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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Anybody Use A Cleaning Service?
EchoMom 12:02 PM 07-27-2012
Does anyone use a cleaning service??? I'm really torn. My house is small and not some fancy looking new build subdivision house. But working SOOOOOO many hours with the littles at daycare takes up the entire day. I try to clean when they're here, but then I'm just cleaning the entire day and not spending enough time with them and my own DS. My husband and I fight all the time about cleaning duties.

But I work so hard to make my money, I hate to give it away for cleaning that I SHOULD be able to do myself but feel like it's killing me trying to do it all.

I've been looking at prices and it seems it would cost me about $100-$120/biweekly to get a deep clean. $240/month seems like a lot (that's more than my car payment!). However, $120 is less than one child per week.

Thoughts?
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DaisyMamma 12:18 PM 07-27-2012
If I could afford it, I would do it in a heartbeat.
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Breezy 12:24 PM 07-27-2012
Me too! I have a $520 car payment though which DH keeps reminding me! We actually talked about It yesterday. He said he would be my cleaning service and massuese this weekend
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Nickel 12:52 PM 07-27-2012
I am honestly considering it. Here i could get someone to come in and do kitchen bathrooms living room.for about $50/wk. So i am really thinking about it. I have a serious problem with dust no matter how many times i change the filter. Could you maybe go with a deeep clean every other week or a not so.deep.clean every week at a lesser rate?
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Breezy 01:06 PM 07-27-2012
Originally Posted by Nickel:
I am honestly considering it. Here i could get someone to come in and do kitchen bathrooms living room.for about $50/wk. So i am really thinking about it. I have a serious problem with dust no matter how many times i change the filter. Could you maybe go with a deeep clean every other week or a not so.deep.clean every week at a lesser rate?
I hear you on the dust!
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Country Kids 01:13 PM 07-27-2012
My hubs and I have discussed this many times. I told him go for it and don't gripe about the price. I told him it would have to be 5 days a week because the house doesn't get dirty for just one day and I have to have things done on a daily basis do to the childcare.

He hasn't said anything since-
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itlw8 01:17 PM 07-27-2012
I have a dcm that works at one to pay her way through school. SHE does not make the money the company does. She gets $9 an hour... so I pay her $15 an hour in childcare trade. It works for both of us. It makes my life much easier.
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DCMom 01:42 PM 07-27-2012
Originally Posted by itlw8:
I have a dcm that works at one to pay her way through school. SHE does not make the money the company does. She gets $9 an hour... so I pay her $15 an hour in childcare trade. It works for both of us. It makes my life much easier.

I do the same thing, it's soooo nice to go upstairs to a clean house. My dcm makes me her last appointment on Fridays, then 'picks up' dcg when she is done. She does the upstairs bathrooms, floors and dusting basically with whatever else to round out two hours.
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Neekie 03:37 PM 07-27-2012
Yes, I use a cleaning service once every other week. I used to do all my own cleaning, but that was when I still had three girls at home to help out and before my arthritis got so bad that I couldn't do it all by myself anymore. My cleaning gal and her assistant come every other Wednesday night and I pay them 85.00 every time they come. They clean my entire day care area which is the entire upper floor of my house and some of the rooms downstairs where my personal living space is. They do a fantastic job. No sticky left on the edges of tables and chairs, all the edges and corners clean, no cobwebs or dust anywhere. At first I thought they were expensive, but then when I saw how clean my house was I thoiught it was worth every penny of it. My assistants and I still have to clean in-between of cousre and some things need to be cleaned daily, but it sure is nice to have somebody else come in and do that deep cleaning for me twice a month. And it only takes them an hour and a half and they are done and out of here. The first time I had my house professionally cleaned, my parents walked in the next day and said, "It smells so clean in here!" So they actually noticed. Huuummm!!! I wonder what it smelled like before. LOL
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EchoMom 06:31 PM 07-27-2012
Wow, thanks for the input! I'm seriously considering it, I just have no idea what is a good rate. Should I go with a national chain that's more expensive? Or should I look for someone on craigslist/small business. I'm wary of getting someone from CL but then I remember I AM ON CL too! lol! So far I've gotten estimates anywhere from $60-$120 for a bi-weekly clean.

To hire a cleaning service would not be that much considering my DCKs all pay $37/day. So I could pay for the cleaning with the pay of only 1 kid for 2 or 3 days. Worth it!!!
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Nickel 06:38 PM 07-27-2012
I agree it is so worth it! But I'm thinking the same way, I don't want to invite a lune into my home! LOL... Maybe you could post on facebook and see if you get any recommendations. I am actually surprised at the number of people that DO clean houses. Maybe it's the economy
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MaritimeMummy 04:20 AM 07-28-2012
No, I don't use a cleaner. I burn myself out instead.

;-)

If you can afford it, totally get one!! LOL
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Fruitloops1 07:12 AM 07-28-2012
I would!!! I tell my fiance all the time that I would do it in a heartbeat! Our home is over 115 years old!! So it gets dusty fast and it has a lot of the original crown moldings and wood work in the ceiling. Those are a painnn to dust and clean. The ceiling are super tall(12 feet!) and I need a tall ladder to get up there, but I dont like heights and especially standing on top of a tall ladder. just thinking about it makes my stomach hurt!
It would be great to get someone to come and too all the tedious things like the mega dusting, cleaning bathrooms, and wiping down the walls and cabinets. I can handle the maintenance work like sweeping, light dusting, dishes. I hope to find a parent to barter those kind of services with. hmmmm...I wonder where I would advertise for something like that?
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lisadevis 02:54 AM 04-03-2013
I used a clean service after reading reviews of the service. They used Eco- Friendly and green products for cleaning so no bad smell after cleaning. I am satisfied with this service. Now I have Sign a 12 month Cleaning Contract & get 1 FREE MONTH of routine cleaning services from there.
http://www.chamberofcommerce.com/ren...-clean-nation/
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Play Care 03:43 AM 04-03-2013
I'll be the odd ball - I used to use someone, but found it to be more work than it was worth
I've been thinking about having someone come back, but am full M-F so I have no time when they could come. And weekends are out.
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blandino 05:44 AM 04-03-2013
Originally Posted by Play Care:
I'll be the odd ball - I used to use someone, but found it to be more work than it was worth
I've been thinking about having someone come back, but am full M-F so I have no time when they could come. And weekends are out.
Ditto ! We actually had daycare clients who gave us a cleaning service as a gift (for our home, not te daycare). But after working such long hours, and then having to make sure that everything was picked up the night before they came wound up being so stressful. We wound uP dreading the days they came.
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Play Care 06:05 AM 04-03-2013
Originally Posted by blandino:
Ditto ! We actually had daycare clients who gave us a cleaning service as a gift (for our home, not te daycare). But after working such long hours, and then having to make sure that everything was picked up the night before they came wound up being so stressful. We wound uP dreading the days they came.
YES! DH used to tease me about cleaning before the cleaners came!
But he is a "picker upper" and does not understand that true cleaning is much more than just picking up (I mean, it helps and all, but really!) In my case I am in my home for day care, so we would have to find something to do with the kids while they came to clean or have them come on weekends and have to get out and let them have at it. I will say that after they came for about a month or so, the house DID look better and was easier to maintain overall, but the stress of figuring out the logistics canceled that out, IMO.
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Michelle 06:06 AM 04-03-2013
I have a cleaning girl come in 3 times a week and I found her on care.com I had to have someone come in after 6:30pm because they would have to be fingerprinted if they came before 6:30 .. so I just put an ad up that said house keeper needed 6:30-8:30 pm and I listed all the things I needed cleaned, and wrote "can pay $10 per hour"... I had over 100 responses ... so when I was ready to pick one I just payed $35 to care.com to communicate with them and I picked one... it's free to place an ad and I think care.com is safer than craigs list.

This is the smartest thing I have ever done!
We now spend our evenings going to my daughters softball games, shopping, goofing off instead of cleaning!
I can't believe I made it this far without this service! I love it..
I did feel guilty at first but my family comes first.
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KnoxMom 06:12 AM 04-03-2013
Originally Posted by Michelle:
I have a cleaning girl come in 3 times a week and I found her on care.com I had to have someone come in after 6:30pm because they would have to be fingerprinted if they came before 6:30 .. so I just put an ad up that said house keeper needed 6:30-8:30 pm and I listed all the things I needed cleaned, and wrote "can pay $10 per hour"... I had over 100 responses ... so when I was ready to pick one I just payed $35 to care.com to communicate with them and I picked one... it's free to place an ad and I think care.com is safer than craigs list.

This is the smartest thing I have ever done!
We now spend our evenings going to my daughters softball games, shopping, goofing off instead of cleaning!
I can't believe I made it this far without this service! I love it..
I did feel guilty at first but my family comes first.
Thanks for sharing; I am really considering this! Also, it's a tax write-off. I'm just wondering is it worth more to claim the time you work w/o children present vs. the expense of hiring a cleaning company..
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AmyKidsCo 07:13 AM 04-03-2013
My own kids are 17, 14, 8 & 6 and I have them help out with the cleaning so I personally wouldn't get a cleaning service. (Not to mention we can't afford it...) My mom (a teacher) did for several years when she had some really rough classes and she was too worn out from teaching to clean, and said it was money well spent.

I say go for it if you can afford it and feel it's worth the money!

PS - I pay my older kids to do some of the more intensive jobs like clean out the refrigerator, clean/organize the pantry, scrub the stove, plus any of my usual chores that they want to do. It gives me extra help and they get a way to earn extra money when they need it.
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Meeko 07:16 AM 04-03-2013
Originally Posted by EchoMom:
Does anyone use a cleaning service???
Yep...it's called "Husband"
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originalkat 09:23 AM 04-03-2013
I am considering having someone come in once a month for deep cleaning. A provider friend of mine uses a lady that charges $70 for 3 hours. She said she is very thorough, but not all that fast. But I keep things pretty clean...I could just use the help with the deep cleaning.
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EntropyControlSpecialist 11:18 AM 04-03-2013
In my dreams.
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wdmmom 11:22 AM 04-03-2013
I found a lady on Craigslist a few weeks ago looking for extra income. She comes in 1 night a week and charges me $10 per hour. It usually costs me about $25 or so a week and it's tax deductible. Very wise investment for me. Especially with summer coming. I'd much rather be enjoying the sun and gardening than cleaning.
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MamaBearCanada 11:25 AM 04-03-2013
I have a team of 2 come for 2 hours every other week for me it is well worth the money. They were recommended by a relative and do a much better job than the professional companies we tried. They cost less too. If I could afford it I'd have them come every week.
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coolconfidentme 03:50 AM 06-25-2014
Originally Posted by Meeko:
Yep...it's called "Husband"
What she said!!! I am so fortunate to have him too. NONE of my friends hubsters mop. let alone know where it is...
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Little Buttons 05:10 AM 06-25-2014
I personally love to clean, but if I could hire someone to come wash, dry, fold and put away the laundry...now that would be my own personal heaven on earth!!!

I think you have to weigh out the cost vs. the stress keeping up with the cleaning is causing and the value of your time for other things. For everyone that is a different answer.

If I were to have my house cleaned I would definately choose a private cleaning person! Cleaning chains are not very fair or kind to their employees :-\ I would ask around for reccomendations, but as long as you do your due diligence with a background check and calling references finding someone online can be safe.
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spud912 07:40 AM 06-25-2014
I would love to but that is out of my budget.

With that being said, the few times I DID have a house cleaner, I thought it was not worth the expense. I am really OCD when it comes to cleaning and I just found that they do not meet my standards. For example, when I clean the bathrooms, I also wash the floor mats and towels; I scrub the walls, doors and baseboards; I hand scrub portions of the floor before I steam mop it; and I dust the light fixtures. Most companies do not go to that length unless they are significantly paid higher. It seems their main objective is to make everything look nice and tidy, not deep clean.
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Leigh 08:18 AM 06-25-2014
Originally Posted by spud912:
I would love to but that is out of my budget.

With that being said, the few times I DID have a house cleaner, I thought it was not worth the expense. I am really OCD when it comes to cleaning and I just found that they do not meet my standards. For example, when I clean the bathrooms, I also wash the floor mats and towels; I scrub the walls, doors and baseboards; I hand scrub portions of the floor before I steam mop it; and I dust the light fixtures. Most companies do not go to that length unless they are significantly paid higher. It seems their main objective is to make everything look nice and tidy, not deep clean.
Agree 100%. I have hired cleaners to help me catch up a few times, and I have had to go behind them and redo EVERYTHING. One considered cleaning my oven to just turn on the self clean (I can do that myself in 5 seconds!). ALL of them have missed very obvious things that needed to be done even after I pointed out and provided a list of what needs to be done. It saves me a lot of heartache to just do it myself (then I don't have to obsess over the wasted money!). I know I COULD just have them come back and redo and actually clean the house, but I figure they'll just leave it messy and me more frustrated.
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