Maid

It shouldn't cost anywhere close to $500, though I've never had a maid wash walls for me before. I used to live in a two story, three bedroom townhouse. 2.5 bathrooms. When I had a service come a couple of times a year, I probably spent about $150. It was a deep clean, but did not involve washing the walls. That townhouse was about 1500 square feet.

Now, I have a 2800+ square foot house with 3 full bathrooms, five bedrooms (two are offices) and a bonus room (plus living, family dining & kitchen). I have a cleaner come every two weeks and she charges me $80.

Pull out the stove?

I think it would be better to have someone come in once a month, for a lot less money, to clean showers, floors, etc. If cleaning is kept up, I don't think you need to worry about moving furniture and washing walls. I can't tell you how much once a month would cost, though.

I have over 4000SF and I paid $145 plus tip ( $175 total) for once a month.

I hate having cleaners in my house because they work fast and are not always as careful as I am ..,broken or bent blind slats. Ugh

My preference is 1-2 times a year overhaul and I've never paid more than $400 including tip.

I just need someone to help me. Now that daughter moved out, my upstairs is empty so upstairs doesn't need so much.

Eta... No washing walls our pulling out appliances here.

ETA: My home is 3K sqft, 5 beds, 3 baths, my service comes weekly. $85 a week. they do NOT wash my walls. They change the sheets on our beds, vacuum and wash the floors, clean the bathrooms, dust and wipe down baseboards....that's the closest they get to wiping down walls.

Can you explain why you feel your walls need to be washed? Do your kids walk down the hall with their hands on the walls??

Lilly

Why not just get a regular service? Seriously. It will take the load off you and really? A clean home is important to keep diseases away.

The "clean" you are talking about is a move-out clean. Which is done when the house is empty. And since you are still living there? It probably won't be done. I'm sure there are services that do pull out stoves, refrigerators, etc. I know my service will clean my oven and refrigerator for me for an extra service. However, they do NOT pull them out. They do stick attachments under them to pick up any food or dust bunnies that have accumulated under them.

Now I need you to HEAR this...you are NOT a failure. You are NOT some mythical creature like "wonder W.". You have MORE than a full plate. Give yourself a freaking break. Stop beating yourself up over this.

It does NOT matter if you were raised by a tightwad. This has NOTHING to do with being a tight-wad. This is about you being able to meet your goals in life and have a clean house while you do it.

Hire a cleaning service to come in regularly. They won't wash the walls, at least not any service I've ever used....

Pat yourself on the back...girl - you are going to school full time and work full time and raising a family. Give yourself a break. Congratulate yourself and hire a service.

My husband and I work full time, have two small children and I'm about to go back to school for my doctorate. Cleaning my house is simply not a priority. I have a biweekly cleaner who comes in for $80 and does floors, bathrooms, kitchen, etc. It's not great (I think she skimps on the dusting) but it's certainly better than anything I have to do. It's tough sometimes to come up with the money but in the end, it is worth every penny. After working all day, the last thing I want to do on the weekends is work. That's my time to enjoy my family.

Get a biweekly cleaner. It will change your life. If mine makes me a failure, I'd gladly accept that title.

If you are working full time twice a month is COMPLETLEY reasonable and doable.
And no, pulling out the stove and washing down walls is not normal. I'm a very tidy housekeeper with professional help and this has NEVER happened (dirty walls, like handprints and smudges, are cleaned up as they happen, only baseboards need to be deep cleaned sometimes.)
Just call around and get some estimates. It's not going to cost you anything to do that, but they probably will want to come out and actually see your place before giving you an estimate.
I'm not sure what things cost where you live, because it varies, but I am guessing if it's every other week and nothing heavy it will be around $60-$75 per cleaning.
Worth. Every. Cent.
ETA: why do YOU need to handle it all? What does your husband do? Does he do all the yard work and car repairs? Does he cook, clean, do laundry, etc? It takes TWO people (at least) to take care of a home and family, especially when both are working full time!!!

There is a service here locally that does what you are talking about - a very thorough deep clean. I plan to have them do my house once or twice a year, more than that is too much money. I do have a bi-weekly cleaner, these people do the heavy duty cleaning you are talking about. Their prices are:
Up to 2,000 sq ft: $300 for a full day. (About 16 man hours)
Up to 2,500 sq ft: $400 for a full day or day and 1/2 (About 24 man hours)
Up to 3,000 sq ft: $600 for 2 full days (About 32 man hours)
Up to 3,500 sq ft: $700 for 2 full days We will most likely bring 3 people.
Up to 4,000 sq ft: $800 for 2 full days. We will most likely bring 3 people.

lilly, my dear, i have to poke you gently in the eye for considering yourself a 'failure' for not pulling out the stove or washing the walls when your plate is already overflowing.
i think an occasional cleaner is just the thing. they likely won't do all THAT unless you pay out big bucks. but i think what you should do is simply to revise your thinking on what a reasonably clean house looks like.
khairete
S.

The kind of work you are talking about would fall under an hourly rate. So find what the hourly rate is in your area and figure out how many man hours you think you are looking at.

Having worked for a cleaning service and now using them myself, I really think you'd be better off , If your budget allows, to get a once monthly cleaning service that just cleans surfaces, and do the extra detail cleaning yourself.

I say this because I think that hired help is not always as thorough at the details as you'd want them to be. And because some of the details you want done aren't part of most standard cleaning services, You'd really need to be there to babysit the work. I'm sure there are exceptions to this. But ask anyone on here who uses hired house cleaning help and you will hear a pretty common theme.

(FYI, you are describing what I would guess to be a 2000 s.f. home. With regular maintenance, your house would take about 5-6 hours on a standard cleaning. If things are really getting let go (no judgment, just the reality of busy people) and showers and microwaves really a mess then a twice yearly on a house like that would be about 10-12 man hours) And that does not include walls, or windows. Standard surface cleaning means bathroom fixtures, showers, tubs, floors, take out trash, cob web, dust furniture, vacuum cpt., kitchen sinks, counters, inside of micro, and outside of appliances, change sheets/ make beds.)

I often did a standard cleaning at a set price and then stayed on hourly to catch a few details

And please don't feel like a failure. America has such a self- contained do- it- yourself mentality about their households. But hired help for families is common throughout history and the world and you should not feel bad at all. Besides, all you are doing after all is creating lovely clean space and a bit of time for you to enjoy your family time at home better.

Just out off curiosity why would you need to wash the walls? I have a service that comes monthly. It costs me $155. I think for what you have described it will be a specialty thing and will cost way more than$500. Especially if you only call them once or twice a year.

Wow. In the 12 years I was a SAHM I don't think I ever washed walls or pulled out the stove to clean! Do people really do that 2x year? I spot clean walls. My stove was pulled out when I bought a new one and again when my kitchen was reno'd.

Look at your mortgage papers to find out your square footage. I think most maid services go by size.

ETA: MY walls aren't filthy. They aren't even dirty. The kids are taught not to touch the walls, they wash their hands when they are dirty, and if a kid does leave a dirty handprint I clean it off right away. I clean up spills right away. I clean around light switches. Otherwise my walls don't get dirty.

I have to agree that you are way better off getting someone once every 2 or 3 weeks to clean. It's easier to clean as you go than to do big cleanings twice a year. Then you can schedule yourself a fall and spring cleaning to do some of the bigger projects on your own.

Even if you do hire someone to deep clean twice a year, if you use don't use a service (just a regular person) it should be way less than $600.

I have a lady who comes every Thursday. I love Thursdays!!

She doesn't pull out the stove. No one could. Its a commercial stove way to heavy. Washing the walls? Nope. But I need to mention that to her because I noticed the other day my baseboards are getting dusty.

My husband and I both work long hours, I have had two major back surgeries. Cleaning is just not possible for me to do. Darn!!

Agree with last post more beneficial to do once a month. I have almost 3600 sq ft with 4 bathrooms and my maids charge me 100 every other week. So figure 1x-month vs 2 deep cleanings. I love my cleaning ladies!

I feel so sorry for you after reading your SWH, Lilly. My goodness - a failure for not handling it all? You really see your worth in being super woman?

I really and truly believe that if you would have someone come in once a month to keep things up for you, you could be happy more than twice a year.

Maids don't really do what you are proposing. You also have to find people who know what they are doing who won't ruin your walls, scratch your floors and use improper cleaning supplies. Pulling out the stove needs to be done by people who have experience with appliances - especially if it's a gas stove. Large kitchen appliances can scratch even tile, so care has to be taken as well. I do think that you will pay a lot more than what you're talking about to get people who you can trust not to hurt your stuff...

Please reconsider saying no to a maid or maid service coming in ever so often to make your life easier. It's okay to be a "tightwad". But don't do it because you don't think you deserve to have the help, Lilly.

I'm stunned by how mean your responses are.

I wash my walls. Yes, kids touch walls. I go to my friends homes who do not wash the walls and they are filthy with stuff. I don't do all the rooms, but I do the big rooms, and I do the hallway from the kitchen to the bathroom weekly. I also do the kitchen walls almost weekly.

I also pull out my stove. There are stove arrangements that require pulling out. I do it bi-monthly. Food gets caught in there, and it's gross. I also pull out the frig. Ideally i'd do it every 4 months, but I can't do it, so I usually do it about once a year. Mine are true built-ins. When I get a kitchen with real built-ins, I'd think this won't be happening. instead I;ll be buying one of those weird hoses for under stove cleaning.

why not just hire a bi-monthly cleaning service and do the stove and walls yourself? You wouldn't be doing the rest of it, so doing them twice a year shouldn't be a hassle. Otherwise, just call and get a quote.

Generally there are two types of service, the regular whole house, and the by the hour. If you want your house cleaned every week, two, month, they quote you a flat fee. For what you are talking it is always hourly but for the most part unless there are environmental restrictions they will do anything you ask for that wage.

How much it will cost is really dependent on what you need them to do.

Oh, don't go with a chain service! We have one that works out of the office next to ours. I wouldn't let those women in my home period! let alone to clean it.

In reply to some of the previous comments about moving appliances to clean, one thing that should be done *every year* in your kitchen is pulling out the refrigerator and cleaning the coils. Depending on the type these will generally be in the back and/or the bottom.

This is not a weird cleaning thing, it is recommended general maintenance for the appliance. They even make manual coil brushes and vacuum cleaner attachments to make this easier.

Cleaning the coils ensures the fridge works properly, extends the life of the appliance, and saves electricity. When the coils get covered in dust or pet hair, the condenser has to work harder to keep things cool. Prolonged operation like this can cause it to break.

The fridge we have now came with the house. The previous owner warned us that it was on it's last legs. It was cranked up to high and just barely staying cool enough. I needed to get behind it to see if the outlet was up to code and discovered a carpet of old cat hair and dust so thick that you literally could not see the coils. I vacuumed that off and the fridge was working like new. It's still working great 12 years later.

Don't feel bad. It's not our job to be our families servants, to put off things that we want to do so we can do another load of laundry that's not even all dirty or clean a bathroom where the kids just decided to drop their wet stuff and let it grow legs of it's own. We are worth something and have the right to a life outside our home. Having someone come in and help us makes us empowered and healthier.

You shouldn't have to drop something that you want to do so you can stay home and clean.

I use to work with someone who had a philosophy that once a month over a weekend a whole room would be emptied, cleaned, painted, repairs made if necessary and then everything be put back in it's place.
If your house has under 12 rooms, then every room will get deep cleaned/maintained once per year (and you'll even have a few months off).
He said it was a great way to keep things decluttered and it's so much easier to wash a carpet or paint when there's nothing in the room.
He did it himself and didn't hire anyone to do it for him.

I wash our walls, 2x a year. I get it. Not sure what your motivator is, but with NYC apartment living, there is just a bit of grime to everything, everywhere, regardless of how good a housekeeper you are (and I am not the best). I use a microfiber flat mop, and a bucket of soapy hot water and get a whole room done 2x in <10 minutes, and that includes moving the furniture, taking the pictures down, and pushing everything back into place.

Go for the whole house clean if it makes you feel good, if you can afford it, if it gives you a fresh start, if you don't have the heart/ energy to get around to it yourself.

You could also see if you can get a periodic clean with a degree of flexibility (i.e. they come once a month, and in addition to doing the kitchen, bathroom, linens, dusting, moping and vaccuming, they will tackle one extra job- i.e. windows, under your appliances, on top of your kitchen cabinets, the walls, beating your throw rugs, etc.

Finally, not sure how old your kids are or whether you have a partner, but see if you can enlist them into doing some regular deep cleaning, or fly lady style cleaning, so that you can do it yourself without the cost.

Best,
F. B.