Tell me about hiring help around the house

[amldaley]

Those of you who have someone come in to clean and/or yard help...

how often?
how found?
how much paid?
what do they do for that pay?
how did you find it in your budget?

[wellyes]

how often?
Cleaning lady twice per month.

how found?
Recommended by friends, but they just found her on Craigslist.

how much paid?
$90 per visit

what do they do for that pay?
Floors, tubs, toilets, counters, windows, dusting, changes the sheets, inside the microwave, etc. My cleaning lady spends a lot of time on making the kitchen sink shiny clean. And, oddly, she twists the ends of the toilet paper into little flower shapes.

how did you find it in your budget?
In the beginning I said I'd stop buying lunch at work and brown-bag it instead. But I'm not really good about that. Honestly, if the $180/month would have been a stretch for us, budget-wise, I wouldn't have done it.

[amldaley]

[QUOTE=wellyes;2369520]..... And, oddly, she twists the ends of the toilet paper into little flower shapes.

HA! Like in a hotel? That's kind of sweet! Sort of like proof she was there :waving4:[QUOTE]

[nellonello]

how often? every other week
how found? Recommended through friends
how much paid? $105 for 3 hours work
what do they do for that pay? Entire bathrooms, wash the hardwoods, kitchen counters, vacuum the house (basically everything except dusting which we do the night before).
how did you find it in your budget? Cut out going out to eat. We realized this luxury gave us more time with the kids and we were less stressed with cleaning always hanging over our heads.

[WatchingThemGrow]

I have someone who helps ONLY when I'm very pg or just had a baby. I have her booked for every 2 weeks for 3 visits, and I hope to schedule 2-3 more after the baby.

She charges $20/hr, and I have her come 3-4 hours. She came 2 weeks ago and the place was a disaster, so she stayed 5 hours. So.. between $60 and 100.

She makes the kitchen look new, the bathrooms spotless, and cleans the floors. I don't usually have her do anything in the kids' rooms, but she did dust and clean mirrors and such last time. DD freaked that she arranged the dolls on her bed.

A friend gave me her name and number.

Budget, LOL... I only get her when my ILs or my mom say, "WOW, you guys really need some help around the house. We'll give you $$ to hire someone." There is no such room in our budget.

I love that in an old thread on this topic, someone said, "I'd give up food before I'd give up my cleaning lady."

As for yard work, whenever a neighbor sends out an email saying they have a hs/college kid for hire, we try to take them up on it for $10/hr.

[happymomma]

Those of you who have someone come in to clean and/or yard help...

how often?
Once a month

how found?
through a friend that had used the service for the past couple of years

how much paid?
$85 per month

what do they do for that pay?
The usual, cleaning, vacuuming, dusting etc. The most impt thing for me is to clean the kitchen and bathrooms. I hate cleaning bathrooms. Oh they also change sheets.

how did you find it in your budget?
We used to do it once every other week but cut it to once a month instead because I felt that it was too much money. I just can't live without it. I do think that once every other week is perfect though

[jerseygirl07067]

I'm watching this thread closely, thanks for starting! My mom is going to pay for someone to help us out for a few visits since I just had baby #3 and have not idea yet how I'm going to manage keeping up my house. Our house is on the smaller side and I'm a bit anal at trying to keep it clean and uncluttered (feels a lot bigger that way) , so I'll need all of the help I can get!

[lowrioh]

I started using a cleaner when I found out I was pregnant.
how often? Every other week
how found? A good friend uses her and subsequently she has started working for 3 more of my friends
how much paid? $60 for 4 hours. I know she increased her rates to $20/hour for new customers though.
what do they do for that pay? She cleans the kitchen, bathroom, vacuums the whole house, dusts, cleans hardwoods etc....she also cleans the microwave and toaster oven every time.
how did you find it in your budget? I got a cost of living increase at the end of the year and it ended up paying for the cleaner.

[BeachBum]

how often?
8-15 hours a week (on a schedule)

how found?
recommended by a contractor who she had done new construction cleaning

how much paid?
$18/hr
what do they do for that pay?
everything in my house that gets cleaned, she does it. including laundry
We do clutter control, but if it is out of control she piles it

how did you find it in your budget?
well it's either her or childcare, and i'd rather be with the kids


For the yard we pay a set amount per week, then $15/hr for pruning and sprinkler repair and other misc stuff on an as needed basis

[hillview]

how often? -- once a week we have a cleaning person.
how found? -- friend of a friend's clearning person.
how much paid? -- $120 a week for the whole house
what do they do for that pay? -- clean whole house 3500 sq +/- -- floors dishes not laundry or windows; change linens; also tidy up (this is a big deal for me)
how did you find it in your budget? -- it is built in -- also I work ooth (well from home but full time on phone etc) so the budget is larger?

/hillary

[writermama]

Lawn mower. Saw them mowing a neighbor's yard one day when I was out sweating the mower across our lawn and got the number from a neighbor. They came out, measured the lawn and gave us a price based on the size of the yard. They mow, trim the driveway and sidewalk, trim the fence, and clean up the mess -- all in about 15 minutes with a crew of 3. (I honestly consider it the best money I ever spent because I hate mowing the lawn, it would take me two hours, I had to use two hours of baby sitting to do it, and I didn't do as good a job as they do.)

Check with neighbors who use services, look for trucks (usually a pickup with a trailer) in your neighborhood, try local papers -- pennysaver types. Also look for ads if there might be teens in your neighborhood who mow lawns for the cash.

House cleaning -- once every three weeks. DH saw a Craigslist Ad for a new "Green" service. they advertised that they were bonded and insured. We tried them and have been mostly happy. I have recommended them to others.