House cleaning costs??

[formerexpat]

My wife and I are considering having someone come in and clean the house either bi-monthly or monthly.

This will help us out since my wife has two young children to run after and sometimes the baseboards don't get cleaned as frequently as they used to.

Does anyone here use cleaning services?

If so, how often do you have them come, what services do you have them perform and most importantly, how much does it cost you?

I'm in a slightly above average COL area; Baltimore metro area.

Thanks, Expat

[Deleted]

we have a woman come and clean every other week. I think she is there for 4- 6 hours or so. She does basic cleaning. I don't think she does baseboards. She does not do windows.

She charges 60 bucks a cleaning.

[formerexpat]

I think she is there for 4- 6 hours or so. She does basic cleaning. I don't think she does baseboards. She does not do windows.

Basic cleaning takes 4-6 hours without windows and baseboards? How big is your house, man?

I guess that should be another question - how large of a house is the cleaner / people cleaning?

[swamp]

$70 every other Thursday, and she's there for 3.5 hours. She cleans the bathrooms, mops the floors, vacuums, and generally does whatever needs to be done. One time she'll dust, then anther time wash down the kitchen cupboards, then some other time she'll do some windows or the baseboards.

[Deleted]

Apr 21, 2011 14:30:29 GMT -5 formerexpat said:

I think she is there for 4- 6 hours or so. She does basic cleaning. I don't think she does baseboards. She does not do windows.

Basic cleaning takes 4-6 hours without windows and baseboards? How big is your house, man?

I guess that should be another question - how large of a house is the cleaner / people cleaning?

I am just guessing that is how long she is there.. I have never actually been there when she is cleaning. i have a 1600 sq ft house.

[illinicheme]

You're supposed to clean baseboards?!?

DH and I recently finally hired a housecleaner (Bay Area, VHCOL). She comes every other week and cleans 4 hrs for $80. I honestly have no idea if she does baseboards or windows, because I really don't pay that much attention. The shower is shining and there is no longer toothpaste residue in the sinks when she's done. That's good enough for me!

We got three other quotes before hiring the woman we did. Two were in the $110-115 per session range. One was a local company that had a team of four people that would clean top to bottom in ~1.5 hrs for $160 each time.

ETA: Our house is ~1600 sq ft.

[tskeeter]

House cleaning costs vary significantly depending on where you live, whether or not you have kids/pets, size of the house, number of bathrooms, what you expect to have done, etc.

For a 2600 square foot house, 3 baths, pets/no kids, we've paid $75 - $100 per cleaning.

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

Our cleaning lady quit a few months ago ~ she would come once per week and clean three bathrooms, vacuum and dust the house, and she'd mop the tile floors once per month. For $90 per week. She didn't do windows. She didn't do baseboards. She didn't clean the light fixtures. She didn't clean the windowsills. She didn't clean the kitchen, either. (And in her last email, she indicated that she thought she was underpaid......)

We're now doing this ourselves and saving $360 per month.

[mesquite77]

$75 for 2400 sq ft every other week. I have no idea how long she's here, but she does a much better job than my wife & I ever did. Closest thing to buying happiness we've ever paid for.

[soon2bmomof3]

Our lady comes every two weeks, most of the time with a friend or relative. She vacuums, sweeps, mops, dusts all surfaces and the blinds (but does not wipe/clean the windows), cleans the bathrooms, kitchen, changes the bed linens, empties and takes out all the trash.

$80 for the whole house, $60 for downstairs only, we alternate every visit. 3800 sq ft house. Takes her and a friend about 3 hours. We provide the cleaning supplies and trash bags, they bring their own mops, cloths, and vacuum.

If you go with a professional cleaning service (ie, Molly Maids) it will be a lot more expensive. Ask your friends or neighbors for referrals to individuals.

[thyme4change]

I have a lady who comes every week. (We use to have every other week - but we bumped it up to impress people.) I have no idea how long she is there, but she scrubs the bathrooms, does the floors, dusts, vacuums, washes all the sheets and makes all the beds. She cleans the whole kitchen. Each week she does an additional project - like the windows, or the inside of the fridge will be sparkly, or the front and back patio will be swept. She empties all the trash cans in the house. Every once in a while she would do a load of laundry - but I put a stop to that because we are very picky about what gets put in the dryer. She does any dishes we leave out, and puts away anything that is in the dish drain - which she does horribly! It is an exciting hunt to find the shredder or the knives or whatever. She will often clean the TV screen and the computer screens - not every week. Our house is 1600 square feet.

I love my cleaning lady. Losing her would be a minor tragedy in my life.

[formerexpat]

For a 2600 square foot house, 3 baths, pets/no kids, we've paid $75 - $100 per cleaning.

What general area of the US - mid / high COL?

You're supposed to clean baseboards?!?

My mother said if you can see it with the naked eye, you clean it and in the case of large furniture, you move it and clean under it and then place it back [sofa, chairs, fridge, stove]. My mother was a stickler for a clean home when I was growing up.

[thyme4change]

Oops - I pay her $55/week.

I also loan her money whenever she asks.

[Deleted]

Apr 21, 2011 14:36:39 GMT -5 mesquite77 said:

Closest thing to buying happiness we've ever paid for.

Agreed. DW was very surprised that I said yes so quickly when we first talked about hiring someone.

[thyme4change]

I couldn't live with my husband if we had to clean the house ourselves. Because the "we" in that sentence would be "me." He would be helpful about it - by staying out of the way, and not complaining that the vacuum was drowning out the audio of the sports he was watching. He might also help by taking the kids to do something really fun - like get ice cream. Doesn't that sound fair?

[swamp]

Apr 21, 2011 14:45:22 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

I couldn't live with my husband if we had to clean the house ourselves. Because the "we" in that sentence would be "me." He would be helpful about it - by staying out of the way, and not complaining that the vacuum was drowning out the audio of the sports he was watching. He might also help by taking the kids to do something really fun - like get ice cream. Doesn't that sound fair?

No, but it sounds like my house.

[illinicheme]

Apr 21, 2011 14:40:17 GMT -5 formerexpat said:

You're supposed to clean baseboards?!?

My mother said if you can see it with the naked eye, you clean it and in the case of large furniture, you move it and clean under it and then place it back [sofa, chairs, fridge, stove]. My mother was a stickler for a clean home when I was growing up.

I was mostly joking, because my husband and I are both terrible about cleaning. It's a miracle if we keep up with the dishes/laundry, much less dust something. Baseboards and corner cobwebs are far beyond our level of paying any attention. ;D (I have a friend - a very tiny friend, mind you - who routinely cleans the tops of her kitchen cabinets because "I know the dust is there!" She's a little extreme.)

My mother liked a reasonably clean home, but was by no means a stickler. She once said to me "If there was a choice between making the beds or sitting on the floor to play with you, I chose playing with you. I didn't think you'd mind."

[swamp]

Apr 21, 2011 14:43:27 GMT -5 ArchietheDragon said:

Apr 21, 2011 14:36:39 GMT -5 mesquite77 said:

Closest thing to buying happiness we've ever paid for.

Agreed. DW was very surprised that I said yes so quickly when we first talked about hiring someone.

LOL. I waited until DH was engrossed in a TV show, told him what I was going to do, knowing he wasn't listening. He turned to me and said, "OK, hon, whatever makes you happy."

The cleaning lady showed up a few days later, he came home from work to a really clean house and wondered why I took time off from work to clean and where I'd gone.

When I came home, I told him what I did and he was furious I hired "a stranger" to come in our house when we were gone, never mind that she cleans for several of my friends and several doctors offices. When I reminded him of the conversation, he got really embarassed.

He's happy we have her now because I'm much happier.

[Deleted]

We live in a MCOL area. I've had three different cleaning services here. Each has charged about $75 for cleaning my house. Depending on the number of people it takes 2-3 hours. My house is around 2400 sq ft. I have a ginormous master bath - it's bigger than my master bedroom. My cleaning lady comes every other week. She scrubs my bathrooms (like hands and knees on the tile in the shower), mops, vacuums, changes sheets, cleans inside of microwave and usually does another special project. I'm still cleaning all the time but now I don't have to worry about doing stuff that requires uninterrupted time and chemicals.

edited: watch your cleaning lady do her job every now and then. I got po'd when one cleaning service was just swiping everything down with the same rag. Icky and I'm not paying for a few swipes here and there.

[mccartt]

In Baltimore $60.00 will get your carpets vaccuumed, your floors mopped, furniture dusted, kitchen wiped down and 1-2 bathrooms cleaned. Basic "regular" cleaning. No baseboards, no windows, no laundry.

[oreo]

We got an estimate yesterday from Molly Maids. An initial deep cleaning was going to be between $250 and $300. That sounds REALLY high to me after reading what everyone else is paying. That is for cleaning 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, the kitchen, dining room, and living room. They do baseboards and light fixtures but not windows I don't think (they do window sills though). There aren't a lot of places they can dust (there is a lot of paperwork all over my dresser etc which I don't think I want moved) so really just vacuuming and cleaning the bathrooms. Since I cleaned my bathroom the other day, I'm thinking about passing on this "deal".

Do you tip the housekeeper every time he/she cleans in addition to paying for the cleaning? There was a Groupon-type thing and it said that it didn't include tip and you should tip around 20% of the original retail price. I knew you were supposed to tip at Christmas but I didn't realize you are supposed to tip every visit.

[soon2bmomof3]

Oreo,

We don't tip our lady. Sometimes I ask her to do extra (clean out the fridge or sweep and mop the garage) and I'll pay her an extra $10 (she's never asked for it, I just give her extra). Christmas I tipped $20 to them and I also gave her a $50 gift card to Walmart.

Her initial cleaning was $100 (her standard charge). We also do an extra thorough cleaning once a quarter or so and I give her extra then.

There is always someone home when she cleans. While we love and trust her, we don't feel comfortable giving out our house key.

[jeffreymo]

$60 for 3 or 4 hours.
We have it done every 2 weeks. Every appointment the floors are mopped and vaccuumed, bathrooms are cleaned, trash is taken out, dusting etc...
We have the bathrooms and kitchen "deep-cleaning" done on an alternating schedule. Consists of stuff like scrubbing shower tiles, cleaning the oven or refrigerator.

[zibazinski]

Just remember these people are making this money tax free. $15-20 an hour seems fair and generous. How long does it take you?

[Deleted]

Apr 21, 2011 15:38:33 GMT -5 zibazinski said:

Just remember these people are making this money tax free. $15-20 an hour seems fair and generous. How long does it take you?

That is a little presumptuous.

[zibazinski]

I mean how long does it take you to clean your own house? Thoroughly. If it's 4 hours then 4 hours is what you should be paying for a Professional cleaner. They should be able to do it in less time even because they are supposed to be pros at it. I had someone tell me it took them X amount of time to clean my place. So I paid for X amount of time. Guess what? I let her in and said I was going out. Came back an hour and a half later and she was gone. So was her job. I can lick and a promise my house, too.

[zibazinski]

Most are women who work while their kids are in school ( great idea btw) so no daycare expense and it's cash and tax free so it helps them out big time. It's a win-win if you get the right one.

[Deleted]

Most are women who work while their kids are in school ( great idea btw) so no daycare expense and it's cash and tax free so it helps them out big time.

That's my house cleaner. She lives in a bigger house than I do! ;D

[thyme4change]

I'm my lady's only Friday job. If she gets $50 every day, she is still only making $13k per year. That very well might be under the table - but still.

I don't tip her every week, because she is self employed. I do, however, give her $100 at Christmas.

[Deleted]

I think it impacts their pay when they decide how to proceed with housecleaning. Licensed, bonded, insured housekeepers working for companies that pay taxes and all that generally charge more.

My house cleaner rearranges her schedule around her children's schedule and vacations. If it was a formal agency the time would remain the same and not be dependent on the local school calender.