fresnelly

Anyone ever hire a home cleaning service?

I don't know if we could afford it but I'm toying with the idea of occasionally hiring a cleaning service to help out when both my wife and I are feeling overwhelmed with work and kids activities. Maybe once a month or so.

What sort of cost is it for one-time or regular clean-ups? What sorts of questions should I ask?

I know I could go directly to the actual companies for these answers but I'm just speculating at this point and want to avoid the hard sell before I have a little knowlege.

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Baraka_Guru

You need to sort out what it is you want them to clean....the particulars.

Divide by room: do you want the kitchen & bathroom done? Living room? Bedrooms?

What to clean, what not to clean: Leave the appliances alone? Only do the floors and surfaces?

It all depends on what you want. They will determine how long it will take depending on the size of your place and what you want done. So sort out a few different options based on square footage.

If you do it once per month, expect them to want up to a 3-hour minimum. This will likely cost you about a hundred bucks or so I would imagine. At work we had someone come in for the minimum, but I can't remember what it cost, but our office wasn't that big.

The bottom line: a professional cleaner can clean a hell of a lot in 3 hours of non-stop work. How much are you willing to pay for that?

Call around and get quotes. It's the only way you'll know what's what. There are many options in Toronto, so don't hesitate to negotiate a lower price if you prefer one company over another.

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—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot

Redlemon

We went with a recommendation from a friend, rather than a housecleaning service. (Read the Merry Maids chapters of "Nickled and Dimed", you won't use them either.) Our house is 2100 s.f., she comes in every other week for $70.

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Xerxys

In NC we have a sexy-maid cleaning service that will clean your house in tiny little lingerie for $60/hr. I was tempted.

genuinegirly

"Mom wants me to clean, the maid is coming today," was something I heard entirely too frequently from friends growing up. Their maids would come into the house, vacuum, tidy things, make the beds, throw out any papers sitting around, snatch up any cash they unearthed, use the same rag to clean their toilet as their kitchen counters, and mop the floor with brown water. Parents weren't usually around when the cleaning service stopped by, but the children/teenagers were. Parents would think the kids were full of it when they described what they saw.

Teach your kids to clean. Blast music while you do, make it a fun experience every Saturday morning. It's going to be healthier for your family overall.

/end rant.

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wooÐs

I'd gladly pay adults for the convenience instead of arguing with kids. Kids wouldn't do any better of a job anyways. I know I didn't, which forced my Mother to get a maid bi-weekly.

They're not for the rich anymore. These days, both parents work. So getting a maid is a must in a home with a family.

---------- Post added at 03:09 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:07 PM ----------

Oh - and a lot of places won't do one-time jobs unless they gouge you. They're a much better deal if you set up a sort of schedule.

thirdsun

I've used a home cleaning service for several years.

My most recent was a retired neighbor who came twice a month for $100. He would also do little chores like pick up my mail or packages when I travelled. He would mop, sweep, vacuum, do the dishes, clean and dust all surfaces (mirrors and glass when requested), and clean the kitchen and bathrooms.

My only recommendation is to find someone who comes on a strict, set schedule.

For a while I used a couple who came unannounced and whenever it suited their schedule. I was not happy about that at all. I like to pick up and put things away that are personal and/or private before someone comes in the house.

That begs the obvious recommendation: make sure you hire someone whom you trust, implicitly. And who is bonded and has insurance and whom you can locate / contact easily should any questions or problems arise.

Nimetic

I had a cleaner call for a while. But I started feeling odd about it.

It had lots of pluses. But the negatives were

- I have lots of stacks of paper and stuff. I don't know where stuff is... but have even less idea after somebody has stacked it and put it in cupboards
- I ended up doing the pre-clean (as others noted above)
- I went to X-mas party at my cleaners place (lots of people went). She had a nicer place than me.

Still. I got a lot of work done back then. I used somebody from a franchise firm. So I knew where they came from etc...

little_tippler

Here in Portugal having a maid come in regularly is pretty common.

One of the main points to consider about any maid is to choose someone who is trustworthy. Of course, that is difficult to ascertain, so I prefer to hire someone who comes recommended by friends or even a previous maid.

My current maid I know is trustworthy, if she finds money in my jeans or lying anywhere she'll put it somewhere I'll find it later and tell me did I see it there the next time I see her. I'm usually home for the first hours of her work but then I leave her in the house alone and I don't have to worry. She does a better job if I'm not there because I'm not in the way. She has a key.

She does most of my ironing, washing, cleans the entire house top to bottom and waters my plants. She works 4 hours at a time and charges me $10 per hour.

I hate cleaning but I like things to be clean, so this is perfect for me.

__________________
Whether we write or speak or do but look
We are ever unapparent. What we are
Cannot be transfused into word or book.
Our soul from us is infinitely far.
However much we give our thoughts the will
To be our soul and gesture it abroad,
Our hearts are incommunicable still.
In what we show ourselves we are ignored.
The abyss from soul to soul cannot be bridged
By any skill of thought or trick of seeming.
Unto our very selves we are abridged
When we would utter to our thought our being.
We are our dreams of ourselves, souls by gleams,
And each to each other dreams of others' dreams.

Fernando Pessoa, 1918

levite

We have a nice lady come in and do our cleaning once a week, and we're thinking about bumping it up to twice a week. My honey is a little on the OCD side, liking everything just so, but she's busy and she has physical handicap issues that make it hard for her to do a lot of intense cleaning. I am relaxed, easy-living, and don't care that much (except for her sake), and in any case, I suck at cleaning. This cleaning lady is a main load-bearing wall of our marriage. We pay her around $80 per visit.

We didn't hire her from a service, we got a recommendation from friends. These word of mouth hires are the way to go. We have only hired "professional cleaning services" of the sort listed in the Yellow Pages when we vacate an apartment, and need proof that the place was cleaned by a bonded and licensed cleaning service.

__________________
Dull sublunary lovers love,
Whose soul is sense, cannot admit
Absence, because it doth remove
That thing which elemented it.

(From "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" by John Donne)

Xerxys

lol @ you guys. I grew up with a maid service and I found it hard because I became uber dependent on the maid service. I mean, it wasn't a once a week thing, she lived in the complex 6 days and got Sundays off to do whatever. She did everything, cooking, cleaning, picking up after ... EVERYTHING.

When I started living alone I did everything myself. I knew instantly where everything was. I knew just how to iron my shirts right. I knew exactly why it took me four weeks of breakfast to fuind out why I hated the new maid that came in.

I don't miss it. 60-80 hour work weeks and I still had time to clean in the nude. Life is fun when your alone.