We have a yard service that comes weekly for about 8 - 9 months/yr and once or twice a month the rest of the year. They mow, edge and blow on the weekly visits, then trim shrubs as they think that’s needed. For most of the year, three guys come for about 1.25 - 1.5 hours.
The amount I pay our yard service monthly is about 1/2 of what it costs to hire a cleaning service once a month to clean the main floor and upstairs (but not including the finished basement.) That’s a cursory cleaning by a franchise service team. Each service I’ve tried has done some damage, from breaking a lamp and one of the plantation shutter controllers to leaving puddles on hardwood floors causing cupping.
Last year I hired a non-franchise service to do a deep cleaning of the whole house; it cost $1K and I still found things they overlooked. We have no pets, no kids at home, no one smokes and we’re not slobs. Those plantation shutters I paid a small fortune to install (due to allergies making draperies unsuitable) take a long time to clean, as do all of the baseboards, ceiling fans and chandeliers.
It’s far easier here to find a reasonably priced yard service, or painters, than cleaning services. Eventually, we’ll try again. First, I want to clear out closets and drawers so that when it’s time to put things away before the cleaners come it won’t take very long. Then I may try hiring someone to clean just the main floor since that’s where we spend most of our time. I’d be happy to have the main floor cleaned twice a month and the rest cleaned monthly or even quarterly.
Agree with the above. In old city one service was known as “Wreck a House” instead of “Clean…”. Frustrations with what they would/would not do is one reason I did it myself. Here I don’t trust cleaners to be as thorough, either.
The monthly pleasures of a clean house beats a partially clean one all of the time. I get to do everything else now for another month…
I am a clutter free kind of person, but I only clean what needs it that we notice. We don’t make our bed in the morning- it’s actually much, much better to throw the covers back and let the bed air. (Dries out the moisture, reduces the number of dust mites considerably.) Sweep if the floors are covered in dog hair, clean the toilets when they look yuckky, etc. The thought of proactively cleaning things on some sort of schedule…nah… not going to happen! I don’t think we will ever have a cleaner or yard service, unless we are physically incapacitated.
We never had a housekeeper or a cleaning crew. I though about it, but after our House2 was professionally cleaned before closing, I decided that it was not worth it. I had a headache for two days caused by the stench of the cleaning supplies the pros used. Ugh.
@abasket I pay my cleaning person around 130. She usually is here around 7 hours. I usually go to the gym and do errands on that day.
We also have a garden service. They bring several men and stay a couple of hours. My yard still doesn’t look great due to drought and the fact that I have a large property and to have it look nice I would need to have them stay longer and spend a lot more on water. If I’m doing a vegetable garden I do that myself.
OTOH my H does all our pool service and pool repairs. He also does most of our home repairs and maintenance. The only thing he won’t do is paint.
This is what I did today. Wiped dust off the cabinetry in the kitchen (as mentioned above), washed the glass panels on the master bed deck railing, Bona-ed the living room floors, did 4 loads of laundry, vacuumed the upstairs, and put the kitchen to bed (one load of dishes was done in the dishwasher). Oh, and I brushed the powder room toilet and got fresh towels out to have it ready for the kitchen crew. We also bought a new microwave, and Mr. caulked the glass overhang over the lower deck entry (complicated design by previous owners that we will have to live with). Now Mr. is fussing over the cabinet opening for the new micro. That is on top of driving around Seattle to visit a few open houses, planting a few bushes in the ravine, and just lazying around the house. I don’t think it was a back breaking, labor-filled day. Just a normal day in the Bunsen household. And I forgot! I made three meals for us today despite having a wreck of a kitchen.
So we used to have someone like 3 days a week to help with the dog, and 2 kids. Like pick up from school walk the dog, and she cleaned the house. Then as they got older it became 2 days then 1 day then twice a month then 1 month then… She moved on to another family. She was with us for like 11 years. So she picked up from the kids, kept the house clean etc. She was great.
Now both kids are in college and we clean as we go. We just had a holiday dinner last week and had 20 people over. That forced us to at least really clean the main floor. Everything looks great. So have people over and your house will look great.
We have weekly lawn service even though our 1.5 lot is small compared to what they have in the suburbs but our planting is extensive. My wife has put together and treats the garden. It’s her baby. People stop and admire or take pictures and she is so gratified with that a. She spends a lot of time weeding, pruning, planting etc.
I have learned to fix a lot of stuff. Even appliances. I had a guy out for both our 25 year old Jenn Air double oven when it went and Jenn air halogen stove top switch and actual halogen burner. He said neither had parts or could be fixed. All I can say is Wrong! I found the parts on different sites but Repair Clinic is awesome! Even fixed our ice maker for $30.00 and they wanted $150.00. Took 10 minutes.
We use a “Merry Maids” type of service. They are a crew of 4, finish in 2 hours. No smells afterwards, and the house looks very pretty. I always hate to use the toilet the first time after they leave and ruin the little triangle thingy they do to all of the toilet rolls.
@Nrdsb4 - ha ha! You can do that yourself each time you know! When our house was listed, I would run around and do this to all the toilet paper rolls before a showing.
I live with a neatnik. It has its positives and negatives. He leaves town and the house completely falls apart. We do have a cleaning lady once a week and she’s here all day. I find it really annoying, but I’m still so anti cleaning that I deal with it. She’s independent and cleans the heck out of this place. That being said, we take turns with a big janitor looking broom to go over all the downstairs wood floors everyday because of the dog. We also keep the kitchen picked up. DH cannot stand dishes in the sink, it’s the first thing he does when he walks in the house!
How long does it take to clean your place? 1,000 sq ft isn’t huge, but I could see it taking a couple of hours. Way back when I followed fly lady to help me get my act together. I could handle the 15 minute at a time and the clean sink every night. I think I’d say wipe down the kitchen counters and sink daily and keep up with the dishes daily. I literally open mail over the trash can - honestly I can’t figure out why snail mail even exists anymore as 90% of it is junk. Pick a day for laundry, a day to vacuum and dust, and a day to clean the bathrooms.
You guys must have some huge houses. My home is over 3,000 sf. Independent housekeeper. She’s done in 3 hours. She’d have to be organizing my closets and cooking dinner to stretch it to 7 hours of labor.
That’s funny. When we sold our house, our realtor said we were “dream clients” because we always had it spotless, turned on all the lights that made the house look pretty, etc. DH always got out the leaf blower before a showing and she would pull up and chuckle at him. Never thought to make the toilet paper look fancy, though!
Have you heard of this service? Heard about it on a podcast today. Cleaning and all kinds of home service.
You can list detail of what you want done and what is most important to you (like removal of all pet hair, or dusting, or whatever!) and they will match you with someone with “talent” in those areas.
I used a service like Merry Maids 3x. The first two were fine. The third they sent a woman that was using the thick, gooey, toilet bowl cleaner on glass shower walls. I called the head of agency, and asked what screening they used. Can you imagine how long it took me to clean that blue goo off my shower doors?
I haven’t had a cleaning person in 1.5 years. I really miss. But to start with someone new, I’d have to,be home and watching. Yuck.
One of my kids lives in a major city that has Task Rabbit. She has picked up all kinds of jobs. Standing in line to get on the waiting list at a hot restaurant! And one time cleaning is a popular Task Rabbit job. Also, putting together IKEA furniture.
Have never had a cleaning service and honestly don’t think that my entire house has ever been clean at the same time :(. I do it piecemeal as time permits, often for just 10-15 minutes at a time. It is probably not terribly efficient, but we are both pretty neat so the house nearly always looks acceptable (but not sparkling clean).
Typical non-schedule: Yesterday I stripped the sheets, put on clean ones, threw the dirty ones in the laundry basket. Cleaned the bathroom counter and sink. Dusted and vacuumed the family room and cleaned up a couple of drawers while watching Sunday morning news shows. Handled all the mail that had stacked up during the week (pay, file, or recycle). Made yesterday and today’s dinners and H cleaned up after (I usually cook and he cleans up). Watched a lot of football.
Today, while exercising down the basement, I noticed that the coffee table was dusty. Polished that and quickly wiped down the other flat surfaces in that room. Also cleaned the toilets, swept the hallway and shook out the area rug by the door. After work, washed the sheets and whatever other “lights” were in the hamper, put clean towels in the bathroom, put away laundry that was washed and folded on Saturday but was still sitting in the basket. So maybe 1/2 hour total today.
I hate cleaning things that don’t look dirty; but once I notice it, I clean it. That means the ceiling fan blades get dusted about once every 3 months. I vacuum twice a week in main areas of house but more like twice a month in the lightly used dining room. If we’re having company, I step it up, but I hate the idea of spending half a day cleaning. For us, a small effort each day keeps things presentable (though slightly dusty).
Last time I tried a service like Merry Maids was over 25 years ago. I don’t like the fact that with a service you can have different people in your house each time. My housekeeper works by herself. I’ve used her for 18 years. She’s reliable and I trust her to be there when I’m not there. She’ll also come when were on longer vacations o check the house, water plants, etc.
One of the great things about having a housekeeper is knowing that 2x a month, my whole house will be super clean. Especially when the kids were home, since she comes every other Friday, I would schedule those weekends for dinner parties or guests.
That is on top of driving around Seattle to visit a few open houses, planting a few bushes in the ravine, and just lazying around the house. I don’t think it was a back breaking, labor-filled day. Just a normal day in the Bunsen household.