the fruit bowl.

    I love the idea of having a cleaning person I can trust. But I haven’t yet found one yet. I will keep looking, because I really don’t want to spend my limited free time scrubbing toilets. If you know of a green cleaning service in Silicon Valley that you like, let me know.

    1. As I noted above, we’re trying out Roses House Cleaning. They’re based in PA and are green. We’ve only had one appointment so far, but were impressed. They come again next week. Also check karenpadi’s comments – she’s in San Jose and I think mentioned using a green cleaner as well.

33. I’m one of the holdouts, I can’t really justify paying $2500/year (assuming $100 for every other week) with the $200k law school debt looming. I honestly would love to have a cleaning service but I can’t talk myself into it.

34. Please, Seattle people, specific recommendations super welcome. I am having a horrid time finding someone to do weekly and more than just basics – so busy/pregnant and is just going to get worse.
    Have been contacting/interviewing people- the results thus far are terrible. One last weekend: no show. Another: ‘oh, i don’t do bathrooms or floors though’-???? another- went bonkers, nut case. Another: wants to move in with us.
    I am sure there are good people around that I would love to hire, but no personal recs are coming through, and these are through online agencies and craigslist. And many want $28+ an hour- so $130+ per visit. Ehhh.

    1. I don’t know that $28/hr is that unreasonable. We paid $25/hr for a small service that used all their own supplies. Not in a big city–although I’m not sure which way that cuts, since gas is pricey and if they have to drive longer between jobs, that’s uncompensated time, but I would generally expect higher prices in a city.

       Just to commiserate, though–I found the service we went with and this other small service. The guy from the second one (that we did not go with) seemed very odd over the phone, and I just was not comfortable speaking with him, whereas the other service seemed much more professional from the start. However, he repeatedly called me to ask me to give him a chance; I politely told him that we were trying out another service, and I had his number if we changed our minds, but I had to block his number from my phone.

35. I hired a cleaning lady when I was a second-year associate. It was the best decision I have ever made. My husband and I no longer spend our entire weekends cleaning the house and instead can travel and most importantly, spend time with each other. I hired the same cleaning service that my sister uses, but I would ask colleagues for recommendations rather than hiring someone from a newspaper or other ad.

36. I couldnt manage without my housekeeper and plan to keep her forever. I loathe cleaning-it is a waste of my limited free time. Got her by referral from a friend-she used to organize slightly but has learned where I stash stuff and goes with that.

37. It’s hard to do it all and to do it all well. I know that some women find it therapeutic but for me, there is NOTHING I HATE MORE THAN CLEANING. Times are tight financially but I would rather cook three meals a day (which I do) instead of dining out so that we can keep our housekeeper (the politically correct term– not cleaning lady). I feel a little guilty but my bf works at home and this ensures domestic tranquility. My Latin Am born bf is more comfortable with the idea of domestic help. He’d like her to come more often to do laundry, too! I’m a little intimidated but that’s me and not her. She is trustworthy and thorough. The main thing is to get someone through referrals.

38. Love it, crazing! You did a great job of capturing the site. Nice touch of including photoes!

39. The voice of experience speaking here: Never hire someone you know. Never hire an individual. I can’t begin to tell you the horrific problems I’ve had. I will never hire an individual again. Go with a service, even if it is more expensive. One last word – I am a single person and I will never be without a cleaning service. No matter who you are, you need a cleaning service. Try it, you’ll like it.

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