Convince me to hiring a cleaning service...

OK...so I just had someone come by and give me an estimate to clean the entire house biweekly. (4 beds, 3 1/2 baths, full basement, sunroom, kitchen, living, dining, family room..$120 each cleaning). Is that a good price? I just feel guilty for some reason hiring someone to clean my house. But we need it becasue I work from home, DH works long hours and the last thing on my mind is getting on my knees and scrubbing my baseboards. Why do I feel wierd about this!???

Re: Convince me to hiring a cleaning service...

wow!! that's alot of money!

Re: Convince me to hiring a cleaning service...

Thats what I need to know also....what is the going rate. This was a cleaning service not an individual. My house is big....3500 sq feet. (I'm no LI millionare...we live in Cincinnati!)

Message edited 3/20/2007 1:36:42 PM.

Re: Convince me to hiring a cleaning service...

to me that is a good price - in boston i am quoated $100 - every other week to clean by 800 sqare feet 1 bedroom condo

Re: Convince me to hiring a cleaning service...

I wish I could get a cleaning service and we only rent.

I think that price is about right though. MY inlaws have one and they pay $120. 4 bedrooms 2 1/2 baths but no sunroom or basement. MIL thinks the price is high though.

Re: Convince me to hiring a cleaning service...

it doesnt sound expensive for the amount of rooms you mentioned.
maybe you can cut it down to most important things/harder things to clean if that would cut the price a little.

you deserve it, dont feel bad !

im still trying to get myself to hire one too i just feel like I have to clean up before they get here

Re: Convince me to hiring a cleaning service...

I totally understand where you are coming from. I work from home too and have a one year old who just loves to wipe her sticky paws on the stainless steel fridge, ove and dishwasher before she proceeds to the sliding glass doors and leaves her mark there....my house seems to be dirty all the time.

I have had both single cleaners and cleaning services. I dont like the cleaning services as they just invade your house - I ran down to the basement when one crew arrived as they were like a swarm of bees with their mops and buckets ...

I have a 4 bed/ 2 bath with a living / kitchen area. The cleaning service were here for an hour and half and charged $70. I usually pay a cleaning person by herself $20 an hour.

I am going to start getting someone on a regular basis every two weeks starting this week....actually just made the decision this morning.

I mind my DD as well as work so the money I save on childcare can be used towards a cleaner.

I think an average of $20 per hour per cleaner is the rate but depends on where you are.

I am in E. hampton and the going rate here is $20 - $25 per hour.

Re: Convince me to hiring a cleaning service...

My house is 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, living room, dining room 2 floors colonial style. I pay $75 every other week..i live in KIngs Park..fm if interested i will give you their #..they are great!

Re: Convince me to hiring a cleaning service...

wow, that's a large house you have!

I hired a cleaning lady and I felt the same way at first - it was odd to me since I was a SAHM and thought it was part of my "job". But my DH travels often, works long hours and my dd doesn't nap so there's only so much I can get done during the week!

For us, it's WELL worth the cost - it's great to have someone come in and help every 2 wks - then the cleaning in between is much easier to manage.

Re: Convince me to hiring a cleaning service...

Re: Convince me to hiring a cleaning service...

I think that sounds about right. You have a very large house. My sister pays more then that and her house sounds just a little but bigger.

Re: Convince me to hiring a cleaning service...

Personally, I had a really hard time coming to terms with letting someone else clean my house. I like doing it myself because I know its done right. I ended up hiring someone about 6 months ago and I am SOOO glad that I did. It was weird at first, but Im really happy I took the plunge! Just one less thing to worry about, and it gives me so much more time to be with my kids, cook dinner, sit down for 5 mins!!!! Give it a shot...what do you have to loose?

Re: Convince me to hiring a cleaning service...

My house is a little bigger, and I would say that sounds about right. I am in the Smithtown area, and I would be happy to pay that if they really cleaned the right way. I have never been happy with a service but I guess it depends on the service. My advice is to be really clear on what you want done, how often you want it done and be there the first few times to make sure its getting done properly. Cleaning is the bane of my existence. But I did find that when my children were younger this kind of help was invaluable but now that they are older, they really live in my entire house and I am always cleaning anyway.

Good luck whatever you decide.

Re: Convince me to hiring a cleaning service...

Sounds like a lot to me, our house is 3BR, 2 1/2 bath, large family room, dining room, living room...every other week is $70.

Re: Convince me to hiring a cleaning service...

i know what youre saying, for $120 I would feel guilty also. Im not sure if that is a normal price for where you are, can you find out from neighbors in the area or other moms if they can rec. a cleaning person, and what the going rate is? I pay $70 every week, and I have 5 bedrooms 5 bathrooms and a basement w/tons of toys...and Im comfortable with that amount. I priced around tho, and merrymaids and some other services wanted up to $180 for the same job!

Re: Convince me to hiring a cleaning service...

It will be the best decision you ever made!!!! I love having a cleaning person - it makes every other monday my favorite day! I love coming home to a clean house, and being able to spend more time with my ds on the weekends.

Re: Convince me to hiring a cleaning service...

I hired merry maids, and they charged me $300, I almost passed out, when I got the bill, but again the house was clean and I did have to do it.

Re: Convince me to hiring a cleaning service...

That sounds a little expensive. I was paying $50 for cleaning every other week for a townhouse, 2 bedroom, a loft, 2 baths. I will tell you who NOT to use. Alfeo's Cleaning Service. They cleaned the bathrooms and kitchen great, but they didn't dust ever. Also, one day I had a dirty washcloth that was on the side of the tub. They cleaned the entire bathroom spotless then folded up the DIRTY washcloth with long strands of hair hanging off of it and put it on the side of the sink. WTH?!

Also, that same cleaning, my son's autographed hockey picture that was in his room somehow made it's way downstairs in the living room. I think they were going to steal it, but forgot or something.

Needless to say, I fired them that night.