Who has a housekeeper?

[lhafer]

I am a SAHM and am seriously thinking about hiring a housekeeper to come once a month for a good cleaning - floors, bathrooms, etc.

Do you have one, how often do they come, what do they do/clean, how much do you pay (if you care to divulge that info), how big is your house, and do you use an individual or a service?

I am thining about hiring an individual (my friend uses her and recommends her), once a month, and my house is about 3,000sqft. I was hoping I could get away with $100 a month.

[sste]

We used to have our housekeeper come weekly in our old place for 3 hours/1300 sq ft and we paid her $20 an hour. When we moved our square footage doubled, we increased the time to 5 hours, and she asked for $20 per hour but we pay her $22.

I am curious to hear what people say because we have had the same housekeeper for almost 10 years, she now drives to the suburbs to us I think in part because we are all so fond of each other and the kids adore her, and I wonder if I should be paying her more.

[BabyBearsMom]

I am a SAHM and am seriously thinking about hiring a housekeeper to come once a month for a good cleaning - floors, bathrooms, etc.

Do you have one, how often do they come, what do they do/clean, how much do you pay (if you care to divulge that info), how big is your house, and do you use an individual or a service?

I am thining about hiring an individual (my friend uses her and recommends her), once a month, and my house is about 3,000sqft. I was hoping I could get away with $100 a month.

We have a cleaning service. They come every other week. They do a deep clean of a different area of the house each time they come (Kitchen, bathrooms and living space) and then do a surface clean elsewhere. They vacuum, sweep, mop, dust, clean the counters, wipe down the cabinets, clean the appliances, clean the showers/baths, make the beds. Two to 3 people come each time and we pay $98 per visit. Our house is 1,800 sq ft.

I think the price depends a lot on where you live. I live in a very high COL area. We use a service because I am not interested in being someone's employers and dealing with payroll tax and citizenship compliance.

[maestramommy]

I have a housecleaner. She comes every other week with her sister, and charges $75 each time. It's not a super deep cleaning (she doesn't use a crevice tool when vacuuming, and doesn't rinse multiple times when mopping floors), but it's pretty good. Certainly much better than I could do every other week right now!

When looking for a cleaner, I got one other quote that was more of a small business, but independently owned. Wife was the boss, husband did the scoping out and quotes. Their price was $85 each time. But they did all their own taxes, were insured, etc. This was almost 2 years ago.

ETA: my house is just short of 2500 sq ft

[Octobermommy]

I need one desperately. I had a lady come look at the house (1600 sq ft), quote me $75 in a low col area. I used to pay $75 when I lived in a 3500 sq ft house. She then no showed after I spent over an hour getting everything ready for her. Now my house is super dirty and I don't have 4+hours to clean it.

[Kindra178]

We used to have our housekeeper come weekly in our old place for 3 hours/1300 sq ft and we paid her $20 an hour. When we moved our square footage doubled, we increased the time to 5 hours, and she asked for $20 per hour but we pay her $22.

I am curious to hear what people say because we have had the same housekeeper for almost 10 years, she now drives to the suburbs to us I think in part because we are all so fond of each other and the kids adore her, and I wonder if I should be paying her more.

Similar story. I wonder if we have the same one!

[Twoboos]

Our house cleaner comes every other week. It's two women. They take about 2.5hrs to do 3.5baths, 3 br (I only have them to the 4th/guest br if we have guests coming) and about 3500 sqft. It's $80 which I think is a total bargain. I tip them well at the holidays!!!

I am a SAHM but when we hired them it was for about 6mos after DD2 was born so I could get a break. Now it's 6 years later.... :bag

[geochick]

My wonderful, wonderful, wonderful housekeeper comes once a month. I've asked her to come every other week, but she says she has too many clients for that. She prefers once a month. I pay her $100. My house is 3500sq ft, but she doesn't clean 1100ft in the basement. She's incredibly slow, but doesn't charge by the hour (whew). She always brings her lunch, and is often still here at dinner. We feed her. I always pick up the clutter and clean off the counters before she comes. I don't want her wasting her one day a month here doing that stuff. I shake out all the rugs and make a pile to save her some time there.

I've been through a few house cleaners. They are not all the same. Good luck finding the perfect one for your house.

[SnuggleBuggles]

I have someone that I can call when I just decide I need the help; I use my sister's regular housekeeper. I pay between $90-125 for 2-3 people to clean my 1900 sq ft 3 bed/ 2 bath house.

I have had to be very clear about some things as they would clean things I wouldn't waste time one and not do things I care about. For example, last time they folded my entire dirty clothes hamper (thinking they were clean, I hope) but they dusted around some things vs picking them up and dusting under. Priorities not in line with mine. :)

Beth

[dogmom]

The one thing I will offer that it often doesn't work out to do 1x month. Most places will charge say $150 to come monthly and $100 to every other week. I think it has to do with how long it takes to clean bathrooms and the like if they haven't been cleaned in a month. I think the every other week schedule gives them more of a chance to concentrated on a couple a rooms for my deep cleaning. Shop around. What you will find is prices can range greatly. If a cleaning person has enough customers she/he will charge you a premium because they have to make it worth it for them to squeeze you in. Someone who just lost a regular customer will be more likely to give you a fair deal.

[kdeunc]

We did have someone coming every other week for our 3100sq ft house. She charged $110. She would charge more than that for 1/mo. I think she said $180 maybe. I hope to have her back when I find a job! :)

[jerigirl]

Our house is approx 3000 sq ft. She comes every 2 weeks. I pay her $110. It takes her approx 3.5 hours.

[carolinamama]

I have a woman who comes every other week. I pay her $100 for a 3000 sq ft house in a not so high col area. She works hard and is usually here for about 5+ hours so it works out to about $20 an hour. She rotates what she does - ie last time she dusted all the ceilings, corners, crown moulding. Next time I am going to ask her to thoroughly wipe down the kitchen cabinets.

The only problem is that she went on a 6 week vacation right as I was having DD. My house desperately misses her. I think it works better for us and the cleaner to have it set up every other week so that the house stays in better shape than once a month.

[tiapam]

We used to have our housekeeper come weekly in our old place for 3 hours/1300 sq ft and we paid her $20 an hour. When we moved our square footage doubled, we increased the time to 5 hours, and she asked for $20 per hour but we pay her $22.

I am curious to hear what people say because we have had the same housekeeper for almost 10 years, she now drives to the suburbs to us I think in part because we are all so fond of each other and the kids adore her, and I wonder if I should be paying her more.

I think what you are paying sounds fair, especially if you give her holiday bonus or some extra once in a while. We pay $70 for a bit less than
2000 SF every two weeks. Three to four people come and are done in an hour or less. We have four bedrooms and two bathrooms.

OP, I would try every two weeks. Our bathrooms really need it by then. Having the cleaners has cut down on domestic problems here, IYKWIM.

[sunnyside]

Do you have one, how often do they come, what do they do/clean, how much do you pay (if you care to divulge that info), how big is your house, and do you use an individual or a service?

I am a single WAHM living in a 900 sq ft 2bed2ba condo.

I have a house cleaner who comes twice a week for about 2.5 hours each time. I pay about $40 each time give or take depending on how long she is there and what is done. I hired her at $10 per hour (I live in a very low COL area and always start there and tip for a good job rather than have someone be complacent.)

She does more of a surface cleaning, but once a month will do deep clean on each bathroom and kitchen. She doesn't do an outstanding job, but I think she does pretty well. She is an individual not a company.

[Cam&Clay]

We pay $120 every other week for a team of cleaners. They usually come in pairs and are done in a few hours. My house is a little more than 3000 sq ft.

One of my fav things they do is change the sheets on all the beds.

[luckytwenty]

I am a SAHM and am seriously thinking about hiring a housekeeper to come once a month for a good cleaning - floors, bathrooms, etc.

Do you have one, how often do they come, what do they do/clean, how much do you pay (if you care to divulge that info), how big is your house, and do you use an individual or a service?

I am thining about hiring an individual (my friend uses her and recommends her), once a month, and my house is about 3,000sqft. I was hoping I could get away with $100 a month.

I'm not a SAHM. I depend on a housekeeper to not only clean every week, but to do laundry. Life without her would be very messy indeed.

She comes once a week. She cleans everything except windows and the patio. She is $85 a week. Our house is 3000 sq feet. She is an individual, not a service. Services are much more expensive.

[TwinFoxes]

I did have a housekeeper. She came every two weeks. I only had her clean the main level of our house, not our finished basemement, in-law suite or playroom. It was $80. It was great...at first. I had the same problem I've read that others have, everything starts of great, she cleaned really well, and by the end she was skipping a lot of stuff, and complaining about the things I expected.

[lhafer]

Thanks for the replies everyone!

I've had housekeepers in the past when I worked. I have used a service and used individuals. I prefer the individual.

I have a recommendation from a friend's cleaner. She does her house every 3 weeks.

I really just want someone to do my floors. My house is 90% tile and I DESPISE cleaning it. LOATHE and DISPISE. So if that's all they did - I would be fine with it. :) I don't mind doing toilets or sinks or even my kitchen. They don't take that long to clean. But when I clean my floors - it takes me at least 4 hours to sweep it, the mop it all, Change out the water a few times, etc.

[hillview]

Our house is approx 3000 sq ft. She comes every 2 weeks. I pay her $110. It takes her approx 3.5 hours.

Only we pay 120 and she comes weekly. We are outside of Boston

[mackmama]

Do I count? :) Part of me wishes we had a housecleaner, but I also prefer to take care of my own house for the most part.

[goldenpig]

We both WOTH and pay $80 for the cleaners who come every other week. It's $20 an hour but there are 3 of them so they take 1 hr 20 min. We used to have them come every week but I had to cut back on expenses, and it's been fine to have them come less often. I don't think once a month would be enough for us though. We have a 1700 sf house in a high COL area. The money is SO WORTH IT to us to avoid arguing with DH about who does what cleaning chore and we can spend more time with the kids.

[mom2khj]

We pay $75 a visit for every other week. She's there about 3-4 hours. OUr house is 2900 sq ft. Sometimes the toys are picked up and sometimes they are not. We do our best, but occasionally get too busy to get it all picked up and out of the way. She doesn't mind either way. We provide the cleaning products.

She does not do a very deep, deep cleaning though I'm thinking about asking how much extra for a once a month deep cleaning (or splitting it deep clean downstairs one visit and upstairs the next). We're also considering getting her to come once a week. She does our neighbors house (single dad with 5 kids) 3 times a week! But she does laundry/dishes at their house. We only have her change the bedding and I wash it myself.

Our neighbors just signed on with a national service, and they are being charged $100/week. Each week 2 rooms are deep cleaned and they use their own products.

[lhafer]

We both WOTH and pay $80 for the cleaners who come every other week. It's $20 an hour but there are 3 of them so they take 1 hr 20 min. We used to have them come every week but I had to cut back on expenses, and it's been fine to have them come less often. I don't think once a month would be enough for us though. We have a 1700 sf house in a high COL area. The money is SO WORTH IT to us to avoid arguing with DH about who does what cleaning chore and we can spend more time with the kids.

And the problem here is...I do EVERYTHING. THere is no arguing. If I don't do it, it doesn't get done. Yet my DH wants the house cleaner. I'm sorry. I'm tired. I am probably not the best house wife around. I don't care. I would rather be a good mom than a house keeper!!

[kijip]

We have a guy that comes weekly. Because we were fine with a less popular day of Monday (most people want Thursdays or Fridays because they want their houses freshly cleaned for the weekend), and we do it weekly he only charges us $20 per hour (and he is bonded and functions as a legit business.) this was far less expensive than most of our other quotes. He usually is only here for 1.25 to 2 hours but our house is 1/2 the size of yours and 1/2 the time we have him skip the bedrooms. The monthly bill is usually about $120-160. I am sure we would have paid more before the recession. He is a laid off dad who started a cleaning business to make the ends meet. Apparently this pays better than what he had been doing so he plans to keep it going long term.

[twowhat?]

We have one that comes every two weeks. We pay her $70 for a 2300 sq ft home and it takes her a couple of hours. She sweeps, mops, vacuums, dusts blinds, baseboards, and molding, wipes down mirrors and surfaces, and cleans tubs, showers, and toilets. She puts our dirty dishes in the dishwasher too if I wasn't able to get to it. I like her. She's not super thorough (if it were me, I'd mop and then go back over with several rinses of water) but like a PP said, the house stays cleaner this way since I'd never find time to mop.

We'll be keeping her for our new house but don't know what she'll charge. Probably $100 (it's 3600 sq ft). And I might try going to just once a month.

[mecawa]

I am a SAHM and I had a housekeeper for a little over two years. We had her come once a week, it was a lifesaver when DD2 was sick but I found that I really didn't need her anymore, my oldest is in school full time, so I am able to do the work myself and save some money. But when we had her come, she was an individual person who we found through word of mouth, she came once a week for about 2 1/2-3 hours, and it would cost 70 dollars. My house is about 2000 sq feet. She took care of everything except the windows.

[adamlau]

On demand (a few times a year), but not regularly. What is there left for me to do then?

[lowrioh]

We have a wonderful woman who comes for 4.5 hours every 2 weeks. We pay her $80 each time. She misses somethings but overall she does a great job. I found her through a friend of mine who has used her for several years. I've recommended her to a few other friends and now I know about 6 or 7 people who love her. She isn't perfect but I trust her to be in my house when I'm not there. If DD2 is sleeping when DH needs to go pick up DD1 from school he can leave her there with the cleaner without a second thought.

[lowrioh]

On demand (a few times a year), but not regularly. What is there left for me to do then?

I really hope you are joking....