irvinehomeowner said:
Going to make this its own topic:
ps9 said:
Just had our house cleaned by a maid for the first time, it was $200 for the initial visit, two cleaning ladies from 8-2, it was initially $150 but then we got offered $50 to clean the windows as well. We thought it was a good deal. The lady also cleans at least two of my neighbors for many years, so it was a fairly easy vetting process. After the initial visit deep cleaning, each visit will be $70 for 5 bed/4 bath house. Bought them breakfast and lunch. Windows weren't streak free/OCD clean but for $50, it was a no brainer. Had them use our vacuum instead of theirs. Prepping for the maids took a lot of work as well, another incentive to having a cleaning service: you end up de-cluttering monthly in order to get the most bang for the buck for your $70!
That's one of my nitpicks... why do we have to clean before the cleaner comes?
Interesting that you fed them, are you going to do that every time?
We pay more than that on a smaller house so that makes me wonder if we are overpaying. It's not an official licensed service either, just someone from people we know so she is trustworthy.
The one we used to have was less but she kept breaking things and not owning up to it. One time she broke a faucet and didn't tell us and I discovered it leaking and had to replace the faucet cartridge.
Thanks IHO, you're the unofficial moderator for TI. As for feeding them, it was simple, just bagels and pizza, it was also what we were eating. Hopefully they're not diabetic, as it would be carb overload. And more calories equal work harder, right? I'll give them some 5 hr energy drinks next time
The main thing for hiring a maid is trust: remember she gets to go through all your "dirty laundry" and the entire house will be exposed, including what security you have (oooohh, they have a stick in the sliding door rails, forget that house!), and whatever valuables you happen to lay out. If anything happens at least she'll know that she'll lose my two neighbors as customers as well. But if we keep it at once per month, it will be hard for them to pick up any of our life patterns and we can plan vacations easier as well.
Yeah, it was mostly de-cluttering, moving stuff away from windows and off floors so they can do a good cleaning, still requires a lot of work though. It was nice to see my counter tops again. We'll see how this goes, will be a nice change to be able to find stuff around the house. Wife asked me "where's that packet of blue card stock I bought?" and I knew exactly where it was!
