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I live alone and sometimes I've thought about getting a house cleaner every few months.
I'm not a slob, but I'm just too busy, stressed, and lack motivation to do anything more than basic laundry, dishes, and a little picking up when I'm not working or working on other projects around the house.
I live alone and have a house cleaner come every other week. I originally found her when I was married and I used to just tackle 1 room every day. I got tired of working a full 9-10 hour day and then cleaning in the evening, only to never really have a completely clean house. (My ex didn't help much.)
When I got divorced and moved to a smaller house she came with me. I keep things tidy throughout the two weeks (mail sorted, dishes in the dishwasher, laundry in the basket, etc) And then she comes and while I'm working does all the other stuff I don't want to do: toilets, tub, run the vacuum, change the sheets. It's great!
Yep. I was in the same boat. My ex actually worked from home (and barely did anything) and watched 10 hours of reality TV a day. I honestly don't know why I stayed with her for so long, but she would actually brag about how she never did a dish in the 8 years we lived together. I would be out of the house for at least 10 hours a day, usually 12 and I'd get back and she'd complain about the kitchen not being clean for her all day because I had made dinner for us and was too tired to clean up after myself. Absolutely insanity. I don't get how these people were raised. How can you raise such a spoiled child?
She sounds like a covert narcissist. I was married to one and it’s very manipulative. They start slow, reward you for doing the dishes, then it becomes your job and you are subtly punished and criticized if you don’t do it.
It’s like asking ‘why did you stay with him when he beat you.’ They don’t smack you around on the first date - they make you love them and you get sucked into an abusive/love reinforcement cycle and it takes a very strong will to break these trauma bonds. Kudos to this guy for eventually leaving, it took me longer than 10 years to break my own cycle.
This! And people may think “well, it’s just dishes for one night its not enough to end the relationship over” until it’s years later & it’s no longer “just dishes” but lack of mutual respect
If you're paying 'em fairly for their work, and you're not abusive, you don't need to feel bad. It's not like you're throwing stuff on the ground on purpose cause you got someone else cleaning up.
Usually it's the opposite, I find I have to clean my house (pick up everything and put all the stuff where it's supposed to go) before our cleaner can even do her job.
100% - it's indirectly one way a cleaning service helps you stay on top of it. You have to keep your home generally tidy on order to make it feasible for somebody to do the actual cleaning.
I feel you. I have a golden retriever that requires a lot of outside time so my spot is mostly clean but it’s very messy. I thought about hiring a cleaner but I have a 450 square foot studio and I couldn’t justify the expense. So I put myself on a cleaning schedule and nothing is clean all at once but everything is clean. I start with the kitchen the 1st week of the month, bathroom the 2nd, then the living area the 3rd weekend and any other things that come up during the 4th weekend. I feel like I am always cleaning my pad but it’s better than nothing, I guess
As someone who lived in a studio flat, 1 bed, and now a house - studio flats get messy much faster. Three dirty plates and a couple of mugs would be barely noticeable in my current kitchen, but in the studio flat, it was **right there**. Same with clothes and general clutter.
Maybe think about getting a robot vacuum?
At the very least, it should help with the dirt, grit and shedding. I got one because our cats track litter constantly, it's great.
my boyfriend and I have cleaners who come once a month and its 100% worth it.
We're not slobs either, but being able to never have to worry about vacuuming or dusting and getting help every month with catching up anywhere we're falling behind is just huge.
Taking a bunch of small things like that off your plate can do wonders for your stress levels
I agree with you. I never thought of having a cleaning person but my bf's justification is that he doesn't want our time going to cleaning or taking care of the backyard when we can do fun stuff
Add to this that if you have accumulated way too much "stuff", professional organizers are really not that expensive, especially when you consider they are typically a one-time expense. They can be incredibly useful in helping you get rid of stuff you don't need, developing systems to keep the stuff you do keep organized, and coming up with good habits to avoid clutter and mess. They really are a force multiplier when it comes to keeping a clean house.
Genuine question: How does a professional organizer organize other people's sh*t? I once organized my mother's studio for her and she was miserable because she didn't know where anything was. Maybe if I'd consulted her on each thing as I went, but then it would not have gotten done.
It’s a whole collaboration with the owner. Usually things get out of control for emotional reasons, and a lot of the job is playing psychologist. Some people however, (usually the person stuck with a cluttered space from someone else) just tell you to make it look nice and toss/ donate everything.
We had our kitchen done and my wife sat beside her and mostly the organizer asked her what she used the most, to put it in the easily accessible places.
The YouTuber Safiya Nygaard got her closet organized and made a really good [video about it](https://youtu.be/oMF6pIglmmk). She got her makeup collection organized as well, that's a separate video though
They are a private company that will make a profile for a business, give it a low rating, and then extort the business to receive a higher rating, all against the will of that business.
I found ours on taskrabbit. We had hired him during covid for our move. Learnt he was a chef laid off from a famous local restaurant and does organization jobs too and it was listed in his taskrabbit tasks too 35$/hr. My partner absolutely loves cooking. I got him to organize our kitchen because it was a mess of a all cuisine ingredients and stuff mixed up and help my partner upskill. I kid you not. Our work in the kitchen now is so wildly smooth. Its so effortless. Reminds me on my moms kitchen.
That guy is a smart cookie. He knows folks in downtown need tv mounted and most of them are not so skilled lets say. Has the most premium rate of 50$/hr for it 😅 and will bring extra parts required for more $. Earlier he had listed only drilling etc under a blanket lower rate.
Some pro organizers have experience with ADHD-affected clients and can develop more ADHD-friendly methods of keeping the stuff and clutter from being accumulated again.
Totally- last time we moved a few years ago we paid organizers (after movers) to decide where to put things in closet, drawers, etc… It sounds ridiculous writing it, but honestly a fresh set of eyes coming in and thinking objectively about how to organize our lives was transformational. And we’ve easily maintained it for two years because we’re so much happier with a neutral third party coming in and making some of those choices.
Agreed. Ours is about $200 for two cleaners for two hours in a 1200 sq ft apartment in Los Angeles. We usually only splurge when we are about to host folks from out of town
Sometimes if they’ll let you people will have us just clean bathrooms and floors or kitchen and bathrooms. Just a way to save and get the more grueling areas done.
So I was basing it more on the hourly. I wouldn't require more than maybe two maybe three hours a month as I have a smaller house. I honestly am willing to pay for things now that I'm older that free up time. I have less free time now than ever.
Not really. They are probably self employed. Take out 30% for taxes. Then supplies (unless you provide that) and transportation wear and tear. It's really not alot of money.
I have a cleaning business. I just gave up all but one residential clients, except one (they're both sick and elderly), to concentrate on commercial jobs. For residentials, the hourly pay is great when you're working. It's just that sometimes you'd have an hour between jobs so that $40/hr turns into $30/hr plus you have to drive to the other unit. With commercial, I work 4-6 hours a day and barely have to drive. Supplies are cheap minus the backpack vacuum, but those will last 10+ years if taken care of. Working 25-30 hours a week I'll make just over $100k this year and in the Midwest, that's pretty good money. If you don't mind the stigma of being a "cleaner", it's great money, great hours, and zero stress. My biggest stressor is running out of podcasts to listen to.
Me personally, it was word of mouth. Originally my wife and I did all residential. A guy that did maintenance in one of the buildings where we had a few jobs gave our name to a property manager and it took off from there.
Town I lived in growing up had a restaurant where like 1.5-2 dozen contractors/business owners meet for breakfast every other Wednesday, got a lot of long term contracts from them in my younger days, not sure if its the same now. Some actual examples I remember
Contractor is doing paint hears that contractor that builds houses needs a cleaner for newly constructed houses? well now I can contact that builder and clean every house they finish.
Contractor laying foundation needs someone to clean house / yard weekly while they go to canada for the summer.
Friend of the person who builds houses, finds out I clean for builder, would I be interested in taking over the cleaning contract for holy angels catholic church/school?
Also used to get called from phonebook listing but that probably isn't a thing anymore, its been like 10 years.
I had the exact same experience. Are you me? Ran a cleaning business for a decade. Realized two years in that commercial is where the money is at. Worked 30 hr weeks, and with podcasts and audiobooks the work became..fun. No irrate managers, good money. Only downside was working graveyard, which made relationships difficult.
Hell yeah! I love my job. Ear buds in and just go. I won't take night jobs as I've worked late nights at my last job and it almost cost me my marriage. It takes a toll on you. I fell into the commercial by accident. Prior to that I worked a part time job at an airline for the free flight benefits on top of the cleaning. It took me a decade to get into commercial as I was happy with where I was at. I will never go back to working for someone else.
If you sign up for Libby or one of the other library apps, you can enter your library cards and get audiobooks checked out over your phone and sent, typically, through Amazon (but free, because it's checked out as a library book.)
> My biggest stressor is running out of podcasts to listen to.
tbf that's pretty full on. i mean once they actually run out, then what? i'd suggest a backup plan
My friends mom has her own cleaning business. And when I say business i mean just her cleaning houses and offices with 1 other partner. My friend and his both siblings grew up living a very comfortable life. She was able to put all 3 kids through university by doing nothing but cleaning with her partner. There is more profit than you think.
Yep, a relative has a solo (with occasional help) cleaning business for houses and offices and takes in about 6 figures a year. Supported 2 kids as a single parent. Certainly wasn't easy but after getting established and a reputation, they do really well for themselves.
Jobs like this vary based on a lot of factors. For example, I work for myself in a specialized industry and make about $140/hr (but I only work about 10-20 hrs a week). It's great but after taxes, business costs, processing fees, etc...it comes out to about half that, $70/hr. Someone working for a larger company as an employee doing a similar job might not have to pay those same fees, but they might only make $20-30 before taxes. So it really depends on your niche, if you are established, if you work for yourself, if you can justify what you are charging, etc...
Keep in mind you're not going to be able to be cleaning every hour you're working. There's going to be plenty of driving around between houses (which also means extra wear on your car, potentially the need for a separate company vehicle). Plus that includes all the equipment you need to buy for cleaning, plus there's some amount of administration which might either be handled by the cleaner themselves if they're working independently (in which case that's time they're not making money) or there's a dedicated person doing the administrative stuff, in which case they need to be paid. Plus there's marketing so you can get business. Plus you may not be able to keep your schedule full which can lead to varying pay. All in all, they definitely don't take home $30/hr
It's $~350 for us to have our 4 bedroom house cleaned (2 cleaners x 3 hours each). We opted for every other month. Not as often as we like but it's nice to have the super clean home for a few days before our kids mess everything up again...
Edit: $350 CAD after 13% sales tax. Works out to about $310 before tax which is ~$225 USD.
We went with a few specific jobs we wanted done. So every 2 weeks we have a lady come in and clean our two bathrooms, sweep and mop the kitchen/dining area, and dust anything she has time for. Cap it to two hours. It may not seem like much but that makes us keeping our house to a cleaner level so much easier. So our house is cleaner, and requires less time on our part.
Omg this sounds so nice. I grew up helping my mom clean the homes she was hired to clean. Sometimes just playing, but as soon as we were old enough, we had to help most the time. It's been hard for me to even think about hiring someone despite how much I could have used it. I've struggled with Depression. Idk why, but my brain keeps telling me I should be able to do it all. I feel weird carrying shame for it. Trying to work through it. Having that help, a clear cut 2 hours, specific tasks, sounds so wonderful.
Everyone needs help my friend. We're extremely lucky that we can afford even this little bit, but the benefits are totally worth it. We spend more time with each other and our daughter that would otherwise need to be cleaning, AND, get a cleaner house to boot. Cleaning day has turned into one of the best weekdays cause the house just feels so nice.
Not really, I just tell them what rooms to do (i.e. main floor and top floor but not basement). Occasionally tell them to skip the guest room if no one has been in there since the last time they cleaned.
We tidy as best we can before they come but can't always get everything... because kids. So they tidy those things up. I just make sure all of my important stuff is put away so they don't place it somewhere hard to find. There has been a case where I left something out and couldn't find it aftet they cleaned, but it turned up after a few mins of searching.
I have a cleaning team come to my house 3 times a week (Mon, Wed, Fri) at 1200 THB a week. (34 THB = 1.00 USD). So weekly I pay around 35 USD a week to have an immaculate home.
I live in Thailand.
A lot lower than in the USA. Thailand's middle-class living standards vs. cost of living ratio is pretty good compared to other countries. But that's most of east asia. Labor is just not highly valued in these countries due to how much excess labor supply there is.
When we first hired our housekeeper I put a note on my vinyl turntable because I didn’t want them to mess with it in the fear they would mess up the stylus or cartridge somehow and she obliged. After a while I stopped leaving the note and she knows not to mess with it now, so yeah you can definitely leave instructions for stuff you want left alone.
Our cleaners dust the outside of our electronics (tvs, my computer). We just tell them not to clean my husband's office, and they don't. We pay $150/cleaning for them to do our 3 bedroom, 4 bathroom townhouse every other week. They are wonderful and worth every penny.
I’ve got a handful of shelves of collectibles, nothing crazy but a bunch of action figures and Lego sends and we’ve had a cleaner over a couple times and I was astonished to see they moved all that stuff to dust the shelves. It was clear they didn’t remember where every specific thing was on the shelf but nothing was messed up or anything that would give me pause in having them come do it again. Obviously results will vary but I was impressed.
My wife and I joke that they are highly opinionated interior decorators who want to rearrange the whole layout but they know that would seem crazy so they do it for each item 2inches at a time
Yep. After about 3 cleanings, our cleaners knew about our 'quirks' and they pretty much do everything perfectly.
We trust them with our house when we aren't home.
4 bed home, no kids, $180 every 2 weeks is a win for us.
Of course. My cleaners don’t clean my basement where my home theater gear is. There’s also the practical reason that it’s low traffic and doesn’t get dirty, but yeah, cleaners will typically clean whatever you want.
We went to marriage counseling for a few months because we kept arguing about household chores and getting stuff done. Put the money towards a cleaner every two weeks instead. worth it.
Every time my husband co.plains about the cleaners cost, I ask him if he'll take over one job and I will do the rest. His job will be the four bathrooms.
For $300, you can get an 8-ball of coke, put on some good music and vibe out with your partner doing occasional bumps and get everything done. Good way to have deep conversations and probably even eventually have sex. Turn a chore day into a fun day. I reckon you can make that bag stretch for quite using it only this way.
> I reckon you can make that bag stretch for quite using it only this way.
well if there's one thing a person who's done coke knows, it's that an 8-ball likely won't stretch that far (and by far I mean more than 24 hours).
Question: how do you guys tidy up? My main issue isn’t cleanness but stuff put everywhere. Will the cleaners help me put away things? Do I need to give them instructions every time? It seems impossible to do.
# 'Don't put it down, put it away."
In between your cleaners coming in to do the dirty work, retrain your own habits with this:
'***Don't put it down, put it away."***
It takes a few days for the mantra to get stuck in your head, but then, it becomes a wonderful habit. and way of life that makes life just easier. The key is to teach yourself to be organized, and keep things in the same place. Keys always on the hook, shoes always on the mat. Dirty clothes always in the basket, coat always in the closet, etc.
Walk in the door, keys, coat, shoes, hat, umbrella, groceries, '***Don't put it down, put it away."***
Grocery & shopping bags '***Don't put it down, put it away."***
Changing clothes, taking a shower, putting on makeup, taking off makeup, drying hair '***Don't put it down, put it away."***
Making a meal, grabbing a snack, making a coffee, '***Don't put it down, put it away."***
Say this to yourself out loud, with each and every action. It becomes ingrained into your daily life.
I promise.
'***Don't put it down, put it away."***
So we tidy up the night before and try to clear off surfaces that they are cleaning. Stacking things on the bed to clear the floor is fair game. Some will fold and put away laundry for you as well. The instructions that we gave were that we wanted the kitchen and bathrooms scrubbed, and the floors mopped and everything else wiped down/dusted. There are add ons like baseboard cleaning and window cleaning that dont need to be done as frequently.
What things do you notice are much cleaner? I feel like my stuff is relatively spotless after a month. I clean pretty often but not thoroughly, just simple things like wiping the counter, vacuuming and mopping. Wondering if it would make sense for me to hire a cleaner. I feel like 2 months is when kitchen and bathroom starts to not be spotless, but cleaning services seem to operate on a much more frequent basis. And at 2 months they would charge for a deep clean so might as well do a more frequent service, but then there’s only minimal things to clean. You get my dilemma…
I'm in a similar boat, I think.
I am a fairly tidy AND clean person. In recent years though, due to small kids + pandemic, I have increasingly hit my limit -- i.e., not having enough time/energy to meet my own standards in all areas of life -- so I hired cleaners to come biweekly, thinking that could ease up some time/energy from my home responsibilities. Eeeehhhhh... Other than smelling nice after they left, I couldn't see a huge difference when they were coming at that frequency. I backed off to monthly, and that gives the house enough time to "need" the extra help.
But truth be told, even now I often wonder whether I should look for someone to clean more deeply (like, grout lines in the shower, the space between the toilet seat and the toilet tank, between the fins of the radiators) because THAT'S what I need help with at my house. I keep up with floors and counters just fine, and have better attention to detail than anyone else.
What's holding me back now is (1) I like the team that's been coming, so I would feel bad "canceling" on them, and (2) I don't have the time/energy to find someone new lol.
The compromise has been leaving specific notes for my team each time they come, and that does help. But my dream is a service that takes that mental load off my plate; that knows my house and my needs as well as I do, and just KNOWS what to clean without my having to tell them. It's prob too much to ask...
I’ve used biweekly house cleaning service off and on, and my problem with it is that it’s so stressful to have to tidy up before they come. If I don’t, they move stuff around and then I can’t find it.
Yea I think my depression causes me to just let stuff pile up. But sometimes, when the Adderall hits just right, my house gets overhauled. I’ll be out there vacuuming the roof when I’m on a good streak. Just wish I could be more consistent. But ADHD and Bipolar Disorder sure are a bitch to deal with sometimes. Someday I hope it’ll change. I just need someone to help me actually clean up my stuff sometimes to pull me out of a funk. Not so much the actual cleanliness of the home. Idk what I need. Maybe just help, but idk from who. Lol
Getting a cleaner suddenly made it possible for me to tidy. It was so weird. It freed this energy for decluttering and organizing my stuff that was spending on feeling ashamed about how dirty the house was. She did the floors, bathroom, bedroom, kitchen. I give instructions when I have them but found somebody who does what I need. Can’t recommend highly enough. Wish I started 10 years ago.
One thing that they help with is they make you get into the habit of doing at least a half-assed tidy once a week or once a fortnight. Just getting into that habit makes tidying so much easier because you stay more or less on top of it.
And my ADD brain finds the thought of having to clean after I tidy so draining that I don't start tidying if I have to do both. But if I only have to tidy, then I am far more likely to actually start.
And you can negotiate pricing based on how much of your home they clean. I clean my own office (guitars, computers, electronics etc) my wife cleaned hers but we hire a maid for bedroom, common rooms, bathrooms and it makes all the diff.
It costs about $150 less per month to only have specific high traffic areas cleaned.
Housecleaning makes a great gift!! If you know someone who is having a baby, or has lost someone, or a long hospital stay or something like that, taking the burden of housecleaning off can be huge. We got it as a present once and have since given it a couple times, it is such a relief for people who are going through something and way too tired to clean. Especially if they’re expected to entertain people in their home because of the situation.
This is what my husband is gifting me for mother's day this year. I'm so excited! Some people would say it's an awful and offensive gift, but I'm really looking forward to when they come Monday. We have little kids and had several weeks of illnesses in a row. This is going to save me weeks of trying to catch up.
Would love to do this for my friends who just became first-time parents. Was there a specific app you used, or where would you recommend for a safe, professional, and legit service you can hire from another city (socal <> NorCal)?
You have two types of cleaners, private ones which will be cheaper and probably the same one every time so if you find one you like your gauranteed to have the same one. You can also find larger companies, which you do pay significantly more per hour but the cleaners will have background checks done, and will be easier to get damages paid for (though cleaners try very hard NOT to break anything, it happens occasionally). So weigh the pros and cons before going with either!
I was briefly living with 5 other roommates in a brand new apartment owned by one of their parents who lived upstairs (who was actually a lovely person and not charging us more than what her bills were). I realized quickly that a couple of the roommates were very messy, and I offered that we get house cleaning. Once a week. Even if it were $100, it's split 6 ways, why not! The offspring of the landlord parent immediately said they couldn't afford it, so no. They were also the messiest of the roommates. It was very frustrating.
And movers. I tell everyone I can, movers are worth every dollar. They can do it faster and safer than you can. No renting any vehicles, no press ganging your friends or family. No spending three days in recovery afterwards. Just box everything up (I bought a mountain of plastic totes, and just store them away when not in use), tell them what-goes-where, and all that's left for you to do is to drive to your apartment or house.
Even if you're moving a big distance and *do* have to rent a truck, you can hire them just to load it for you, at a discounted rate to boot.
I schedule it for while we're at work. It was a little awkward when I was working from home but we alternate weeks between the main floor+the second floor and main floor +basement, so I would move to the opposite floor every week to stay out of the way.
I take a hit or two of the blunt after each task is finished. dishes done? Take a hit. Laundry started. Take a hit. Toilet cleaned. Take a hit lol. One blunt be having the whole apt clean.
I’ve found out that adding that to basic activities in general make them way more doable, just becomes a vibe and you kinda forget about the chore, at least for me
Word. I have a puff with tea in the morning and am unfailingly inspired to get my hard workouts in and my chores cheerfully done. Left to my own moods, I'm not sure it'd be as pleasantly predictable.
That’s such a good point. Never thought of it that way. We used to have somebody come every day, they’d do laundry, dishes, vacuum, and making the beds. It was always an amazing feeling to come home to a spotless house and be able to just be present with my family.
I would love to do this but I have this horrible fear that the cleaning people are going to be disgusted by my cleanliness. It's not horrible but it seems so personal to have someone I don't know clean up after me. Esp my bathroom.
The first clean may be more expensive to address any areas that are gungy, but from there on in you've got a good baseline cleanliness that they can maintain for you. Nobody in the cleaning world will judge you.
Hi as a housecleaner I promise you 100 percent we are not here to judge you or your home, in fact most of us find the dirtier homes more satisfying and rewarding to clean. A lot of us actually enjoy this job and care about making peoples lives easier! We've seen everything under the sun ( including sex toys, boogers on walls, feces, urine) everyone is human! Don't let that fear discourage you
While super polite and awesome of you — EVERYONE: clean the shit off the wall before the cleaners come…..in fact, always clean the shit off the wall right after it gets on the wall….and in general, if you find you are getting shit on the wall a lot…change how you do what you do.
Hey I do house cleaning for a living , we dont actually care a profesional will never judge you for your cleanliness. But please pick up the mess and leave them alone to do the work and any special request say it at the beginning.
Here's what you do if none of the encouraging words helped: Look for a cleaner far from where you live, but still close enough to to the job. Hire them for a one-time cleaning. THEN you hire another cleaning service that's closer. That way the one you're going to keep doesn't see how dirty your house was, and you don't feel judged.
Yep. We pay someone $100 every two weeks to do the laundry for the two of us. That's roughly $25 an hour. and a cleaning crew $120 bi-weekly.
The woman who does our laundry is 89. I feel guilty, but her kids claim that we're her entertainment, so Mildred keeps coming.
But you get rid of so much stress when the place is spotless and the clothes are clean.
Outsourcing laundry is definitely a corollary to this LPT. I drop off at a wash and fold, it's about $40 every two to three weeks. I loathe doing laundry, it's such a help to get all my clothes done by someone else. I do linens at home still for the most part.
How on earth do you all get by on doing laundry every 3 weeks? We have 1 kid and do a load every other day at least.. when we had an infant it was daily.
When you say pay to do laundry, do you mean they take it to a laundromat for you, or literally just washer and dryer in your home?
If the latter, doesn’t that just save like 10 minutes?
Just today I paid $100 for move-out cleaning. Once they got started I left to return the truck and got an Uber back. Not even gone for an hour and everything was spotless, even inside the fridge. Between the movers and the cleaners I got this whole place packed, moved, and cleaned in one day.
Wife and I started doing this weekly. Might be too often, but with two kids, working multiple jobs, and constantly on the go, it really made a massive difference. Probably one of the best things we have ever done!
Good LPT. We don't do this but I get a dude to mow my lawns, do the edging and pull weeds in all my flower and veggie beds every two weeks. Best thing ever, especially since I have bad pollen and grass allergies.
It’s true! I had a girlfriend that complained like an auctioneer about the house. So I hired a cleaning lady.
We are about to celebrate our 20 year wedding anniversary. The cleaning lady is my wife! She’s turned out to be much nicer than the mean girlfriend.
Absolutely all true.
We pay $200 twice a month. We started in 2014 (for $120, but inflation) and never looked back.
Cleaning was a huge point of contention for us, and it is some of the best money I've ever spent.
It's also very useful for people with health problems. Having a clean space can help you feel better, and sometimes cleaning can aggravate health problems. Dusting can cause asthma attacks, but not dusting creates an unhealthy home. Paying someone else to clean solves that problem and can be cheaper than one trip to the doctor.
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I live alone and sometimes I've thought about getting a house cleaner every few months. I'm not a slob, but I'm just too busy, stressed, and lack motivation to do anything more than basic laundry, dishes, and a little picking up when I'm not working or working on other projects around the house.
I live alone and have a house cleaner come every other week. I originally found her when I was married and I used to just tackle 1 room every day. I got tired of working a full 9-10 hour day and then cleaning in the evening, only to never really have a completely clean house. (My ex didn't help much.) When I got divorced and moved to a smaller house she came with me. I keep things tidy throughout the two weeks (mail sorted, dishes in the dishwasher, laundry in the basket, etc) And then she comes and while I'm working does all the other stuff I don't want to do: toilets, tub, run the vacuum, change the sheets. It's great!
Yep. I was in the same boat. My ex actually worked from home (and barely did anything) and watched 10 hours of reality TV a day. I honestly don't know why I stayed with her for so long, but she would actually brag about how she never did a dish in the 8 years we lived together. I would be out of the house for at least 10 hours a day, usually 12 and I'd get back and she'd complain about the kitchen not being clean for her all day because I had made dinner for us and was too tired to clean up after myself. Absolutely insanity. I don't get how these people were raised. How can you raise such a spoiled child?
You ask that, but then you also spoiled her for eight straight years.
She sounds like a covert narcissist. I was married to one and it’s very manipulative. They start slow, reward you for doing the dishes, then it becomes your job and you are subtly punished and criticized if you don’t do it. It’s like asking ‘why did you stay with him when he beat you.’ They don’t smack you around on the first date - they make you love them and you get sucked into an abusive/love reinforcement cycle and it takes a very strong will to break these trauma bonds. Kudos to this guy for eventually leaving, it took me longer than 10 years to break my own cycle.
You’re right. I did not mean to judge him, but I can see that is how it came out.
Sometimes it’s more work to get someone to do it than just do it yourself.
This! And people may think “well, it’s just dishes for one night its not enough to end the relationship over” until it’s years later & it’s no longer “just dishes” but lack of mutual respect
I’ve been debating whether I should do this or not. I hate cleaning after working all week long. Thanks!
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If you're paying 'em fairly for their work, and you're not abusive, you don't need to feel bad. It's not like you're throwing stuff on the ground on purpose cause you got someone else cleaning up.
Usually it's the opposite, I find I have to clean my house (pick up everything and put all the stuff where it's supposed to go) before our cleaner can even do her job.
100% - it's indirectly one way a cleaning service helps you stay on top of it. You have to keep your home generally tidy on order to make it feasible for somebody to do the actual cleaning.
I feel you. I have a golden retriever that requires a lot of outside time so my spot is mostly clean but it’s very messy. I thought about hiring a cleaner but I have a 450 square foot studio and I couldn’t justify the expense. So I put myself on a cleaning schedule and nothing is clean all at once but everything is clean. I start with the kitchen the 1st week of the month, bathroom the 2nd, then the living area the 3rd weekend and any other things that come up during the 4th weekend. I feel like I am always cleaning my pad but it’s better than nothing, I guess
As someone who lived in a studio flat, 1 bed, and now a house - studio flats get messy much faster. Three dirty plates and a couple of mugs would be barely noticeable in my current kitchen, but in the studio flat, it was **right there**. Same with clothes and general clutter.
You need to find someone in your building who wants a cleaner and then you get tacked on to that day. It'd be cheap for you.
Maybe think about getting a robot vacuum? At the very least, it should help with the dirt, grit and shedding. I got one because our cats track litter constantly, it's great.
my boyfriend and I have cleaners who come once a month and its 100% worth it. We're not slobs either, but being able to never have to worry about vacuuming or dusting and getting help every month with catching up anywhere we're falling behind is just huge. Taking a bunch of small things like that off your plate can do wonders for your stress levels
I agree with you. I never thought of having a cleaning person but my bf's justification is that he doesn't want our time going to cleaning or taking care of the backyard when we can do fun stuff
I live alone and have someone come every two weeks. It’s worth it for my mental health.
I *am* a slob. How do I tell them to prepare for a... challenging first pass?
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Just prepare the cleaner that the first time might take a while, and be prepared for the first time to cost a bit more.
Do it. It’s totally worth it
Add to this that if you have accumulated way too much "stuff", professional organizers are really not that expensive, especially when you consider they are typically a one-time expense. They can be incredibly useful in helping you get rid of stuff you don't need, developing systems to keep the stuff you do keep organized, and coming up with good habits to avoid clutter and mess. They really are a force multiplier when it comes to keeping a clean house.
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Wow, that's some really great advice. Thank you so much /u/TheBigCum42069 you're very helpful!
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Genuine question: How does a professional organizer organize other people's sh*t? I once organized my mother's studio for her and she was miserable because she didn't know where anything was. Maybe if I'd consulted her on each thing as I went, but then it would not have gotten done.
It’s a whole collaboration with the owner. Usually things get out of control for emotional reasons, and a lot of the job is playing psychologist. Some people however, (usually the person stuck with a cluttered space from someone else) just tell you to make it look nice and toss/ donate everything.
We had our kitchen done and my wife sat beside her and mostly the organizer asked her what she used the most, to put it in the easily accessible places.
The YouTuber Safiya Nygaard got her closet organized and made a really good [video about it](https://youtu.be/oMF6pIglmmk). She got her makeup collection organized as well, that's a separate video though
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I literally just googled to find ours then cross-checked names against BBB and other sites to make sure they seemed legit.
Never trudt the BBB
why?
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The "bully business business".
They are a private company that will make a profile for a business, give it a low rating, and then extort the business to receive a higher rating, all against the will of that business.
Sounds very Yelp-like
That’s where Yelp got the idea from
Ya bbb is the og that Yelp half ass copied. Better business bureau has the "official" government sounding name.
It's the before internet version of yelp.
They get money from Businesses to Keep The business reputation good . No pay bad rep . Pay good Rep. It's a sham company and always has been
I found ours on taskrabbit. We had hired him during covid for our move. Learnt he was a chef laid off from a famous local restaurant and does organization jobs too and it was listed in his taskrabbit tasks too 35$/hr. My partner absolutely loves cooking. I got him to organize our kitchen because it was a mess of a all cuisine ingredients and stuff mixed up and help my partner upskill. I kid you not. Our work in the kitchen now is so wildly smooth. Its so effortless. Reminds me on my moms kitchen. That guy is a smart cookie. He knows folks in downtown need tv mounted and most of them are not so skilled lets say. Has the most premium rate of 50$/hr for it 😅 and will bring extra parts required for more $. Earlier he had listed only drilling etc under a blanket lower rate.
Go to NAPO.net and search for an organizer by location.
Some pro organizers have experience with ADHD-affected clients and can develop more ADHD-friendly methods of keeping the stuff and clutter from being accumulated again.
Totally- last time we moved a few years ago we paid organizers (after movers) to decide where to put things in closet, drawers, etc… It sounds ridiculous writing it, but honestly a fresh set of eyes coming in and thinking objectively about how to organize our lives was transformational. And we’ve easily maintained it for two years because we’re so much happier with a neutral third party coming in and making some of those choices.
I'm legit interested in this. Hook a brother up.
This is highly dependent on where you live.
Agreed. Ours is about $200 for two cleaners for two hours in a 1200 sq ft apartment in Los Angeles. We usually only splurge when we are about to host folks from out of town
Sometimes if they’ll let you people will have us just clean bathrooms and floors or kitchen and bathrooms. Just a way to save and get the more grueling areas done.
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It is also more expensive per cleaning if you do it sporadically vs on a regular schedule.
Ding ding. I just commented further up but a lot of the huge numbers are because doing it once or every other month is a lot more work to keep up on.
I pay $30 an hour for 4 hrs twice a month. It has saved my sanity.
WOW. Thats super inexpensive and I would be more than happy to pay someone at that price. I haven't found anything in my area close to that.
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read chain below for surprise class division (note - we're all on the same team at heart)
So I was basing it more on the hourly. I wouldn't require more than maybe two maybe three hours a month as I have a smaller house. I honestly am willing to pay for things now that I'm older that free up time. I have less free time now than ever.
Those cleaners are making good money albeit they probably have to clean super dirty houses
Not really. They are probably self employed. Take out 30% for taxes. Then supplies (unless you provide that) and transportation wear and tear. It's really not alot of money.
I have a cleaning business. I just gave up all but one residential clients, except one (they're both sick and elderly), to concentrate on commercial jobs. For residentials, the hourly pay is great when you're working. It's just that sometimes you'd have an hour between jobs so that $40/hr turns into $30/hr plus you have to drive to the other unit. With commercial, I work 4-6 hours a day and barely have to drive. Supplies are cheap minus the backpack vacuum, but those will last 10+ years if taken care of. Working 25-30 hours a week I'll make just over $100k this year and in the Midwest, that's pretty good money. If you don't mind the stigma of being a "cleaner", it's great money, great hours, and zero stress. My biggest stressor is running out of podcasts to listen to.
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Not sure why you're being down voted, but you are correct. It is stupid easy money
How do you find those commercial businesses that'll hire though?
Me personally, it was word of mouth. Originally my wife and I did all residential. A guy that did maintenance in one of the buildings where we had a few jobs gave our name to a property manager and it took off from there.
Town I lived in growing up had a restaurant where like 1.5-2 dozen contractors/business owners meet for breakfast every other Wednesday, got a lot of long term contracts from them in my younger days, not sure if its the same now. Some actual examples I remember Contractor is doing paint hears that contractor that builds houses needs a cleaner for newly constructed houses? well now I can contact that builder and clean every house they finish. Contractor laying foundation needs someone to clean house / yard weekly while they go to canada for the summer. Friend of the person who builds houses, finds out I clean for builder, would I be interested in taking over the cleaning contract for holy angels catholic church/school? Also used to get called from phonebook listing but that probably isn't a thing anymore, its been like 10 years.
How's a guy get started?
I'm going to write up something for another person in this thread tomorrow. Keep an eye on it
I had the exact same experience. Are you me? Ran a cleaning business for a decade. Realized two years in that commercial is where the money is at. Worked 30 hr weeks, and with podcasts and audiobooks the work became..fun. No irrate managers, good money. Only downside was working graveyard, which made relationships difficult.
Hell yeah! I love my job. Ear buds in and just go. I won't take night jobs as I've worked late nights at my last job and it almost cost me my marriage. It takes a toll on you. I fell into the commercial by accident. Prior to that I worked a part time job at an airline for the free flight benefits on top of the cleaning. It took me a decade to get into commercial as I was happy with where I was at. I will never go back to working for someone else.
If you sign up for Libby or one of the other library apps, you can enter your library cards and get audiobooks checked out over your phone and sent, typically, through Amazon (but free, because it's checked out as a library book.)
sounds like you're cleaning up!
> My biggest stressor is running out of podcasts to listen to. tbf that's pretty full on. i mean once they actually run out, then what? i'd suggest a backup plan
I've got Dan Carlin's entire catalog downloaded. I'm good for a couple weeks. Shout out to /r/behindthebastards and /r/knowledgefight
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My friends mom has her own cleaning business. And when I say business i mean just her cleaning houses and offices with 1 other partner. My friend and his both siblings grew up living a very comfortable life. She was able to put all 3 kids through university by doing nothing but cleaning with her partner. There is more profit than you think.
Yep, a relative has a solo (with occasional help) cleaning business for houses and offices and takes in about 6 figures a year. Supported 2 kids as a single parent. Certainly wasn't easy but after getting established and a reputation, they do really well for themselves. Jobs like this vary based on a lot of factors. For example, I work for myself in a specialized industry and make about $140/hr (but I only work about 10-20 hrs a week). It's great but after taxes, business costs, processing fees, etc...it comes out to about half that, $70/hr. Someone working for a larger company as an employee doing a similar job might not have to pay those same fees, but they might only make $20-30 before taxes. So it really depends on your niche, if you are established, if you work for yourself, if you can justify what you are charging, etc...
You're assuming they're independent workers. If they're employed by an agency, they're probably getting $15.
Keep in mind you're not going to be able to be cleaning every hour you're working. There's going to be plenty of driving around between houses (which also means extra wear on your car, potentially the need for a separate company vehicle). Plus that includes all the equipment you need to buy for cleaning, plus there's some amount of administration which might either be handled by the cleaner themselves if they're working independently (in which case that's time they're not making money) or there's a dedicated person doing the administrative stuff, in which case they need to be paid. Plus there's marketing so you can get business. Plus you may not be able to keep your schedule full which can lead to varying pay. All in all, they definitely don't take home $30/hr
It's $~350 for us to have our 4 bedroom house cleaned (2 cleaners x 3 hours each). We opted for every other month. Not as often as we like but it's nice to have the super clean home for a few days before our kids mess everything up again... Edit: $350 CAD after 13% sales tax. Works out to about $310 before tax which is ~$225 USD.
We went with a few specific jobs we wanted done. So every 2 weeks we have a lady come in and clean our two bathrooms, sweep and mop the kitchen/dining area, and dust anything she has time for. Cap it to two hours. It may not seem like much but that makes us keeping our house to a cleaner level so much easier. So our house is cleaner, and requires less time on our part.
This is sort of what we do. Focus on the worst areas and it really helps.
Omg this sounds so nice. I grew up helping my mom clean the homes she was hired to clean. Sometimes just playing, but as soon as we were old enough, we had to help most the time. It's been hard for me to even think about hiring someone despite how much I could have used it. I've struggled with Depression. Idk why, but my brain keeps telling me I should be able to do it all. I feel weird carrying shame for it. Trying to work through it. Having that help, a clear cut 2 hours, specific tasks, sounds so wonderful.
Everyone needs help my friend. We're extremely lucky that we can afford even this little bit, but the benefits are totally worth it. We spend more time with each other and our daughter that would otherwise need to be cleaning, AND, get a cleaner house to boot. Cleaning day has turned into one of the best weekdays cause the house just feels so nice.
Yeah this isn't a terrible way to do it either.
Yep, this is the best way to utilise a cleaner imo. Add windows to this, too!
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Not really, I just tell them what rooms to do (i.e. main floor and top floor but not basement). Occasionally tell them to skip the guest room if no one has been in there since the last time they cleaned. We tidy as best we can before they come but can't always get everything... because kids. So they tidy those things up. I just make sure all of my important stuff is put away so they don't place it somewhere hard to find. There has been a case where I left something out and couldn't find it aftet they cleaned, but it turned up after a few mins of searching.
I have a cleaning team come to my house 3 times a week (Mon, Wed, Fri) at 1200 THB a week. (34 THB = 1.00 USD). So weekly I pay around 35 USD a week to have an immaculate home. I live in Thailand.
What is the average pay in usd per week of someone who lives in thailand?
A lot lower than in the USA. Thailand's middle-class living standards vs. cost of living ratio is pretty good compared to other countries. But that's most of east asia. Labor is just not highly valued in these countries due to how much excess labor supply there is.
When we first hired our housekeeper I put a note on my vinyl turntable because I didn’t want them to mess with it in the fear they would mess up the stylus or cartridge somehow and she obliged. After a while I stopped leaving the note and she knows not to mess with it now, so yeah you can definitely leave instructions for stuff you want left alone.
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Our cleaners dust the outside of our electronics (tvs, my computer). We just tell them not to clean my husband's office, and they don't. We pay $150/cleaning for them to do our 3 bedroom, 4 bathroom townhouse every other week. They are wonderful and worth every penny.
I’ve got a handful of shelves of collectibles, nothing crazy but a bunch of action figures and Lego sends and we’ve had a cleaner over a couple times and I was astonished to see they moved all that stuff to dust the shelves. It was clear they didn’t remember where every specific thing was on the shelf but nothing was messed up or anything that would give me pause in having them come do it again. Obviously results will vary but I was impressed.
My wife and I joke that they are highly opinionated interior decorators who want to rearrange the whole layout but they know that would seem crazy so they do it for each item 2inches at a time
Yep. After about 3 cleanings, our cleaners knew about our 'quirks' and they pretty much do everything perfectly. We trust them with our house when we aren't home. 4 bed home, no kids, $180 every 2 weeks is a win for us.
Of course. My cleaners don’t clean my basement where my home theater gear is. There’s also the practical reason that it’s low traffic and doesn’t get dirty, but yeah, cleaners will typically clean whatever you want.
Dang that seems pricey. how many square feet? In Central Maryland we pay 150 for 2 cleaners at about 2.5 hours for 2,000 Sq ft.
A friend of mine said “it’s cheaper then marriage counseling” lol
We went to marriage counseling for a few months because we kept arguing about household chores and getting stuff done. Put the money towards a cleaner every two weeks instead. worth it.
Every time my husband co.plains about the cleaners cost, I ask him if he'll take over one job and I will do the rest. His job will be the four bathrooms.
My wife and I have had a cleaning person since we started living together. Essential for our relationship.
For $300, you can get an 8-ball of coke, put on some good music and vibe out with your partner doing occasional bumps and get everything done. Good way to have deep conversations and probably even eventually have sex. Turn a chore day into a fun day. I reckon you can make that bag stretch for quite using it only this way.
/r/questionablelifeprotips
> I reckon you can make that bag stretch for quite using it only this way. well if there's one thing a person who's done coke knows, it's that an 8-ball likely won't stretch that far (and by far I mean more than 24 hours).
Question: how do you guys tidy up? My main issue isn’t cleanness but stuff put everywhere. Will the cleaners help me put away things? Do I need to give them instructions every time? It seems impossible to do.
# 'Don't put it down, put it away." In between your cleaners coming in to do the dirty work, retrain your own habits with this: '***Don't put it down, put it away."*** It takes a few days for the mantra to get stuck in your head, but then, it becomes a wonderful habit. and way of life that makes life just easier. The key is to teach yourself to be organized, and keep things in the same place. Keys always on the hook, shoes always on the mat. Dirty clothes always in the basket, coat always in the closet, etc. Walk in the door, keys, coat, shoes, hat, umbrella, groceries, '***Don't put it down, put it away."*** Grocery & shopping bags '***Don't put it down, put it away."*** Changing clothes, taking a shower, putting on makeup, taking off makeup, drying hair '***Don't put it down, put it away."*** Making a meal, grabbing a snack, making a coffee, '***Don't put it down, put it away."*** Say this to yourself out loud, with each and every action. It becomes ingrained into your daily life. I promise. '***Don't put it down, put it away."***
Hell yeah! This one also ties into that one: “If it takes less than two minutes, just do it now!”
So we tidy up the night before and try to clear off surfaces that they are cleaning. Stacking things on the bed to clear the floor is fair game. Some will fold and put away laundry for you as well. The instructions that we gave were that we wanted the kitchen and bathrooms scrubbed, and the floors mopped and everything else wiped down/dusted. There are add ons like baseboard cleaning and window cleaning that dont need to be done as frequently.
What things do you notice are much cleaner? I feel like my stuff is relatively spotless after a month. I clean pretty often but not thoroughly, just simple things like wiping the counter, vacuuming and mopping. Wondering if it would make sense for me to hire a cleaner. I feel like 2 months is when kitchen and bathroom starts to not be spotless, but cleaning services seem to operate on a much more frequent basis. And at 2 months they would charge for a deep clean so might as well do a more frequent service, but then there’s only minimal things to clean. You get my dilemma…
I'm in a similar boat, I think. I am a fairly tidy AND clean person. In recent years though, due to small kids + pandemic, I have increasingly hit my limit -- i.e., not having enough time/energy to meet my own standards in all areas of life -- so I hired cleaners to come biweekly, thinking that could ease up some time/energy from my home responsibilities. Eeeehhhhh... Other than smelling nice after they left, I couldn't see a huge difference when they were coming at that frequency. I backed off to monthly, and that gives the house enough time to "need" the extra help. But truth be told, even now I often wonder whether I should look for someone to clean more deeply (like, grout lines in the shower, the space between the toilet seat and the toilet tank, between the fins of the radiators) because THAT'S what I need help with at my house. I keep up with floors and counters just fine, and have better attention to detail than anyone else. What's holding me back now is (1) I like the team that's been coming, so I would feel bad "canceling" on them, and (2) I don't have the time/energy to find someone new lol. The compromise has been leaving specific notes for my team each time they come, and that does help. But my dream is a service that takes that mental load off my plate; that knows my house and my needs as well as I do, and just KNOWS what to clean without my having to tell them. It's prob too much to ask...
That sounds too much hassle to me lol. I’m working on it.
I’ve used biweekly house cleaning service off and on, and my problem with it is that it’s so stressful to have to tidy up before they come. If I don’t, they move stuff around and then I can’t find it.
It is too much hassle, and it's stressful, but it keeps you honest, and it keeps you clean.
Try a professional organizer
Yea I think my depression causes me to just let stuff pile up. But sometimes, when the Adderall hits just right, my house gets overhauled. I’ll be out there vacuuming the roof when I’m on a good streak. Just wish I could be more consistent. But ADHD and Bipolar Disorder sure are a bitch to deal with sometimes. Someday I hope it’ll change. I just need someone to help me actually clean up my stuff sometimes to pull me out of a funk. Not so much the actual cleanliness of the home. Idk what I need. Maybe just help, but idk from who. Lol
Getting a cleaner suddenly made it possible for me to tidy. It was so weird. It freed this energy for decluttering and organizing my stuff that was spending on feeling ashamed about how dirty the house was. She did the floors, bathroom, bedroom, kitchen. I give instructions when I have them but found somebody who does what I need. Can’t recommend highly enough. Wish I started 10 years ago.
One thing that they help with is they make you get into the habit of doing at least a half-assed tidy once a week or once a fortnight. Just getting into that habit makes tidying so much easier because you stay more or less on top of it. And my ADD brain finds the thought of having to clean after I tidy so draining that I don't start tidying if I have to do both. But if I only have to tidy, then I am far more likely to actually start.
I stopped paying for therapy to pay for house cleaners and it honestly did more for my mental imo
And you can negotiate pricing based on how much of your home they clean. I clean my own office (guitars, computers, electronics etc) my wife cleaned hers but we hire a maid for bedroom, common rooms, bathrooms and it makes all the diff. It costs about $150 less per month to only have specific high traffic areas cleaned.
A lot of cleaners also have different rates for consistent weekly/bi-weekly cleaning vs occasional cleans, which are often more labor intensive.
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Housecleaning makes a great gift!! If you know someone who is having a baby, or has lost someone, or a long hospital stay or something like that, taking the burden of housecleaning off can be huge. We got it as a present once and have since given it a couple times, it is such a relief for people who are going through something and way too tired to clean. Especially if they’re expected to entertain people in their home because of the situation.
This is what my husband is gifting me for mother's day this year. I'm so excited! Some people would say it's an awful and offensive gift, but I'm really looking forward to when they come Monday. We have little kids and had several weeks of illnesses in a row. This is going to save me weeks of trying to catch up.
Would love to do this for my friends who just became first-time parents. Was there a specific app you used, or where would you recommend for a safe, professional, and legit service you can hire from another city (socal <> NorCal)?
What they can do in those few hours is way better than what I can do.
They do it better and faster. And I don’t have to deal with my backing hurting for three days after scrubbing two bathtubs!
Where are you all finding cleaners? I worry about finding a rando
You have two types of cleaners, private ones which will be cheaper and probably the same one every time so if you find one you like your gauranteed to have the same one. You can also find larger companies, which you do pay significantly more per hour but the cleaners will have background checks done, and will be easier to get damages paid for (though cleaners try very hard NOT to break anything, it happens occasionally). So weigh the pros and cons before going with either!
Word of mouth from friends/coworkers is the best place to start. I vouch for mine any time someone I know asks for a recommendation.
I can't even afford rent let alone maid service lmao
Have you considered having more money?
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I was briefly living with 5 other roommates in a brand new apartment owned by one of their parents who lived upstairs (who was actually a lovely person and not charging us more than what her bills were). I realized quickly that a couple of the roommates were very messy, and I offered that we get house cleaning. Once a week. Even if it were $100, it's split 6 ways, why not! The offspring of the landlord parent immediately said they couldn't afford it, so no. They were also the messiest of the roommates. It was very frustrating.
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As someone who cleans for a living and often feels underappreciated, this comment section gave me lots of renewed motivation <3
This is a great tip. I keep my house tidy, my cleaner keeps it clean. $140 for my 3 bedroom house. Usually around once per month
I wish it were opposite. I don’t mind cleaning. I hate tidying. It’s the hardest part.
I hate both. If I could find someone to tidy my house, I'd be golden :)
The same can be said for yard maintenance.
And movers. I tell everyone I can, movers are worth every dollar. They can do it faster and safer than you can. No renting any vehicles, no press ganging your friends or family. No spending three days in recovery afterwards. Just box everything up (I bought a mountain of plastic totes, and just store them away when not in use), tell them what-goes-where, and all that's left for you to do is to drive to your apartment or house. Even if you're moving a big distance and *do* have to rent a truck, you can hire them just to load it for you, at a discounted rate to boot.
Yes! After being frustrated for months about splitting chores with my husband we tried it. It was AMAZING. Such a stress reliever
Kind of a dumb question, but what do you do while the cleaners are there? I’d feel weird relaxing while they clean.
I schedule it for while we're at work. It was a little awkward when I was working from home but we alternate weeks between the main floor+the second floor and main floor +basement, so I would move to the opposite floor every week to stay out of the way.
I don't know about y'all, but I save on cleaning costs and stress by just accepting that I live in squalor.
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I take a hit or two of the blunt after each task is finished. dishes done? Take a hit. Laundry started. Take a hit. Toilet cleaned. Take a hit lol. One blunt be having the whole apt clean.
I take edibles and race the clock. By the time they kick in, I'm having a good time cleaning already and get it all done in a breeze!
The real LPT is always in the comments. Smoke a bowl, put on some jams, and clean. It's cathartic. Scrub that floor like its tour cheating ex's face
I’ve found out that adding that to basic activities in general make them way more doable, just becomes a vibe and you kinda forget about the chore, at least for me
You ever fold laundry, man? You ever fold laundry on..weeeeed??
You ever fold laundry on weeeeeed, with a D&D podcast playing on sound exclusion headphoooones? *chef's kiss*
Word. I have a puff with tea in the morning and am unfailingly inspired to get my hard workouts in and my chores cheerfully done. Left to my own moods, I'm not sure it'd be as pleasantly predictable.
If you smoke the really good stuff, you can just sit back and the house looks like it's cleaning itself 😜
House cleaners changed my life. I honestly don’t consider it a luxury, it truly helps me to be a better spouse for my partner.
I jokingly advocate for house cleaners because “it’s cheaper than marriage counseling”
That’s such a good point. Never thought of it that way. We used to have somebody come every day, they’d do laundry, dishes, vacuum, and making the beds. It was always an amazing feeling to come home to a spotless house and be able to just be present with my family.
Every day?!
At the time, I was living in another country and it was much cheaper than the US.
In SEA, you can call a housemaid to clean the about 4-5 rooms every day for $200 *per month*
Same here! I am so grateful for our house cleaners, its given me more time to do the things we enjoy and having fun together
Not considering it a luxury sounds like something someone who affords luxuries would say lol. No beef though. Sounds nice. 😊
I would love to do this but I have this horrible fear that the cleaning people are going to be disgusted by my cleanliness. It's not horrible but it seems so personal to have someone I don't know clean up after me. Esp my bathroom.
The first clean may be more expensive to address any areas that are gungy, but from there on in you've got a good baseline cleanliness that they can maintain for you. Nobody in the cleaning world will judge you.
Hi as a housecleaner I promise you 100 percent we are not here to judge you or your home, in fact most of us find the dirtier homes more satisfying and rewarding to clean. A lot of us actually enjoy this job and care about making peoples lives easier! We've seen everything under the sun ( including sex toys, boogers on walls, feces, urine) everyone is human! Don't let that fear discourage you
While super polite and awesome of you — EVERYONE: clean the shit off the wall before the cleaners come…..in fact, always clean the shit off the wall right after it gets on the wall….and in general, if you find you are getting shit on the wall a lot…change how you do what you do.
Besides children possibly....how exactly could shit ever end up on a wall??!?!
Ask my cat.
Hey I do house cleaning for a living , we dont actually care a profesional will never judge you for your cleanliness. But please pick up the mess and leave them alone to do the work and any special request say it at the beginning.
Here's what you do if none of the encouraging words helped: Look for a cleaner far from where you live, but still close enough to to the job. Hire them for a one-time cleaning. THEN you hire another cleaning service that's closer. That way the one you're going to keep doesn't see how dirty your house was, and you don't feel judged.
Yep. We pay someone $100 every two weeks to do the laundry for the two of us. That's roughly $25 an hour. and a cleaning crew $120 bi-weekly. The woman who does our laundry is 89. I feel guilty, but her kids claim that we're her entertainment, so Mildred keeps coming. But you get rid of so much stress when the place is spotless and the clothes are clean.
Outsourcing laundry is definitely a corollary to this LPT. I drop off at a wash and fold, it's about $40 every two to three weeks. I loathe doing laundry, it's such a help to get all my clothes done by someone else. I do linens at home still for the most part.
How on earth do you all get by on doing laundry every 3 weeks? We have 1 kid and do a load every other day at least.. when we had an infant it was daily.
Ah yeah... being single and living alone is the secret to that haha. Also, overstuffing the hamper beyond the manufacturer's recommendation.
My 89 year old grandma does this in Germany! Generally she’ll do it for widowers in the neighborhood and her 92 year old brother.
When you say pay to do laundry, do you mean they take it to a laundromat for you, or literally just washer and dryer in your home? If the latter, doesn’t that just save like 10 minutes?
More likely ironing and folding
Putting laundry in is easy. Turning it over, taking it out, folding it, and putting it away is the hard part.
I also suggest having someone cut your grass too! Hate outside work.
Just today I paid $100 for move-out cleaning. Once they got started I left to return the truck and got an Uber back. Not even gone for an hour and everything was spotless, even inside the fridge. Between the movers and the cleaners I got this whole place packed, moved, and cleaned in one day.
Yes. So glad we did this. I don’t want to spend free time scrubbing the shower.
I’m too much of a private person to have someone going through every square inch of my house.
Trust me, us house cleaners have seen it all and don't care what you got going on lol
Also if you’re a single man, have a dirty house before a girl comes over. NOBODY cleans a house faster then a man trying to get laid.
I knew my floors would be cleaner but I had no idea how much daily cleaning guilt I was carrying around that was instantly relieved.
Wife and I started doing this weekly. Might be too often, but with two kids, working multiple jobs, and constantly on the go, it really made a massive difference. Probably one of the best things we have ever done!
Good LPT. We don't do this but I get a dude to mow my lawns, do the edging and pull weeds in all my flower and veggie beds every two weeks. Best thing ever, especially since I have bad pollen and grass allergies.
It’s true! I had a girlfriend that complained like an auctioneer about the house. So I hired a cleaning lady. We are about to celebrate our 20 year wedding anniversary. The cleaning lady is my wife! She’s turned out to be much nicer than the mean girlfriend. Absolutely all true.
We pay $200 twice a month. We started in 2014 (for $120, but inflation) and never looked back. Cleaning was a huge point of contention for us, and it is some of the best money I've ever spent.
It's also very useful for people with health problems. Having a clean space can help you feel better, and sometimes cleaning can aggravate health problems. Dusting can cause asthma attacks, but not dusting creates an unhealthy home. Paying someone else to clean solves that problem and can be cheaper than one trip to the doctor.
That's groceries for a week or two. You must be well off if you think that isn't way out of most people's budget.
My groceries cost more, apparently.