People lie to themselves

[thyme4change]

When people use a recurring service (like a lawn guy, or a cleaning lady) I rarely ever hear anyone say "They are good enough."  My lady always shows up, and she gets it clean enough.  Not crazy clean - but I don't care.  When I hear other people talk about their lady, you would think she comes in and uses a toothbrush on every square inch of their home.  

Are all of my friends really getting a better deal than me?  Did they just happen to find the most amazing cleaning lady on their first or second attempt?  Am I really getting the shaft because the top of my door jambs aren't sanitized?  Or are those people exaggerating how amazing the service is, because admitting that you aren't getting an amazing deal makes you seem a little foolish.

I have one friend who always gets "ridiculously great" deals.  She swears she has financially screwed every car dealer and a/c guy out of their normal profit.  A lot of her self-worth is tied up in her ability to be a great business person - and she is.  But I just think if she admitted that she probably paid approximately what everyone else did, give or take a few bucks, it would shake her confidence.

Am I the weirdo that says "Meh - it works.  I'm too lazy to go in search of the magical perfect person, so this is good."  

Do you think those people with the most amazing everything are lying to themselves - or just me?

[Deleted]

Well, that wasn't really where I thought this was going by the title. 

But if it helps you, my cleaning person is good enough!

[chen35]

My cleaning lady's standards are much higher than my own, so I think she does an amazing job. I would have no idea if the tops of my door jams are sanitized  

I don't think I've ever gotten a screaming deal on a car. I've paid what I thought was a fair price. 

[thyme4change]

Jan 22, 2015 19:29:28 GMT -5 oped said:

Well, that wasn't really where I thought this was going by the title. 

But if it helps you, my cleaning person is good enough!

Where did you think it was going to go?  I know in general, people think they are above average at most everything, and the whole kids/special snowflake deal.  I guess it could go anywhere.

[Shooby]

LOL! I feel the same way thyme. But, finally I learned. No matter what I say that I paid, someone is going to tell me "oh I could have gotten a better deal!". No matter who I hire, somebody knows someone better.   Blah, blah, blah. People are bser's to the highest magnitude. Now, if I buy a new car, I just make up a bunch of crap as well, lol.

[Malarky]

My lawn boy is pretty OK.

Which is better than DH who is adequate.

And better than DS who is sketchy at best when it comes to the job.

DD has done it once, has managed to duck it altogether since then.  

I flat out refuse to do the lawn at all.  Ever.

That raises my lawn boy to God level, so we don't have to be "those people" who never take care of their yard.  

[Deleted]

Jan 22, 2015 19:39:30 GMT -5 Malarky said:

  

I flat out refuse to do the lawn at all.  Ever.

That raises my lawn boy to God level, ....



Cant get out of text box! .... Anyway... THIS... But with toilets... 

[Formerly SK]

Funny, my cleaning ladies always suck.  How freakin' hard is it to clean a toilet?  Why do they always take shortcuts?  Sigh.

I could make a killing as a housekeeper given the competition around here because I would actually DO THE JOB.  Unfortunately, I hate cleaning. 

[tskeeter]

Jan 22, 2015 19:27:50 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

When people use a recurring service (like a lawn guy, or a cleaning lady) I rarely ever hear anyone say "They are good enough."  My lady always shows up, and she gets it clean enough.  Not crazy clean - but I don't care.  When I hear other people talk about their lady, you would think she comes in and uses a toothbrush on every square inch of their home.  

Are all of my friends really getting a better deal than me?  Did they just happen to find the most amazing cleaning lady on their first or second attempt?  Am I really getting the shaft because the top of my door jambs aren't sanitized?  Or are those people exaggerating how amazing the service is, because admitting that you aren't getting an amazing deal makes you seem a little foolish.

I have one friend who always gets "ridiculously great" deals.  She swears she has financially screwed every car dealer and a/c guy out of their normal profit.  A lot of her self-worth is tied up in her ability to be a great business person - and she is.  But I just think if she admitted that she probably paid approximately what everyone else did, give or take a few bucks, it would shake her confidence.

Am I the weirdo that says "Meh - it works.  I'm too lazy to go in search of the magical perfect person, so this is good."  

Do you think those people with the most amazing everything are lying to themselves - or just me?

They're just living in a world of self dilusion.  Our cleaning lady doesn't do things quite as well as I would.  And she ocassionally breaks or damages something.  But she does it every two weeks.  I'd do it once a quarter, whether it needed it or not.  It's not that the quality of the work is operating room sterile.  It's that I don't have to do it. The same aplied to the lawn service, when we had one.  They weren't as meticulous as I would be about the yard, but I didn't have to do it.  And the mechanic who put new spark plugs and wires in the car.  I didn't have to do it.  And the electrician who wired in the new outlets.  I didn't have to do it.  Then there was the guy who left bubbles and thin spots in the expoy coating on the garage floor.  I did that.

Do I get screaming deals on cars, houses, appliances, home furnishings, and clothes?  Once in a very great while.  Most of the time I try to do OK.  It just isn't worth another half day of my time to save $20.  Especially if it means that eventually, you'll get dear old Dad's AxxHxxx discount (20% more than everyone else, less a 10% discount). 

[Lizard Queen]

The guy who redid my bathroom did a decidedly so-so job, but he was a hell of a lot more reasonable than the other contractors that we hired that also didn't do that great. So, I feel like we got a good deal.

[zibazinski]

My cleaning lady does a good job but I'm making a note for her to clean vent above stove. I can't reach it and it's her job. . She's taller than me.

[Deleted]

Funny to have this thread today. My cleaning service came in for the first time today. 2 girls for 3 hours. I can't believe it took 2 of them THAT long! But stuff is done well. I'm in the category of "they do it better than I do". The house feels really good. I consider my snow guy a god. He lives 2 doors down and the driveway is always done in time for me to head for work. Well if it needs to be. That is usually after the plow has gone by and left a snow bank at the end that I would get stuck in. He is also my mowing guy if I get too busy to get to it. I have a connection for a plumber for $25/hour, and an electrician for the same. I feel lucky there. But I have friends that have friends that do it for free so I'm not getting the best deal of anyone. My mechanic is pretty good I think. He fixes what needs fixing when I bring it in, I've never fainted at the bill and I don't need to see him too often with a 10 year old car so I don't think he's breaking stuff to get more business. I did do really good with my floor guy! He gave me a break for sure.

On the other hand I think I paid more than others would for both of my houses and I didn't get any special deal on my car.

[thyme4change]

Jan 22, 2015 20:39:08 GMT -5 laterbloomer said:

Funny to have this thread today. My cleaning service came in for the first time today. 2 girls for 3 hours. I can't believe it took 2 of them THAT long! But stuff is done well. I'm in the category of "they do it better than I do". The house feels really good. I consider my snow guy a god. He lives 2 doors down and the driveway is always done in time for me to head for work. Well if it needs to be. That is usually after the plow has gone by and left a snow bank at the end that I would get stuck in. He is also my mowing guy if I get too busy to get to it. I have a connection for a plumber for $25/hour, and an electrician for the same. I feel lucky there. But I have friends that have friends that do it for free so I'm not getting the best deal of anyone. My mechanic is pretty good I think. He fixes what needs fixing when I bring it in, I've never fainted at the bill and I don't need to see him too often with a 10 year old car so I don't think he's breaking stuff to get more business. I did do really good with my floor guy! He gave me a break for sure.

On the other hand I think I paid more than others would for both of my houses and I didn't get any special deal on my car.

That initial cleaning is always the best.  After awhile, they phone it in like everyone else.

[Bonny]

I got bids to do the move-out clean for the AZ house yesterday. DH about had a stroke when I told him that they price it based on $25/hr. I think they charge extra for my zip code because I pay less for a lot of services in HCOLA San Diego and VHCOLA SF Bay Area.

[alabamagal]

I always wonder if someone just made those vacuum cleaner tracks on the carpet and did some bleach plus deodorizer smell, then the owner says "wow it is clean"

My lawn guy at my old house was good. When my parents visited my Dad commented " your lawn looks the best it ever has" we had to admit it was the lawn guy.

[siralynn]

Our cleaning lady only does an ok job, but it's way more than we pull off by ourselves, and she's cheap. Same for the yard service.

[ken a.k.a OMK]

We didn't have a cleaning lady, but my MIL would visit and clean. So my wife would clean before she arrived so things didn't look too bad.

[busymom]

Can I say the place that clears my Mom's sidewalks occasionally s_cks?  But, they s_ck less than all of the previous companies we've hired to do the same job.  As the saying goes, good help is hard to find. 

[msventoux]

I don't have a cleaning lady, yard service or someone to plow the driveway.  Someday.  And when that happens I will sing their praises as the most wonderful group of people who have done the greatest jobs ever.  Because I won't have to do it. 

And honestly, I do a pretty crappy job overall of all of the above.  Unless they really sucked and hauled in dirt into the house, weeds into the lawn and dumped snow in my driveway it's unlikely that they would consistently do a worse job than I do. 

[dannylion]

My lawn guy is okay. His main virtue is that he shows up. The previous lawn guy (well, his employees) did a somewhat better job, but they just stopped coming last year, and the business owner did not respond to communications. So, I had to get a new guy. He shows up and does an okay job.  I suppose I could try someone else this year, but this guy is okay. And he shows up. 

[Angel!]

I only had a cleaning service for three months, so perhaps after a time they would have gotten lazier. But, for that short time they were awesome and cleaned far better than I can. They also cleaned a lot of stuff that I never expected. Like they would scrub DS's high chair and I never even paid attention to how dirty the baby gate was until they scrubbed it clean. That gate probably had never been cleaned in 5 years unless someone got jelly on it or something. They were also really fast, they worked their asses off when cleaning.

So either they were really good or I'm lazy and have low standards in cleanliness.

[toomuchreality]

I've had many friends want to hire me, to clean their place. They always say "You don't have to do it, as good, as you do yours." Well, that's the way I clean. And the way I clean, has a lot to do with why they asked me to clean theirs. Although I had one friend ask, and it was a requirement to clean topless.
I have never taken anyone up on their offer. I'd rather help someone out once in a while for free, than feel like I got screwed, because I couldn't claim the amount of hours it actually took, to do what I think is a good job. -I do clean with tooth brushes ((denture brushes work better usually)), Q-tips and dental tools. But the top of my door jambs aren't sanitized!

Just how amazing something is, depends on what you are comparing it to. You're intelligent. I think if you were getting screwed, you'd know it. You're probably just more realistic (honest) than some of the people you've talked to. My guess is that your cleaning person is as good as your friends. And at least she's not crappy, huh?

[thyme4change]

Jan 22, 2015 21:07:18 GMT -5 Bonny said:

I got bids to do the move-out clean for the AZ house yesterday. DH about had a stroke when I told him that they price it based on $25/hr. I think they charge extra for my zip code because I pay less for a lot of services in HCOLA San Diego and VHCOLA SF Bay Area.

I've heard that cleaning services are cheaper in California.  Market wages, of course, are regional.  But, I was trying to figure out why.  Could be so much competition they undercut each other.  I was wondering if it is because California offers better services to low income workers, and therefore they either don't "need" as much or they are actually incentivised to earn below a certain wage.  If it is the latter - I will take my 4% income tax rate vs. whatever double digit rate I would be in CA, and happily pay the extra $15 per week.

[Blonde Granny]

I have very good friend who sometimes drives me crazy with her "it was wonderful, they called us by our first names" it just goes on and on. Ask how the trip was, it becomes "it was amazing, service perfection, of course what we paid for the trip it should be".

She has the finest, the most expensive, the biggest, the best, oh lordy, she just goes on and on. In fact, I don't talk to her as much as I used to because it does just get old.

My cleaning lady starts Monday.  If she keeps the tile floors under control, can dust and clean the bathrooms, I'm good with it.  Chances are she might very well do better than I would.

[tloonya]

Jan 23, 2015 8:18:52 GMT -5 Blonde Granny said:

I have very good friend who sometimes drives me crazy with her "it was wonderful, they called us by our first names" it just goes on and on. Ask how the trip was, it becomes "it was amazing, service perfection, of course what we paid for the trip it should be".

She has the finest, the most expensive, the biggest, the best, oh lordy, she just goes on and on. In fact, I don't talk to her as much as I used to because it does just get old.

My cleaning lady starts Monday.  If she keeps the tile floors under control, can dust and clean the bathrooms, I'm good with it.  Chances are she might very well do better than I would.

 Remember when Fibs from Friends dated Alec Baldwin's character who was excited about everything?
There must be people like that...

[Bonny]

Jan 23, 2015 8:08:19 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

Jan 22, 2015 21:07:18 GMT -5 Bonny said:

I got bids to do the move-out clean for the AZ house yesterday. DH about had a stroke when I told him that they price it based on $25/hr. I think they charge extra for my zip code because I pay less for a lot of services in HCOLA San Diego and VHCOLA SF Bay Area.

I've heard that cleaning services are cheaper in California.  Market wages, of course, are regional.  But, I was trying to figure out why.  Could be so much competition they undercut each other.  I was wondering if it is because California offers better services to low income workers, and therefore they either don't "need" as much or they are actually incentivised to earn below a certain wage.  If it is the latter - I will take my 4% income tax rate vs. whatever double digit rate I would be in CA, and happily pay the extra $15 per week.

I really don't have an answer. My Oceanside (San Diego County) and Carefree (Maricopa Co) are the same size 2900 sq.ft and are both single level with no weird windows. There are more windows in the Carefree house so I expect to pay a little more but it's nearly twice as much. House cleaning is at least 50% more. Both bids were within $50 and they knew they were competing (but not with whom).

As to AZ top state tax (I think it's 4.75%) rate vs CA's 9+% it's pretty much a wash for us. As long as we can keep our income at $100k that's a net of about $2,500. Pretty much covers the extra electric for the A/C.

[Ryan]

My wife is part of this local facebook group where people can ask questions about stuff in the area. I’m not sure what this would be called or why people do it, but it’s almost like people want to be able to make a strong recommendation so they really pump up their choice. I didn’t really notice this in action until I saw all these discussions on preschools. There are basically 2 very popular private preschools/daycares in my area and people tend to RAVE about them. Having sent my kids (at various times) to 3 different preschools (including those 2), I know they aren’t that great. I mean, they put on a nice presentation and can speak intelligently about education, but there is really no difference in the end result and the price is literally 2x the price of park district or church based preschools. I’m not some preschool snob either, I think I’m just expecting more based on a higher price tag . Yet, people just go on and on about how great the program is to the point where people probably say “Wow, I have to have my kids go there!”.

I’ve noticed this with other things on there as well. My daughter took gymnastics at this private facility and it cost like $130 for 6 or 8 weeks. The facility was ok, nothing really all that special but that’s ok. The biggest thing was that there were so many kids jammed into a room that the “instructor” (college kid) spent a lot of time roaming around trying to figure out the next thing they should do. To me, this seems like it would be obvious to anyone that is actually watching the class, but people RAVED about this as well.

I think it comes down to me expecting when I pay for “premium” services. For my $60 cleaning lady, I just want the surfaces cleaned, vacuum, and toilets clean. She’s not great, but for the price she is “good enough”. If I’m being pitched on a premium gymnastics facility and paying 3x more than the park district, then I expect it to be a better experience overall. Maybe other people don’t consider the cost when giving their review?

[Bonny]

Jan 23, 2015 11:17:53 GMT -5 CCL said:

Jan 23, 2015 11:06:44 GMT -5 Bonny said:

I really don't have an answer. My Oceanside (San Diego County) and Carefree (Maricopa Co) are the same size 2900 sq.ft and are both single level with no weird windows. There are more windows in the Carefree house so I expect to pay a little more but it's nearly twice as much. House cleaning is at least 50% more. Both bids were within $50 and they knew they were competing (but not with whom).

As to AZ top state tax (I think it's 4.75%) rate vs CA's 9+% it's pretty much a wash for us. As long as we can keep our income at $100k that's a net of about $2,500. Pretty much covers the extra electric for the A/C.

Maybe they think you are a couple of rich retired people with money to burn?

LOL, they'd be sadly mistaken.

If I could get away with it I'd do it myself and pocket the money but a LL cannot legally deduct the cost of his/her labor.

[cktc]

Jan 22, 2015 21:07:18 GMT -5 Bonny said:

I got bids to do the move-out clean for the AZ house yesterday. DH about had a stroke when I told him that they price it based on $25/hr. I think they charge extra for my zip code because I pay less for a lot of services in HCOLA San Diego and VHCOLA SF Bay Area.

Maybe it is a supply/demand thing. In an HCOLA a lot of people might forgo luxuries like hiring house cleaners, and more people are probably willing to do it to supplement their income. In a LCOLA clients probably have more disposable income, and cleaners aren't as desperate for the bid.

[greeniis10]

The people who claim to have the best house cleaner, yard service, etc. and claim to always get the best deals over everyone else are simply trying to make themselves either feel better or look better or both.  I don't get it.  If I hire someone to do a job around the house and it doesn't get done very well (or at all) it doesn't make ME look bad to say, hey, I made a mistake; hired the wrong person/company.  Lost some money, but live and learn.  Some people think that reflects personally on THEM (DH, I'm talking to you).  It's just life stuff.  It's not all about appearances.