S/O Is your home visitor-ready?

SnShne322 · August 2010

The post below got me thinking about cleaning services. My house is relatively clean, but the mopping, bathroom cleaning, dusting, etc. seems to get put off and a cleaning service might help me out with that.

So my question is if you don't mind sharing, if you have a cleaning service, what is on the list for cleaning and about how much is the cost?

It seems like it might be worth saving the aggravation!

ms_teach · August 2010

Our cleaner comes every other Thursday and cleans everything except our bedroom (my choice). We live in a townhouse, so she cleans 1.5 baths, office, laundry room, kitchen, dining, and living room. She mops, vacuums, dusts, everything. She wipes down baseboards, pictures, etc. She moves items off the shelf when dusting. She'll do any dishes left in the sink and/or load or unload the dishwasher. She even does windows. And, she does all of this around our two dogs. The price? $120 a month, and worth every penny!

ohwhynot · August 2010

Our housecleaner comes in every other Tuesday and, like I said before, doesn't tidy-up (although she has, lately, been making the kids' beds better than they made them) but she does basic, heavy-duty cleaning. I know she mops the kitchen floor, dusts, vacuums the floors, vacuums the couch cushions, and wipes down all kitchen and bathroom surfaces. She probably spends about 3-4 hours in our home, I'd guess, which is longer than she probably needs to spend, frankly. We vacuum on a regular basis and spray & wipe the kitchen and all eating surfaces down every night.

When my H was single and hired her, she charged $70 per visit. Now she charges $90 a visit, but we voluntarily started paying her $100 a visit about a month ago. It is our one big luxury splurge.

Like I said, we gave up our cable to (at least partically) pay for this, and it is worth every penny to know that someone is mopping & dusting at least every two weeks and that we never, ever, have to argue about whose turn it is to do it.

SnShne322 · August 2010

Thanks ladies. It really sounds like a service I would be interested in. I have no issues keeping my house "tidy", but the deep cleaning is a such a pain!

TurtlesAllTheWayDown · August 2010

We have a 1300 square foot (give or take) apartment, 2 bedrooms, one bathroom. They are supposed to clean the entire bathroom (tub, tile, floor, toilet, sink, mirror, etc), scrub down the kitchen (do any remaining dishes, wipe counters, scrub grout, mop floor, clean stove top and backsplash), sweep/mop floors, vaccuum the throw rug, vaccuum/brush upholstry, dust all surfaces, and make the bed. If we leave a basket of clean laundry out, they fold it. However, I try to have everything picked up and have the dishes done, laundry put away and beds made so they don't have to do those things and can concentrate on what I want them to do - namely scrubbing down the bathroom and kitchen and dusting.

As far as cleaning goes, the only kitchen/bathroom cleaning I do is to wipe off counters/sink and do dishes. I also sweep/swiffer the floors when needed (we have wood laminate and 3 cats). Then of course I do laundry/cat boxes. And pick up after myself. It's really awesome. And of course I washt he curtains/couch covers and stuff every other month or so. If we want them to clean the oven, we just call earlier in the week and they'll add it to the list of things to do, but I think it's an additional charge.

They come every other Wednesday. It's SO nice coming home to a clean house. I'd do it every week if I could afford it. FI said he would give up cable and eating out if we had to in order to afford the cleaning service.

Some of my friends think it's weird that I let strangers into my house when I'm not there. Really, the thing I'm most afraid of is that the cats will get out. But I know our old cat will hide from strangers. And I was home one day when the maid service was there and it turns out the other cats also sort of went and hid because they were annoyed with the cleaning. Plus, when my mom went back to work when I was growing up, she had a neighbor come clean every other week. Also, I go through a company which is bonded and insured, and anything they don't cover I have renter's insurance for.

Ours is $90/visit and we tip them $20 total.

ms_teach · August 2010

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_home-visitor-ready-1?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:17Discussion:402eb906-a797-4c76-9192-f98904b5a0c3Post:e721e109-0b79-44c3-8a89-9a3ab8d2b879">Re: S/O Is your home visitor-ready?</a>:
[QUOTE] <strong>Some of my friends think it's weird that I let strangers into my house when I'm not there.</strong> Really, the thing I'm most afraid of is that the cats will get out. But I know our old cat will hide from strangers. And I was home one day when the maid service was there and it turns out the other cats also sort of went and hid because they were annoyed with the cleaning. Plus, when my mom went back to work when I was growing up, she had a neighbor come clean every other week. Also, I go through a company which is bonded and insured, and anything they don't cover I have renter's insurance for.
Posted by msmerymac[/QUOTE]

Lisa is our dirty little secret. ;) Some friends/family would freak out if they knew because it should be "my job" to keep the house clean. Some also think they'll steal from us, break things, etc. The ironic thing is my grandmother was a housekeeper after she retired from GE years ago. Guess grams was a crook too.

We also found our cleaner through a company who is insured, etc. We leave a lock box out instead of giving her a key to keep.

TurtlesAllTheWayDown · August 2010

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_home-visitor-ready-1?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:17Discussion:402eb906-a797-4c76-9192-f98904b5a0c3Post:c892cb52-92be-4012-afee-467517c87251">Re: S/O Is your home visitor-ready?</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: S/O Is your home visitor-ready? : Lisa is our dirty little secret. ;) Some friends/family would freak out if they knew because it should be "my job" to keep the house clean. Some also think they'll steal from us, break things, etc. The ironic thing is my grandmother was a housekeeper after she retired from GE years ago. Guess grams was a crook too. We also found our cleaner through a company who is insured, etc. We leave a lock box out instead of giving her a key to keep.
Posted by ms_teach[/QUOTE]

The office keeps a set of keys and if they ever lose them, they'll pay to have our locks recored. But the franchise owner told me that's only happened to her once.

My BFF is currently living in our den for a few months, so she knows about. It's funny, because she doesn't think she could ever let anyone into her house and she's a very private person, but she complains if they don't clean her room the right way. ;-) Most people who are weird about it are just really private, lock their bedroom doors all the time, etc. I just have weird friends.

We actually test-drove the company when we moved out of our old apartment. Long story short, FI moved in with me when I was on a lease with a roommate. When we left, we had the cleaning service come and do the "final cleaning" for us so we could get our deposit back. My roommate at the time said, "Wait... so Oliver is going to let them in and then <em>leave</em>?" Uh yeah, he has to work. He's not going to stand around and supervise them.

vegasgroom · August 2010

I pay $160 per visit and she cleans anything I tell her to. The standard things that always get done are vacuum/sweep wood floors and carpeted floors upstairs, vacuum/sweep/mop downstairs where it's all concrete floors. Top to bottom dusting and window cleaning. Top to bottom bathrooms. Remove, wash, replace bed sheets. She'll do laundry but we recently told her to no longer do that when she washed a $400 dry clean only jacket of FI's and ruined it. She'll fold and put away laundry that we've already done so now we just leave the cleaned laundry for her. She does all the dishes and puts them away. Ocassionally I'll ask her to clean the outside counter and bbq on the patio. Typically she's here for about five hours. House is about 3800 sq ft.

She doesn't have a key or the alarm codes; I'm usually working from home so I am here when she is, but we keep all our really valueable things in a safe so that was a non-issue either way.

For anyone who will be giving a key, I'd recommend only going with a commercial entity that is licensed and bonded and ideally insured, don't be afraid to ask for documentation to that effect. And if going with someone who just does it as their own business, either pay them in cash, or ask them for a W9 and invoices or you could get yourself in tax trouble later on.

shellydiane820 · August 2010

My parents have someone who cleans for them. I think they pay like $60 a week.

Lenore2010 · August 2010

Wow. We should do this, but I think my H would feel it was immoral or something. I had no idea so many people had cleaning services! Good for you!

SarahPLiz · August 2010

After the wedding, we are doing this. At least to have someone do the floors, dust, and scrub the kitchen and bathrooms.

barbbhoww · August 2010

My DH would NEVER let me get one. I really don't want one, though. I enjoy the satisfaction of cleaning and knowing I made the house smell so darn good!

SarahPLiz · August 2010

See, barb, cleaning gives me no satsifaction at all. Cooking does, but doing the dishes afterwards, not so much.

ohwhynot · August 2010

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_home-visitor-ready-1?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:17Discussion:402eb906-a797-4c76-9192-f98904b5a0c3Post:97043e12-eee2-495e-bd05-468e8a76f05b">Re: S/O Is your home visitor-ready?</a>:
[QUOTE]Wow. We should do this, but I think my H would feel it was immoral or something. I had no idea so many people had cleaning services! Good for you!
Posted by Lenore2010[/QUOTE]

At first I felt like this. Like, one, I'm so damn lazy I can't even wash my own floors? And two, as if it was exploitive and smacked of imperialism or something. But then I thought "So, it's better NOT to employ this woman, NOT to pay her a decent wage so that I don't feel like I'm exploiting someone? That makes no sense."

So now we pay her well, imo, and don't expect her to do anything crazy or unreasonable for us. We all win, I think.

vegasgroom · August 2010

For those that don't do it because it makes you feel lazy, do it instead becuase it gives you that time back to spend with your S/O; would you rather spend a few hours more per week with your S/O than scrubbing the grout in the shower?

ms_teach · August 2010

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_home-visitor-ready-1?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:17Discussion:402eb906-a797-4c76-9192-f98904b5a0c3Post:fcce8ddd-b397-4c2a-8c2d-fccc05545197">Re: S/O Is your home visitor-ready?</a>:
[QUOTE]For those that don't do it because it makes you feel lazy, do it instead becuase it gives you that time back to spend with your S/O; would you rather spend a few hours more per week with your S/O than scrubbing the grout in the shower?
Posted by vegasgroom[/QUOTE]

This is why we have one! I was the only one picking up around here. FI promised he'd help, but each time I'd scrub the shower/clean the stove/mop the floor/whatever, I'd start to boil inside that he was never helping me. Now, we don't have to worry about it and the time I would have spent cleaning is time we can spend together (or time I can spend doing something I like!). =)

Lenore2010 · August 2010

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_home-visitor-ready-1?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:17Discussion:402eb906-a797-4c76-9192-f98904b5a0c3Post:efa4ce7d-2a6a-4894-b3bc-d56e6274bf2b">Re: S/O Is your home visitor-ready?</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: S/O Is your home visitor-ready? : At first I felt like this. Like, one, I'm so damn lazy I can't even wash my own floors? And two, as if it was exploitive and smacked of imperialism or something. But then I thought "So, it's better NOT to employ this woman, NOT to pay her a decent wage so that I don't feel like I'm exploiting someone? That makes no sense." So now we pay her well, imo, and don't expect her to do anything crazy or unreasonable for us. We all win, I think.
Posted by ohwhynot[/QUOTE]

<div>That makes total sense to me. I should see about selling dh on this idea :)</div>

PreppySailor · August 2010

I do the cleaning now because we have a 700 SQ apartment, and I'm a SAHW, but we would definitely consider hiring someone once we move to a larger place.

Steph0871 · August 2010

Man, I had no idea it was this inexpensive... we will definitely be considering this once we own a house!

pooh8402 · August 2010

when my H gets a job, this is on the list of things we are adding to the budget. I would love to have someone come in every other week to dust, vacuum the carpet and furniture, mop, and clean the bathrooms.

lilgina64 · August 2010

SnShne322 - YGPM

kkchisholm · August 2010

My mom cleans houses. She charges 25 an hour, and is at a house anywhere from 2-4 hours.

Meagan78 · August 2010

During the school year, we pay $75/week for our 2500 sq ft home. That includes deep cleaning of kitchen, living room, 2 1/2 baths and our room. She vacuums upstairs and washes/changes my son's sheets. And she washes/dries our/son's dirty sheets and my son's clothes while she is here. I don't necessarily need help with the laundry but the deep cleaning of the bathrooms and kitchen are such a lifesaver!! Oh, and every week she does one "extra" project, like cleaning out the fridge, dusting all the ceiling fans or cleaning the baseboards.

S/O Is your home visitor-ready?

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