s/o cleaning ladies

[HappyLady]

The other thread about the cleaning lady got me wondering, what exactly do they do? I mean, my house is messy, but I'm assuming they wouldn't clean the mess because they wouldn't know where everything went, right? And would I have to clean the mess before they could actually clean?

 

So what do they do? Dusting? Vacuuming? Mopping? Is it really worth it to get one? Has anyone ever gotten one and regretted it?

[snickelfritz]

I do pick up first. She sweeps, mops, vacuums, dusts, cleans counters, cleans the stovetop, sinks, toilets, tubs, etc...

 

It is very worth it to us. Dh gets stressed if the house isn't clean. Literally. People who say that cleaning takes a backseat to other tasks? Wouldn't work here. :). However, he doesn't complain a bit about hiring help. So, we are both happy.

[SKL]

They do what you tell them to do. I assume that if you wanted them to clean the clutter, they would, once you told them where stuff goes.

 

We have cleaning ladies who come in roughly once per month for about 4 hours (total 8 hours, given 2 cleaners). They dust, vacuum, sweep, wash floors, clean bathrooms, wipe out the nuker, - you get the picture. We hired them because it became too difficult for me to keep up with it all on top of long hours at work. I never liked the idea before, but it was easy to get used to. Even if there are things they don't do the way I'd do them, they still save me time and stress. I can always go back over those areas I'd do differently.

 

My view is that if you have the money and better things to do with your time, you might as well give it a try.

[DaffodilDreams]

I had one when I worked outside the home and soooooooooooooo wish I could have one now. It's one of the things we cut out so I could stay home, though. Granted, we didn't have the messes back then that we do now, but, yes, the dusting, wiping all appliances and surfaces, sweeping, mopping, cleaning showers/tubs/toilets, etc. that she did was worth the money for us. She did baseboards and windows about once a month. I always loved coming home on cleaning days.

[Jpoy85]

Id LOVE it if one came here. Too pricey though.

[Stratford]

We have someone come every other week. We do the tidying, she does the cleaning. It's been well worth the cost for our family....I work weekends, DH works during the week, and this gives us more time together on those rare occasions that we are all at home without thinking about cleaning the house. I love knowing that every two weeks, the entire house is all clean AT THE SAME TIME. Priceless. I still do clean during the week, light cleaning, mostly a quick vacuum or sweep. I figure that as long as I work out of the home, we can work this into our budget.

[snickelfritz]

I love knowing that every two weeks, the entire house is all clean AT THE SAME TIME. Priceless. I still do clean during the week, light cleaning, mostly a quick vacuum or sweep. I figure that as long as I work out of the home, we can work this into our budget.

 

:iagree:

 

I put out fires, or clean areas that need it now (with a Boxer dog... That usually means vacuuming hair frequently) but I know she will hit everything with a thorough cleaning.

[MrsBear]

Cleaning services usually have checklists of what they do and aren't that flexible to do more unless it's on a list they can charge more for doing...which I'm okay with that, but it isn't really what I need, so I hired someone privately.

 

She comes in once a week and is here most of the day - between six and eight hours. Her rate is a set rate to clean the house, not by the hour and it's what she asked for, a rate I thought quite reasonable for what she does.

 

In addition to the basics (dusting, vacuum, mop, bathroom, chair rails, edges, furniture, etc.) she also changes all bed linens, makes the bed and gets the linens she pulled off the bed to the laundry room, changes all towels in the bathrooms and gets the towels to the laundry room, checks and if needed, refills the soap in the bathrooms, replenishes toilet paper under bathroom sinks, empties and puts away any dishes in the dishwasher and will load any in the sink, she does pick up and put away clutter/piles when she knows where something goes and we've not taken care of it or asks where to put something if she's not sure, if I have laundry clean that needs folding, she'll fold it for me and leave it on beds to be put away, she's taken time to organize our closet in the master bedroom, the kids closets and drawers, and has even organized my pantry. She chalks it up to her being OCD and she likes to see things organized, so she just does it when she sees it needs to be done. She also has each room on a rotation for heavy cleaning, taking one each week to do top to bottom, including windows - so really, my house is always clean......I love it!

[lmrich]

Mrs. Bear - I wish I could hire your cleaning lady! I have had one on and off for a while. I have been on and off crutches alot - so it became needed. I love having cleaning help. I tidy up before she comes so the house looks perfect when she leaves. It is such a delightful treat!!! I wish I could afford it all the time.

[Desert Rat]

I clean for people. I do bathrooms, kitchen counters, dusting, vacuuming, mopping. Periodically, I clean baseboards, ceiling fans, and blinds (not every visit). For my regulars I rotate these three tasks so the get cleaned every 6 weeks, if that makes sense, and all my houses are on the same schedule for these so I know that this week I clean everyone baseboards, for example. I have 6 regular houses.

Most of my clients tidy up before I get there. I have one couple who cleans off all the vanities in the bathrooms, etc. I keep telling them they don't have to! I do pick up papers, toys, etc. and straighten papers into neat piles. The toys probably don't get put where they belong, but I need them off the floor to vacuum. I don't mind clutter. I don't have to live there, just clean every couple weeks.

What I do mind is excessive mess, like an entire sink full of dirty dishes (unless they are sick, which is an exception, of course), or expecting me to mop the laundry room floor if it's completely covered in dirty clothes (I won't). Otherwise, I pick up and straighten up as I go along.

Also, I am very flexible and will do many "extras" except windows. I don't do them because I really stink at them! My clients are mostly elderly so I change lightbulbs, replace batteries, change filters, etc.

Some houses I make beds, some houses don't. My rule is that I don't open anything up. So, if a door is closed, I assume you don't want that one cleaned. I don't open drawers, closets, etc. So place clean linens on the beds. It's to protect myself from accusations and to protect their privacy. That goes for microwaves as well (it has a door!). If you want it cleaned, please ask.

Every cleaning person is different. The best thing to do is have a list of things you'd like done and discuss it.

HTH

Oh, and my clients think I'm worth it! ;)

[MrsBear]

Mrs. Bear - I wish I could hire your cleaning lady! I have had one on and off for a while. I have been on and off crutches alot - so it became needed. I love having cleaning help. I tidy up before she comes so the house looks perfect when she leaves. It is such a delightful treat!!! I wish I could afford it all the time.

 

When I hired her, I had no idea really that she did as much as she does....I love it and gosh, if I ever lose her, I know I won't likely find a replacement - she's worth every penny since I'm not exactly the most organized person when it comes to the house and she's just made it so much easier to keep things in their place! While I still do the laundry, it is so nice to have someone do the linen & towel change each week and know it's done! At first DH was reluctant to spend money to get cleaning done, but after I had the baby, it was really getting to be more than I could do with everything else I do, so he agreed to give it a try......and now he's loving it too!

[Julie Smith]

My cleaning lady is my best friend. Literally. But sadly she lives very far away so I hardly get to see her.

 

About the only thing she says is she wouldn't wash cloth diapers.

 

Oh, the stories she has told me about some of her clients, ... well they weren't her clients for long.

[swellmomma]

When I worked as a maid we did not pick up messes. We did floors on our hands and knees, baseboards were done everytime we did floors so everytime we were in. Bathrooms, vacuuming, dusting, polishing, kitchen top to bottom (meaning inside microwave, fronts of appliances, cabinet doors and light switches, polishing the sink etc). We had 1 home where we changed the sheets on the master bed, and threw the old ones in the washer. That same room we cleaned the bathroom attached to the son's bedroom but not his room itself. He did not want to pick up his stuff before we came so his room was a walkway to the bathroom only.

 

We also did walls, windows, light fixtures, pulling out furniture to vacuum as requested. Usually we had those requests right before xmas and right before summer visitors.

[Unicorn.]

My cleaning lady is also my best friend. I'm a bit different in what I have her do than most people. I don't have her doing laundry, or scrubbing toilets. It's more deep cleaning and organinzing. She did spend one day cleaning and dusting my bookshelves/books, and even cleaned under the sofa and t.v. stand. Another day I had her pull all of the china out of the cabinets in the kitchen, wash it (some in dishwasher, some by hand), wipe out the cabinets which were quite dusty, and wipe down outside of cabinets. She spent another day cleaning out and re-organizing my huge hall closet. Last week she hand scrubbed the kitchen and dining room floors, and then waxed them for me, (she doesn't like to mop-she prefers a scrub brush, and she insisted on doing my floors! lol)

 

It has been a godsend having her help. I have a dh and 2 dc w/ ad/hd, and my house is chaos. I couldn't take it anymore. Dh was totally willing to cut back in other areas so we could hire her. We don't have a lot of money, but if having a clean house means we eat more grilled cheese instead of grilled chicken, we are fine w/ that. Sanity is Everything!

[Julie Smith]

My cleaning lady is also my best friend. I'm a bit different in what I have her do than most people. I don't have her doing laundry, or scrubbing toilets. It's more deep cleaning and organinzing.

 

OH, when my cleaning lady comes up it is usually arranged that my Dad comes up at the same time.

 

We tackle big problems. Last time she was up we removed the cardboard walls carpet, and insulation from the attic. We worked on it together. Then when the night was coming to a close I put the boys to bed and she and my Dad went out bar hopping. I think they wandered in at 2am.

 

I always make fun of her since every time she comes up the house is trashed when she leaves. You see we will be so busy with our project that the rest of the house gets trashed the way it does Mommy isn't around supervising or cleaning up after meals.

 

She also usually breaks something, or damages the walls.

 

Besides the attic she/we have painted the house, installed a kitchen counter, installed closet doors, done big time spring clean up, made trips to the dumb, assembled various things, ... and eaten a whole lot of sushi, lots and lots of sushi.

 

and all on her own with ZERO input from me she has sometimes dealt with mice. She also declutters things, but I'm not allowed to help because according to her I'm not good at it and want to keep things that should go - so she always kicks me out of the room when decluttering.

[TXMomof4]

Cleaning services usually have checklists of what they do and aren't that flexible to do more unless it's on a list they can charge more for doing...which I'm okay with that, but it isn't really what I need, so I hired someone privately.

 

She comes in once a week and is here most of the day - between six and eight hours. Her rate is a set rate to clean the house, not by the hour and it's what she asked for, a rate I thought quite reasonable for what she does.

 

In addition to the basics (dusting, vacuum, mop, bathroom, chair rails, edges, furniture, etc.) she also changes all bed linens, makes the bed and gets the linens she pulled off the bed to the laundry room, changes all towels in the bathrooms and gets the towels to the laundry room, checks and if needed, refills the soap in the bathrooms, replenishes toilet paper under bathroom sinks, empties and puts away any dishes in the dishwasher and will load any in the sink, she does pick up and put away clutter/piles when she knows where something goes and we've not taken care of it or asks where to put something if she's not sure, if I have laundry clean that needs folding, she'll fold it for me and leave it on beds to be put away, she's taken time to organize our closet in the master bedroom, the kids closets and drawers, and has even organized my pantry. She chalks it up to her being OCD and she likes to see things organized, so she just does it when she sees it needs to be done. She also has each room on a rotation for heavy cleaning, taking one each week to do top to bottom, including windows - so really, my house is always clean......I love it!

 

Man! I wish I could find a cleaner like that!!!!

 

I had someone in Dallas that came once a week and did the whole house - charged a flat fee and vacuumed, dusted, scrubbed bathrooms, made beds, baseboards, mopped - it was great. BUT, DH was deployed at the time and it was a real pain in the tush to have to pick up everything so she could clean. She was a wonderful lady and would probably not have minded helping pick up the mess but I was determined not to take advantage of her kindness, kwim? I probably could have asked her to do more.

[TheReader]

My cleaning lady comes once/week and cleans. I do pick up first -- the boys tidy their bedrooms so no toys are on the floor, and we keep the rest of the house fairly tidy anyway. Any miscellaneous lying around stuff I put away or she will tidy it and leave on the corner of the desk, table, etc.

 

She spends roughly six hours at my house, though, and cleans it top to bottom.

 

Each bedroom (x4) -- vacuums floor, makes bed, dusts shelves, vacuums curtains

Each bathroom (x5) -- cleans toilet, floor, sinks/counter, shower. Includes emptying bathroom trash (we don't flush TP here) and straightening up the counters. She would have cleaned the litter box too but I told her not to.

Office (x1) -- dusts, vacuums, tidies up if needed

Living/Dining room (x1) -- sweeps/mops, vacuums couches & curtains, cleans inside/outside of sliding glass doors, vacuums rug, dusts bookshelves, wipes table & chairs. She moves the couches to mop underneath. Dusts the TV stand & tidies items as needed.

Kitchen (x1) -- sweeps/mops, does dishes as needed, cleans sinks/counters, wipes down outside of appliances, cleans stovetop & coffee pot, and since we have no dish washer she stays to dry & put away the clean dishes too. Cleans oven as needed.

Outdoor patios/Sun room (x4) -- sweeps/mops the tiled areas we have outside, wipes down outdoor table & chairs and cleans outdoor counter/sink area.

 

Also, she does some mild maintenance stuff. Like, she puts a teaspoon of drain declogging stuff down the drains every week so she doesn't have to unclog them later. And she uses a stone polish (rub in) stuff on my outdoor counter tops once/month so they stay looking good. And if I have any particular request, she will do it.

 

She also washes out her cleaning rags every week and hangs them to dry if I've left the dryer free of my folded clothes (so the hanging wet stuff doesn't drip) or leaves them in the laundry room sink so I can dry them. Oh, she cleans the laundry room and pantry too.

 

She's completely, utterly, totally worth it.

[TheReader]

urgh, erasing double post.

[*Michelle*]

Once a week to clean the floors and bathrooms. Those are the things that have been hardest to get done the more pregnant I get. Add in three kids under four and I'll say I'm very grateful that my husband insisted on making room in the budget for this.

[Shellydon]

I have someone come once a month. The entire house is picked up before she arrives. It takes her 4 hours to clean the entire house, we stay out of her way. I wish I could afford it every two weeks, but at $110 a visit, it is too pricey.

[kewb]

I had one when I worked outside the home and soooooooooooooo wish I could have one now. It's one of the things we cut out so I could stay home, though. Granted, we didn't have the messes back then that we do now, but, yes, the dusting, wiping all appliances and surfaces, sweeping, mopping, cleaning showers/tubs/toilets, etc. that she did was worth the money for us. She did baseboards and windows about once a month. I always loved coming home on cleaning days.

 

My cleaning lady is the one thing I miss the most from when I worked. Over the years I had some who did more than others.. Some just cleaned around my clutter and some cleaned up my clutter. If it was important you best have put it away where you wanted it before she came or you may never find it. One even cleaned out my panty and rearranged my daughters bedroom furniture to a much nicer arrangement. I also had one who washed the sheets and towels. Sigh, I long for the days when I can have one again.

[UnionJack]

I dread the night before our cleaning woman comes, needing to tidy everything up so that she can do deep cleaning... but I am SO grateful when I come home after she's finished and everything is clean at the same time. To us, it is so worth it!!!

[Pamela H in Texas]

Ours helps with organization as well as doing deep cleaning. She is absolutely wonderful!!!

Honestly, I felt like I was taking advantage of her at first as she went so far as to hang laundry (have you seen the size of my family). She will wash bedding or piles of laundry so I make sure there is none for her to do.

I do have to handle my own hotspots but that is a lot easier when everything is organized and clean.

In fact, it is motivating because who wants to know they have hotspots (often hidden) when their house is so nice?

Edited April 18, 2012 by 2J5M9K

[KungFuPanda]

The other thread about the cleaning lady got me wondering, what exactly do they do? I mean, my house is messy, but I'm assuming they wouldn't clean the mess because they wouldn't know where everything went, right? And would I have to clean the mess before they could actually clean?

 

So what do they do? Dusting? Vacuuming? Mopping? Is it really worth it to get one? Has anyone ever gotten one and regretted it?

 

There's a book called "A Housekeeper is Cheaper than a Divorce." It's a funny title, but the information was great for helping you decide if you needed a housekeeper or cleaning service or whatever.

[Forget-Me-Not]

Mine comes every other week. She does bathrooms, floors, dusting, wipes down surfaces in the kitchen and cleans out the microwave. Occasionally she scrubs out my kitchen sink, vacuums mini blinds, dusts the ceiling fans, does the baseboards, etc.

 

If I don't pick up, she just cleans around it. For example, today our office is full of boxes and she just vacuumed and dusted where she could. It does motivate me to stay picked up and decluttered, and I stay on top of things between visits. She's worth every last penny as far as I'm concerned.

[mudboots]

Our cleaning lady is becoming a dear friend, too. We hired her through another friend, and she has saved my sanity this past year.

 

When she first came, I had a lot of clutter in the way. She took a couple days to help me deal with that (including putting away laundry), even though it's not what she usually does. At this point, I try to have the clutter cleared and the dishes done before she arrives.

 

Every week, she washes windows, cleans the kitchen, mops the floors, cleans the main bath, and vacuums & dusts the living room.

 

Then she alternates which area she does next, either the downstairs or the rest of the main floor. She wipes all surfaces and vacuums.

 

She's here for four hours once a week, for now. Our plan is to switch to every other week (and then maybe phase out altogether - she's not at a loss for other jobs!) after I'm able to maintain things myself a little better.

Edited April 19, 2012 by mudboots