Money Matters
hoffse
member
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Hiring cleaning help
I can't believe I'm posting this because it's the MM board, but I know one or two posters have hired cleaning help in the past. How does this arrangement work for you, and what do you pay?
Work has picked up for my H a lot. He has worked every weekend since the beginning of November, with the exception of our trip. He keeps getting assigned to trials. It's wonderful that he's getting so much experience, but it's incredibly time consuming.
The bulk of the house work has started falling on me, but I get overwhelmed by how much there is to do once the weekend rolls around. We have pets and both of us are usually too tired after work to do much to maintain it throughout the week. I am also in class 4 nights per week until the end of February, and recently I haven't been getting home until around 8 pm. H has been working even later than that, since the beginning of November. No end in sight.
For those of you who hire cleaning help, how often do they come? Do you feel that it is worth the cost? Have you ever had issues with theft?
Alternatively, I have considered investing in a Roomba because the cat hair in our house is probably the hardest thing to control. I despise vacuuming, and I have to do it at least a couple nights per week to prevent the cat hair from building up. Over the long run it would be cheaper than hiring help, but it only does one thing.
Re: Hiring cleaning help
My aunt does housekeeping on a part time basis. She enjoyed it when my cousins were in school because she only worked during the school day, summers were different. Most people I know who hire cleaning services, hires someone through word of mouth. I know there's risks of hiring privately verses a cleaning company but for those that I know, it's worked out well.
My friend has someone come in 1x weekly for about 3 or 4 hrs to do heavier tasks (scrub floors, dusting, Windows, etc). I'd say pay is going to be dependent on COL.
I had an individual when I was single. She was the best and gave me a really good rate. She would only give me the option of 1x per month or 2x per month. Every 3 weeks would have been ideal since I was a neat person to begin with.
Now that I live with H and a dog we need person every other week, no question. I started looking into people and found a small business that would do every other week for $70. This was for 1BR, 1.5 bath, kitchen, living room, and bathroom break for the dog Not much square footage total. Sadly, this is on hold until H finds employment.
It is a sellers market. If you can find someone that can do a good job and is reliable I suggest that you are willing to pay a slight premium if needed. Some will charge a flat rate, others want to charge by the hour.
No judgment here! Time is money. Even if you aren't replacing the extra time you'll gain with more hours at work, it's still more time you'll have for you in your already busy schedule.
Although I don't have a regular cleaning person, I actually just hired a cleaning service for the first time last week. Now I am kicking myself I've never done it before. It was for an empty rental unit, so theft wasn't a concern. But, what would have taken me probably two long days to complete, they finished in a few hours for $70. I'm about to put my new duplex up for rent and am going to hire them again to clean those units.
The person I hired is actually a neighbor, so it was word of mouth. A different neighbor was getting too old to live by himself anymore and had to move out of his house. He had lived there forever, was senile, and I doubt the house was in very good shape. House Cleaner Neighbor cleaned that guy's whole house in one day and the family was able to move someone else in right away.
ETA: Oh, and I freaking love my Roomba. We only have hardwoods and no pets, but it's amazing how much it picks up every day!
Unfortunantly I am the cleaning lady and unfortunately I do have time for it lol
But I am in need of a good chef .......
Yep. On my hands and knees. It was the PITS. But I get it, when you're paying someone to work, you want what you want.
No family or friends have keys or the garage code. No one. H is crazy about trusting people in our home and in his space. He's seen a lot in his line of work, so I kind of understand. But he's nuts. Haha.
I've looked into this recently. One thing that would be important to me is that the company the person works for does background checks and is insured and bonded.
I finally hired a cleaning lady about 6 months ago. Best decision ever! First she was coming every three weeks. This way I never had to do a heavy clean, just maintenance through out the weeks. This year she is coming every other week. Plus, in the summer she pulls my weeds, walks my dog, and cleans the house. She charges me $20 an hour. She is usually in and out within two and a half hours. I don't have big house, but she does everything. This includes cleaning the bathrooms, kitchen with eat-in, three bedrooms, an office, the living room and dining room. My floors are all hard wood. My H's work schedule is so irregular and he's traveling again. I work 45 hours a week at an extremely high volume law office. (OP I'm sure you can relate, our associates and partners are always on the go). My advice to you, is DO IT! Every other week.
As for finding one, ask your friends and co-workers. We found her though H's friend, co-worker and he lives in the neighborhood, too. The cleaning lady lives a few blocks over. She is a retired auto worker.