Cost of Having Your Home Cleaned

[movingforward]

Is anyone paying to have their home cleaned? How often/how much/how many sq ft?

I have been having my home cleaned once a month for the past 5 years. I have some minor back issues so moping all my hardwood flooring and cleaning the bath tub is not great for me. With no kids, I can have the house deep cleaned once a month and then only have to do some dusting and wipe down kitchen and bathroom counters in between. It's been glorious but the cost of my cleaning service is starting to get out of hand. They do a great job but I'm thinking I might have to cancel and/or look elsewhere.

My home is 1400 sq ft. When I first hired them it was $120 a month. I thought this was pretty reasonable. Then it went to $145 in 2021. Okay, still not bad...then in 2022 it jumped to $170, which I thought was getting a bit steep. I received a notice that they are now going to $200. I think this is pushing past my comfort zone for cleaning service.

[pulmonarymd]

Just under 3000 sq ft home. 2 adults, a dog and a cat.

$160 every 2 weeks for full clean alternating with $60 every 2 weeks to do downstairs, our bedroom, and our bathroom. Worth every penny. She does a good job, and since we both work full time, we don't have to spend our free time doing it. Just have to touch up.

We live in New England

[movingforward]

May 24, 2023 15:57:06 GMT -5 pulmonarymd said:

Just under 3000 sq ft home. 2 adults, a dog and a cat.

$160 every 2 weeks for full clean alternating with $60 every 2 weeks to do downstairs, our bedroom, and our bathroom. Worth every penny. She does a good job, and since we both work full time, we don't have to spend our free time doing it. Just have to touch up.

We live in New England

This seems really reasonable for a 3,000 sq ft home. Mine is half that size so $200 just seems a bit much.

[kadee79]

I had a gal for awhile, but she lied to me about why she couldn't come one Saturday...DON'T LIE TO ME!  So I'm back without help again.  It took me 3 yrs. to find her.  I worked with her aunt in the past, that was how I found her in the first place.  
Our house is almost 1900 sq. ft., but I was only having her clean parts of it each time she came.  So that the whole thing was cleaned after 4 weeks...and I was still doing the bathrooms myself.  I'm picky.

I was paying her $20 an hour and an extra $5 for gas since we live rural & she lived in town.   And I'm in a very low cost of living area so she was getting premium $$.  There are some services on the net & they want $150 for about 2-3 hrs. work...sorry, I'm not paying that much.  I'll live in a dirty house first.

I have major back problems...spinal stenosis....I can hardly stand for more than 10-30 min. depending on what I'm doing.  I have found a scrubber that lets me scrub our tubs/showers....I'll have to find it at Amazon for a link...here is a link...

www.amazon.com/Oraimo-Electric-Adjustable-Extension-Replaceable/dp/B09WJFD87S/ref=sr_1_4_sspa?crid=2HKFN6REH4ULD&keywords=bathroom+scrubber+electric&qid=1684962466&sprefix=bathroom+scrubber%2Caps%2C542&sr=8-4-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExSkVGNEpLT0hLU0o0JmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNDcwNTc3Q0xHQVpXUzlFMzZBJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTAzMDI0NzhXNDBKRTkyNUI0NlYmd2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGYmYWN0aW9uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl

But before you buy one at Amazon, check your local Lowe's or even Walmart.  DH got my last one at Lowe's a LOT cheaper.  And if you get one...let it do it's work, don't push it too hard, just go over things several times & it will clean it.  It does nearly as good as me on my knees with a heavy duty scrub brush used to do.

[raeoflyte]

We haven't had a housekeeper since the pandemic so I won't speak to cost. But I would shop around a bit. I recommend avoiding the commercial places though because they pay their people so little (not paid for drive time, they buy their own supplies, provide the vehicle, etc).

[Pink Cashmere]

May 24, 2023 16:14:12 GMT -5 kadee79 said:

I had a gal for awhile, but she lied to me about why she couldn't come one Saturday...DON'T LIE TO ME!  So I'm back without help again.  It took me 3 yrs. to find her.  I worked with her aunt in the past, that was how I found her in the first place.  
Our house is almost 1900 sq. ft., but I was only having her clean parts of it each time she came.  So that the whole thing was cleaned after 4 weeks...and I was still doing the bathrooms myself.  I'm picky.

I was paying her $20 an hour and an extra $5 for gas since we live rural & she lived in town.   And I'm in a very low cost of living area so she was getting premium $$.  There are some services on the net & they want $150 for about 2-3 hrs. work...sorry, I'm not paying that much.  I'll live in a dirty house first.

I have major back problems...spinal stenosis....I can hardly stand for more than 10-30 min. depending on what I'm doing.  I have found a scrubber that lets me scrub our tubs/showers....I'll have to find it at Amazon for a link...here is a link...

www.amazon.com/Oraimo-Electric-Adjustable-Extension-Replaceable/dp/B09WJFD87S/ref=sr_1_4_sspa?crid=2HKFN6REH4ULD&keywords=bathroom+scrubber+electric&qid=1684962466&sprefix=bathroom+scrubber%2Caps%2C542&sr=8-4-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExSkVGNEpLT0hLU0o0JmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNDcwNTc3Q0xHQVpXUzlFMzZBJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTAzMDI0NzhXNDBKRTkyNUI0NlYmd2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGYmYWN0aW9uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl

But before you buy one at Amazon, check your local Lowe's or even Walmart.  DH got my last one at Lowe's a LOT cheaper.  And if you get one...let it do its work, don't push it too hard, just go over things several times & it will clean it.  It does nearly as good as me on my knees with a heavy duty scrub brush used to do.

Thank you for posting this and the link. Mister and I both hate cleaning our shower. Something like this would make it so much easier.

[NastyWoman]

1300sqf living alone. Cleaning lady comes once a month to give everything a good scrubbing down. I pay her $105/session. As far as I am concerned her work is priceless as I hate cleaning and things would not get cleaned as well as they should without her!  If/when I ever get to the point that my budget is getting really tight she would be among the last of my luxuries I am willing to give up.

[Pink Cashmere]

Sometimes I think I want to have someone come do a deep cleaning of my house every once in a while. But I’m weird about having people I don’t know well in my home.

At my first house, I took spring cleaning seriously, but not since we moved here. I always scheduled a vacation in May, and used that time to tend to my house. Idk if it’s the size of this house or what, it’s almost twice the size of my first house. And when I lived alone in the other house, after I did my spring cleaning, it was fairly easy to maintain. The biggest issue there was dust lol.

This house is 2500sf and I have no idea what the average cost is in this area for deep cleaning. This house requires a lot more work than my first one, inside and outside. I really like this house, and love that the layout is such that Mister and I can get some time to ourselves in different parts of the house and not disturb each other. I just can’t seem to find my groove here though, in more ways than just cleaning.

[zibazinski]

1977 sq Ft get $200 every two weeks here in Tampa.

[TheOtherMe]

I happily pay $120 per month to have my house cleaned and it will be one of the last things to ever go.  

I am in the Midwest.  

[movingforward]

May 24, 2023 16:14:12 GMT -5 kadee79 said:

I had a gal for awhile, but she lied to me about why she couldn't come one Saturday...DON'T LIE TO ME!  So I'm back without help again.  It took me 3 yrs. to find her.  I worked with her aunt in the past, that was how I found her in the first place.  
Our house is almost 1900 sq. ft., but I was only having her clean parts of it each time she came.  So that the whole thing was cleaned after 4 weeks...and I was still doing the bathrooms myself.  I'm picky.

I was paying her $20 an hour and an extra $5 for gas since we live rural & she lived in town.   And I'm in a very low cost of living area so she was getting premium $$.  There are some services on the net & they want $150 for about 2-3 hrs. work...sorry, I'm not paying that much.  I'll live in a dirty house first.

I have major back problems...spinal stenosis....I can hardly stand for more than 10-30 min. depending on what I'm doing.  I have found a scrubber that lets me scrub our tubs/showers....I'll have to find it at Amazon for a link...here is a link...

www.amazon.com/Oraimo-Electric-Adjustable-Extension-Replaceable/dp/B09WJFD87S/ref=sr_1_4_sspa?crid=2HKFN6REH4ULD&keywords=bathroom+scrubber+electric&qid=1684962466&sprefix=bathroom+scrubber%2Caps%2C542&sr=8-4-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExSkVGNEpLT0hLU0o0JmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNDcwNTc3Q0xHQVpXUzlFMzZBJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTAzMDI0NzhXNDBKRTkyNUI0NlYmd2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGYmYWN0aW9uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl

But before you buy one at Amazon, check your local Lowe's or even Walmart.  DH got my last one at Lowe's a LOT cheaper.  And if you get one...let it do it's work, don't push it too hard, just go over things several times & it will clean it.  It does nearly as good as me on my knees with a heavy duty scrub brush used to do.

Thank you so much for posting the link. I'm definitely going to try it!

I just cancelled my cleaning service. I think I will eventually start having my home cleaned once a month again but I'm going to attempt to do it all myself this summer. My cat is old and recently diagnosed with cancer so stressing him out with strangers in the house cleaning is probably not a good idea anyway.

I think when I do decide to have a cleaner again, I will try and find an individual as opposed to going through a cleaning service like I have been using.

[Rukh O'Rorke]

May 24, 2023 16:14:12 GMT -5 kadee79 said:

I had a gal for awhile, but she lied to me about why she couldn't come one Saturday...DON'T LIE TO ME!  So I'm back without help again.  

I'm not sure what the issue is here - did you quiz her on why she wasn't coming? Can she just not say - not able to make it reschedule for x or see you next week?

If she felt compelled to give a reason but didn't want to say the real one, I just don't see an issue.

[Artemis Windsong]

I/we don't like having workers in our house.

I got real soured on house cleaners when my Dad/Mom decided to help out a family in bad financial straights.  Mom died.  Then, Dad's buying the young gal a tricked out corvette.  Giving her money for a kiss on the cheek.  My brother had to get Dad to do a trust or she would have gotten away with his estate.

Late bro followed in his boot steps.

 

[laterbloomer]

May 25, 2023 13:30:11 GMT -5 Rukh O'Rorke said:

May 24, 2023 16:14:12 GMT -5 kadee79 said:

I had a gal for awhile, but she lied to me about why she couldn't come one Saturday...DON'T LIE TO ME!  So I'm back without help again.  

I'm not sure what the issue is here - did you quiz her on why she wasn't coming? Can she just not say - not able to make it reschedule for x or see you next week?

If she felt compelled to give a reason but didn't want to say the real one, I just don't see an issue.

That's what I was thinking. She should have just been able to say she wouldn't be there Saturday. She wasn't obligated to give any reason at all.

[azucena]

In StL, I'm paying $30/hour and it takes 4 hours to clean about 1200 sq feet - kitchen, dining room, living room, hallway, master bedroom, two bathrooms. We purposefully skip the kids' rooms bc they usually aren't picked up enough and it's on them to clean their rooms. Every once is a while, we add them in and she charges me an extra hour.

Deep cleaning is $40/hour.

Part of why I like this cleaner is she's open to what I want to focus on and what I want to skip. Maybe you can find someone like that. If I skip too much (which is rare), then she charges for deep cleaning that space to catch back up which is fair.

[TheOtherMe]

I can also request a deep cleaning which costs more.  I did that after the shower project because of all the white dust.  

If these blood clots every clear up and I can get back on schedule, I want to do that again.  

[debthaven]

We pay $350-$400/month for weekly cleaning, 3h/week. Our cleaner charges the equivalent of $20/hr and she comes for 3h every Thursday. Some months have 4 Thursdays and some months have 5 Thursdays, that's why it varies. We're in France, so we pay an additional 50% of her salary in social charges/taxes.

Now that it's just the two of us, I'd have preferred to reduce to every other week, but that doesn't exist here. We've had her for 8 years and we adore her. She's getting older too. She's a gem. 

She has had her share of health issues. She used to work 50-60h/week, now she works only 30h/week. She's a trained paralegal, but her French is poor so she started cleaning when she moved to France to be with her BF.

We had new windows put in a few weeks ago, at great expense. She told me, the installers are supposed to clean the windows. I told the contractor, who promised to clean them. After three weeks of waiting, she borrowed the material from close friends of ours that she also cleans for (with their permission of course!) and announced that she was coming today to finally clean the windows, since the installers still hadn't done it, and she wanted it done LOL.

She also used to take care of Bunny when he was alive. And she'd sometimes drive my kids to the train station when they were younger.

She is priceless to me/us. But she's an individual, not a company. I'm guessing that may make a difference.

She is our second-most expensive monthly payment, after the loan to renovate the rental we had renovated two years ago. 

She's worth every penny IMO.

We are both getting older. We both take care of and look out for each other. Priceless. 

ETA: She needed a car seat for her grandson's visit. I very happily lent her ours. (Needless to say we also gave her grandson a generous birth present.)

[debthaven]

TBH, part of me regrets that we can't do every-other-week or monthly cleaning here ... and part of me is thankful. It definitely costs us, but it's SO NICE to come home to a super clean house every week!

[Pink Cashmere]

When I was a child, my Grandmother use to clean other people’s homes for a living. I often tagged along with her when she was babysitting me. That was way back when, and she charged $30/day.

I still remember a few of her clients. One had a schnauzer named Pepper. When something happened to my Mom’s car, she offered to let my Mom drive one of hers until she could get another car. Another client, their child or somebody that was closely related to them ended up being one of my classmates. That was the same client who one time my Grandmother took my younger brother with her to work and he was playing with their child or relative that was the same age as my brother, when he asked my brother why his hair was so “bumpy”. My brother said “because I’m Black” and that was the end of the conversation and they kept playing.

There was one client that I remember the most. She was a widow and her adult daughter had a good job, but still lived with her Mom. I think they were the kind of family where daughters don’t necessarily move out until/unless they get married. Her daughter wasn’t still living at home because she was a mooch. I have a lot of vague memories of them from my early childhood, they were good people. After my Grandmother stopped working, she and this client stayed in touch, because they had become friends. 

When my Grandmother died, they both came to the hood to attend my Grandmother’s funeral. I recognized them and they recognized me when we saw each other, even though we hadn’t seen each other since I was in elementary school. I remember the Mom’s last name because I always referred to her as Ms. Last Name, but I don’t remember their first names. 

Anyway, just some memories that this thread sparked.

[thyme4change]

1600 Sq feet $140 every two weeks. They started at $120 in late 2019. She bumped it when gas hit 5 bucks a gallon. She definitely wasn’t using 4 gallons of gas to get to me, but prices also jumped for cleaning supplies and everything else.

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Last house, through the spring of 2022, rural area, small town of 4,000: 2100 square feet; 1500 of it was hard wood floors plus the one bathroom with tile and one bathroom with pretend wood floor (what's the word for that?). I only had the floors mopped and the bathrooms cleaned every other Thursday. It was two hours each week. I provided all of the cleaning supplies. It was $20/hour when we first started, and five years into that I had increased it to $25/hour. 

This house, hired the cleaning company in July 2022, still a rural area, but the town is 35,000: 3950 square feet with mostly carpet. The owner of the company has a three-hour minimum at $120 total. They provide all materials--including bringing in their own vacuum and replacing our bathroom trashcans with their own bags. I have the downstairs floors cleaned and the downstairs bathrooms cleaned. Sometimes, depending on how much company we've had/will have, they clean the upstairs bedrooms and bathrooms. They do a decent job, but I'm a white-glove type of person. Also, there are at least three different people who have come into clean, so I'm never quite sure what's going to happen. One of them clearly doesn't do as good a job as the other two. Last, there is confusion as to whether I want certain things done or if I just want three hours worth of work completed. 

[Rukh O'Rorke]

May 27, 2023 14:19:51 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

1600 Sq feet $140 every two weeks. They started at $120 in late 2019. She bumped it when gas hit 5 bucks a gallon. She definitely wasn’t using 4 gallons of gas to get to me, but prices also jumped for cleaning supplies and everything else.

I am at a similar cost - 140 each week, but I supply the supplies. House is 1850 but 2 bedrooms not included in the weekly cleaning, so likely about 1600? Maybbe only 1500.

[saveinla]

100$ every 2 weeks for 1250sq ft 2 bed 2 bath. No pets or kids.