“The monthly cleaners at least keep us from getting off track. And yes, I do spend part of the day before they come “prepping” for them – clearing tables, etc. and putting things away”
I think that is definitely one of the benefits of having a housekeeper - it forces you to declutter and pick up on a regular basis so they can properly clean.
I believe I am “allergic” to dust. 
I just wiped off the doorless cabinet boxes in the kitchen. I know the kitchen crew will be back tomorrow and will make more mess, but it makes me feel better.
Our long-time housecleaner retired last summer & with only 2 of us in the house, DH and I have taken on the cleaning. He’s neater than I am, but I’m fussier about cleaning technique. It’s worked OK, but if we were staying in this 4BR house any longer, we would probably have hired someone for once a month. When our former housecleaner came every 2 weeks, I spent the hour before she came picking up/decluttering. Without that signal, I’m not as diligent about picking up regularly. We’re about to move into a 2BR apt, and I hope that because of it’s smaller size, I’ll be more likely to put stuff away as it enters the house.
Is there any reason why you can’t have a house cleaner come every two weeks? Try that.
We had an awesome house cleaner, and she continued to work for us after we became empty nesters…because frankly, we didn’t just then start to love cleaning the house.
Unfortunately, she moved away…and replacing a cleaning person is really hard to do where I live.
We clean as we go…not all at once.
But when I find a new housekeeper…I will gladly go back to that even though m6 husband says I have time to clean myself because I’m retired.
@thumper1 - dh doesn’t want a housekeeper. If he were not retired, I would go ahead and get one. But, because he is retired, a housekeeper coming would necessitate his being away from the condo when they came. His schedule is pretty irregular, and I don’t want to force that on him - even if I were to pay for it. He doesn’t want to pay for one. Would rather use those funds for something else.
Once I made the decision to keep paper out of my house , keeping the house relatively clean didn’t take much work ( personal motto is: paper is the enemy of clean.) The house just doesn’t get all that dirty. I do wipe down the kitchen counter every night. And use one of those toilet wands once a week.
We have a housekeeper once a month for the deeper cleaning but really no paper and no kids means no mess.
Precisely. Paper is the enemy of organized!
I have a question for the women whose husbands don’t want to spend/don’t like the inconvenience of a housekeeper/cleaning service : is your husband willing to do the cleaning?
Since you are still working…and DH is retired…perhaps he would like to do all of the housecleaning?
If you had someone come once every two weeks, couldn’t your husband plan ahead?
Why would he assume YOU now have more time…or desire…to clean just because he is retired?
Two questions:
What is a typical hourly price for a house cleaner? And what’s a typical # of hours one stays at your home if you contract for once or twice a month? (I’ve never had one, probably never would unless I physically could not clean my home - I’d rather use $$ for something else and for me, while I don’t love it I just see it as part of my routine.) But I’m curious!
We don’t pay by the hour. It’s $80 once every 5 weeks for a crew of 4 people who are in and out in 1.5 hours.
Yes. We outsource all of that. I have no interest in laboring for my home. And there’s nothingI want as much as being able to relax at home without this kind of work.
@Hoggirl
Would your H go to a coffee shop and read while the cleaners are in the house? My H and I (I am retired and he is semi-retired) usually go out to breakfast and then go grocery shopping when the cleaners arrive. If there is more than one person cleaning, it shouldn’t take too long to clean your condo. I have two cleaners (have had the same two women for 17 years) and it takes them 4 hours. That’s for a pretty big house (4500 sq ft.)
@thumper1 - oh, I am not working. I wasn’t working before when I had a housekeeper either. I haven’t worked since December 2010. BUT, we had a MUCH larger home to keep up with. Nearly four times the size we have now.
@FallGirl - yes, dh joins me in the housecleaning.
Sorry if I was unclear about my working status (or lack thereof).
Please don’t think my dh is an ogre! He isn’t at all. He is very willing to do his part. He’s just out of town, and I was feeling sorry for myself! But, even when he is here, and we do it together, I miss having a housekeeper.
We always had a weekly cleaning. We had dogs and needed that. I think one can expect to pay less per time IF you have cleaning done more often. Because it doesn’t get as dirty in between times. In other words, I would expect to pay more per time if someone came in every other week than what I would expect to pay per time if they came in weekly.
Dh used to do the yard, but he was terrible about weeding and trimming. He mostly just mowed and occasionally edged. He finally agreed to a lawn service.
Gosh, y’all - I know I am complaining about no longer having a housekeeper, but my goal was not to convince dh to get on board with having one again. I mostly wanted to know cleaning scheduling strategies!
I think it is perfectly reasonable for us to clean our small place. I just don’t like it. Lol!
@Hoggirl you don’t need to apologize! If you’re used to doing it with H and find yourself on your own, that’s no fun!
For those of us who never have had help inside or outside - and aren’t likely to ever have it, it’s just a little mind boggling - I have spent at least 5-6 hours doing inside and outside work today - I’m fine with that, it’s good exercise along with my structured exercise and I’m thrilled to have the day without conflict to be able to do it…I just am curious how “the other half” - those who hire - make it work! I’ll go back to work tomorrow knowing I got a lot accomplished!
Our home has a very open concept. If a neighbor or somebody happens to stop by, I want the “visible” areas to be clean. If the house was messy, I doubt the neighbor would think, “Boy, the husband sure is messy!” Nope, I’m pretty sure they would think it was the wife who was the poor housekeeper! Maybe an old-fashioned notion, but it does motivate me to keep those areas clean! The rest gets done as needed or when we feel like it, no rigid schedule.
I suggest trying to agree on a schedule with your husband and dividing tasks according to strong likes and strong dislikes. If you both strongly like or dislike certain tasks, take turns doing those. If one of you is picky about the results for a certain task, that person should do that task, even if it’s not his or her favorite. I think that by definition, it is unfair for one person to have all the tasks that need to be done daily or weekly and the other person to have all the tasks that only need to be done once per season or per year, even if the per season or per year tasks are more time consuming.
I pay about $130.00 every other week for my cleaning here in NoVA. I could pay less if I was willing to hire someone and pay cash “off the books” but I can’t/won’t. I hire a nationally known franchised service.
H used to do all of the yard work and enjoyed it. (I could not care less if we even have a yard). Over the years he has started paying for some services although he (or sometimes I) takes care of cutting the grass and we both shovel snow. If he ever wants to hire any of that out, he knows I will not have any problem with paying someone else.
Quit the house cleaning service a long time ago when we had a newly built house and I quit working. Local services were not that great. So, I cleaned the whole house at once, over two days, every couple of weeks. No more kid or dog. Moved to current house- downsized/different state- and still do my own cleaning.
Daily evening cleaning of kitchen counters since we’re both retired and likely to get crumbs at odd times. Currently down to monthly cleaning. H tells me I can’t not do a thorough cleaning. First day I dust and vacuum, plus put away stuff that is out of place (including those piles of magazines H reads ). Second day is wet stuff- bathrooms and kitchen.
I prefer to have the whole house clean. Then I ignore it. With the extra time I could become obsessive-compulsive about keeping everything spotless but there’s more to life. Have thought about cleaning inside cupboards et al but then thought- nah, the dirt will be back again in another five years. We are more minimalist that clutter prone- like the sense of space. With only two of us it stays clean- never wear shoes in the house either. Do notice the difference when I clean (just did it ).
Here in often too hot Florida we have the pool cleaner, yard care, bugs/fertilizer et al care. I still do selected pruning of dead palm fronds, my flowering bushes and weeds.
There is always something that needs to be done, sigh. I like being done and free from cleaning for weeks to come. If I cleaned some every day the house would never be clean and I would go from a clean room to a room needing cleaning every day.
When I am elderly (old now- in 60’s) I plan another downsize so one day will suffice. btw- a day is likely really a bit more than 5-6 hours. Still want the space and land.
Slowly! I have to read this thread. We were just talking about this.