Another House Cleaner Question

lc07 · July 2014

I'm super excited. @lyndausvi inspired me and I hired someone to come clean my house today. I'm going to have her come every other week forever. Yay.

Question: Am I supposed to tip her each time she comes? If so, how much? (It's about $80 per day she cleans)

lyndausvi · July 2014

I tipped mine on the first day. She went above and beyond and it took a long time.

The second time I didn't. It was only 5 days later and really the only reason we had her come was we had one guest leave and another arrive on that day.

I do not plan on tipping unless she is doing something outside of her normal duties or if we are particularly dirty, there is extra work, etc.

lc07 · July 2014

Thanks, Lynda. She's charging me hourly so if it takes longer she'll make more money. I like the idea of tipping the first time or sending a thank you after the fact to start off on the right foot and then playing it by ear.

lyndausvi · July 2014

Ours is by the hour also. The first day will take much longer than you think. Or it should. Mine at least did all the baseboards, walls, window sills, etc. It takes a while when you haven't done it in a while :: holds my head in shame::. Mine even emptied out the bathroom cabinets and re-organized. I had more room under there than I realized. Ha.

After the first time, then it becomes easier to keep up.

I think I tipped out of embarrassment that I had not kept up with some cleaning like I should. Sure I vacuumed and dusted the tables, de-cluttered and such. Baseboards, nooks and crannies? Not so much. Apparently there are a lot of nooks and crannies.

lc07 · July 2014

Mine is pretty bad, too, for my standards but I imagine they've seen far worse than our houses. So don't be ashamed!

lyndausvi · July 2014

Is yours doing laundry? Ours will, but I asked her to only do towels (kitchen and bath), bath mats and sheets. When I wake up I strip the bed and start the laundry. Sometimes I get around to getting them in the dryer and start another load of wash. Our dryer can get a long time so it's more efficient to get it at least started for her.

lc07 · July 2014

I've been debating that internally. She will do laundry. I didn't ask if that costs more or if it's just the time it takes. It's only me living in the house, though, so it's only my sheets and towels. (I don't think I'd ever want her to do my clothes) But I have about a million pillows and a duvet cover that I have to wrestle the duvet into and I really do hate changing my bed so I think I will ask when she gets here for next time.

WinstonsGirl · July 2014

We don't tip ours, but we do get her something at Christmas. She has a flat rate and stays however long it takes her. The first time had a slightly higher charge, due to a more throrough cleaning, which she doesn't do normally.

KatieinBkln · July 2014

UGH, I want a cleaning professional so badly. FI is like, morally opposed to having "help." It drives me crazy because I want to respect his feelings on this, especially since they come from a deep-seated place (he grew up poor; his parents were the help at times, and people in our rich asshole small town treated them badly, from what I gather). BUT. We could really use the help, at least for a "big clean." I know from (my mother's) experience that it IS way easier to keep up once you have a clean slate, but unfortunately all the logic in the world isn't going to win me this one. I'm just trying to be patient and understanding, and bring up my (extremely logical, totally on-point) arguments only when he's amenable.

But seriously, baseboards? I have never cleaned a baseboard. I probably never will. But I would love to see them clean sometime in my life, and isn't that what we pay professionals for?

csuave · July 2014

I had an older lady that was an independent cleaner (so not someone from Molly Maids or an organization like that). It was a flat rate.

I did not tip her except for at Christmas when I gave her a tip of one full pay plus a small gift and at Easter I would usually give her a small edible gift. I would also bring her chocolates when coming back from a vacation and leave her baked goods if I had done some baking recently. And sometimes I would ask her to do extra work and then pay additional for it.

When I moved she came in to do the final clean after the house was empty. I gave her a very generous tip for that one. Sigh, now that I type this I miss her. It was hard to find a good HC and then I finally did and we were together for 5 years or so. My new house is too far for her

Also she did ask for a raise once when gas prices starting getting really high. Looking back I should have given her a raise each year but I never thought of it.

lyndausvi · July 2014

KatieinBkln said:

UGH, I want a cleaning professional so badly. FI is like, morally opposed to having "help." It drives me crazy because I want to respect his feelings on this, especially since they come from a deep-seated place (he grew up poor; his parents were the help at times, and people in our rich asshole small town treated them badly, from what I gather). BUT. We could really use the help, at least for a "big clean." I know from (my mother's) experience that it IS way easier to keep up once you have a clean slate, but unfortunately all the logic in the world isn't going to win me this one. I'm just trying to be patient and understanding, and bring up my (extremely logical, totally on-point) arguments only when he's amenable.

But seriously, baseboards? I have never cleaned a baseboard. I probably never will. But I would love to see them clean sometime in my life, and isn't that what we pay professionals for?

There are bad bosses at any job. People need jobs.

I guess I don't get the thought process that because some a-holes around treat the "help" bad, you should not get "help". Just don't be the a-holes who treats them bad.

Our housekeeper has a family to [help] support and I like that I can help in that way. I'm not an ass to her. I've been a housekeeping supervisor in a hotel before. They work hard.

I know you might not change your H's mind, but I just don't get the logic.

VulgarGirl · July 2014

KatieinBkln have him read this http://offbeathome.com/2011/03/housekeeper

FI wasn't sure about a housekeeper either because she heard my grandma and mom (who had both worked as housekeepers before) tell stories about shitty people and how shitty the jobs were and how shitty they were paid. I was a maid in a hotel, so I was paid minimum wage, I was also a teenager just trying to get some money for beer, I mean soda because I was underage so I drank soda, not trying to eek out a living, so she wouldn't believe me that it was ok to higher someone to clean.

Now we're just trying to find someone.

lc07 · July 2014

KatieinBkln said:

UGH, I want a cleaning professional so badly. FI is like, morally opposed to having "help." It drives me crazy because I want to respect his feelings on this, especially since they come from a deep-seated place (he grew up poor; his parents were the help at times, and people in our rich asshole small town treated them badly, from what I gather). BUT. We could really use the help, at least for a "big clean." I know from (my mother's) experience that it IS way easier to keep up once you have a clean slate, but unfortunately all the logic in the world isn't going to win me this one. I'm just trying to be patient and understanding, and bring up my (extremely logical, totally on-point) arguments only when he's amenable.

But seriously, baseboards? I have never cleaned a baseboard. I probably never will. But I would love to see them clean sometime in my life, and isn't that what we pay professionals for?

Yeah, I don't understand your FI's logic either. The woman I am hiring started a business doing this full time. So I'm supporting a local business. She sets the rates. It's a career that she has chosen. And I am going to treat her awesomely well because I treat everyone in life awesomely well.

Trust me, there are people praying for all sorts of jobs. Even housekeeping jobs. And I'm glad that I can help someone earn a living while keeping my sanity. Win/win.

KatieinBkln · July 2014

lyndausvi said:

KatieinBkln said:

UGH, I want a cleaning professional so badly. FI is like, morally opposed to having "help." It drives me crazy because I want to respect his feelings on this, especially since they come from a deep-seated place (he grew up poor; his parents were the help at times, and people in our rich asshole small town treated them badly, from what I gather). BUT. We could really use the help, at least for a "big clean." I know from (my mother's) experience that it IS way easier to keep up once you have a clean slate, but unfortunately all the logic in the world isn't going to win me this one. I'm just trying to be patient and understanding, and bring up my (extremely logical, totally on-point) arguments only when he's amenable.

But seriously, baseboards? I have never cleaned a baseboard. I probably never will. But I would love to see them clean sometime in my life, and isn't that what we pay professionals for?

There are bad bosses at any job. People need jobs.

I guess I don't get the thought process that because some a-holes around treat the "help" bad, you should not get "help". Just don't be the a-holes who treats them bad.

Our housekeeper has a family to [help] support and I like that I can help in that way. I'm not an ass to her. I've been a housekeeping supervisor in a hotel before. They work hard.

I know you might not change your H's mind, but I just don't get the logic.

This is what I'm saying! Also, "people need jobs."

KatieinBkln · July 2014

lc07 said:

KatieinBkln said:

UGH, I want a cleaning professional so badly. FI is like, morally opposed to having "help." It drives me crazy because I want to respect his feelings on this, especially since they come from a deep-seated place (he grew up poor; his parents were the help at times, and people in our rich asshole small town treated them badly, from what I gather). BUT. We could really use the help, at least for a "big clean." I know from (my mother's) experience that it IS way easier to keep up once you have a clean slate, but unfortunately all the logic in the world isn't going to win me this one. I'm just trying to be patient and understanding, and bring up my (extremely logical, totally on-point) arguments only when he's amenable.

But seriously, baseboards? I have never cleaned a baseboard. I probably never will. But I would love to see them clean sometime in my life, and isn't that what we pay professionals for?

Yeah, I don't understand your FI's logic either. The woman I am hiring started a business doing this full time. So I'm supporting a local business. She sets the rates. It's a career that she has chosen. And I am going to treat her awesomely well because I treat everyone in life awesomely well.

Trust me, there are people praying for all sorts of jobs. Even housekeeping jobs. And I'm glad that I can help someone earn a living while keeping my sanity. Win/win.

It isn't logic. It's FEEEEEEELINGS, which normally do not express themselves in this way for him. But evidently it's a sore subject. I have to read the thing from MagicInk, hopefully it helps.

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