What day and how often for a housecleaner?

[KrisM]

I'm starting to talk to house cleaners and the first comes for an estimate tomorrow morning. I can't decide if I should try for once a week or every 2 weeks. Every week sounds like it would be easier for me to keep up on the clutter , but of course more money.

And what day would you pick, if you had a choice? DS1 will be in all day school starting in a couple weeks. DD will go to preschool afternoons on Mon, Wed and Thurs. DS2 still naps afternoons.

Monday tends to be the messiest after the weekend, it seems. So, I'm thinking later in the week is better. But, do I have them come in the afternoon while DS2 is napping or in the morning when 2 kids are likely to be home?

[ourbabygirl]

Huh- I had this same (or a similar) problem! Our situation is that DH works from home, I'm a SAHM with a toddler who naps in the afternoon, and I'm due with another who'll be napping throughout the day. So it's pretty hard to find a time for our cleaners to come. They only come once every 3 weeks, but what we decided on is Monday mornings, as I've generally been able to take DD to library story time or be part of a water park program this summer. However, the cleaners haven't been too reliable about coming right when I want them to come so that they're done when we're back... we end up having to just kind of do our thing and stay out of their way once we get home. I didn't like having them come when DD (and I) napped in the afternoons, because that eliminated her & our room from getting vacuumed, and my bathroom from getting cleaned.
Are you able to do a weekend morning when you'll reliably be gone for a couple hours?

Good luck! I'm sure you'll enjoy having them come!

[jgenie]

We have our house cleaned on Friday morning since DS1 only naps in the afternoon. I having a clean house to enjoy all weekend. If you can swing having them come every week I would - you can always decrease if you feel it's too often.

[egoldber]

My preferred day is also Friday, but I have generally had to take whatever is available.

I would expectly monthly to be the most, less for biweekly and least for weekly.

I might also expect a higher charge for the initial cleaning. Mine charged 1/3 more for the initial cleaning.

Sometimes I consider moving her to weekly, but I think that would be somewhat harder on us (DH works from home) and it would also create more conflicts. Overall, I think every other week works well for us. Most people I know with cleaners have them come every other week.

When I had napping kids it was tricky around their nap schedule. But I would tell them to clean the baby's room last if the baby was sleeping when they arrived and generally the baby woke before they were ready for it. I also just had them skip the nursery once or twice.

[Twoboos]

I used to LOVE when our cleaners would come on Fridays, nice clean house all weekend! Then they had to switch us to Tuesdays, which is actually fine, because the house really didn't stay so clean on the weekends with DDs and DH making a royal mess. If we are having guests or a special occasion, I will have them come closer to that day, they are nice about being flexible.

When the kids were younger, we would stay home and be on a different floor from the cleaners. So they are doing downstairs, we were upstairs. Usually they start upstairs. If DD2 was napping I would have them skip her room.

I will say, now that DDs are older it's MUCH easier to be out of the house. So we'll stay downstairs while the cleaners are upstairs and then take off when they come down.

FWIW, we have them come every other week.

[KrisM]

I would expectly monthly to be the most, less for biweekly and least for weekly.

Around here, it is less per clean for more often, but more overall. Maybe $80 for biweekly and only $65 for weekly, but that's $160 vs $260 for a month.

[egoldber]

Yes, I meant less per cleaning, not less overall. That was confusing.

[KrisM]

Friday sounds nice, but I think it would be an instantaneous mess after! I'm thinking Tues or Wed would be nice as then there are fewer people here all day for a couple days and it might look a bit cleaner for longer.

I'm sure there won't be too many choices, but I know a lot of people have dropped cleaners in this economy.

[wellyes]

Weekly would mean a clean house all the time, bi weekly means it will actually need a cleaning when the cleaning lady comes. I do biweekly for cost reasons but would LOVE weekly.

I have them come Thursday mornings and always plan a fun outing for when they're here. It's just easier that way for me to go off and have fun rather than be underfoot while they wash my floors, change the beds, clean etc. Plus I'll admit it makes me feel lazy to be here when they're cleaning my house!

[zukeypur]

I have mine come every 2 weeks on Wednesday. It's perfect for us. The house is still clean on Friday for the weekend.