Having a Cleaning Lady Come Today..

I tidy up the house before my cleaning ladies get here, so they can clean the things that really need cleaning. I fold the laundry, pick up the kids' toys, put away the things that are sitting out that shouldn't be, put any dirty dishes in the dishwasher, etc. That way, they can get right to cleaning the floors, bathrooms, windows. I have friends whose cleaning ladies do all of the tidying up, too, and I know my ladies would do it, but I'd rather pay them to do the "heavy lifting" rather than the light duty stuff that I can easily do myself.

In terms of what to have her do, I'd prioritize the tasks. Different people want different things done, so just be specific if there are certain tasks that you really hope she does (and if there are things you don't really care if she does or not, tell her that, too). My cleaning ladies asked if I wanted them to do laundry - but I'm kind of neurotic about laundry, so I said no, ignore the laundry baskets! But maybe that's something you'd like your lady to help with. It just depends what's important to you, and what tasks you feel like you want help with.

Honestly? I don't do anything. Our "domestic savior" comes every week. She cleans, tidies, and does laundry. She even cleans out my frig! She has been with us almost 7 years. I would rather give up one of my kids than her!!!! My rate might be a little lower because she comes every Thursday. I LOVE Thursdays!!! My house smells so clean, my beds have clean sheets and my toilets glissen!

If you are paying her by the hour, you should write a list of all of the things that you want done, just to make sure you're both on the same page.

My husband and I always have a hard time finding things that the housecleaners put away for us. So if there are any items that you have on the counter or dresser that you don't want to search an hour for after the cleaning, put it away yourself.

I would be a little leery of the hourly fee. I guess it depends on how quickly she works. Hence my suggestion to write down everything that you expect to get cleaned in three hours. Good luck!

You need to indicate YOUR priorities and have her work from there. That way, you are both on the same page as to what you want done first. Communication is key.

My lady does not pick up after us. I make sure everything is picked up. The better I have the housse in order before she gets here, the better and more thorough job she is able to do.

I do not expect someone to fold and put laundry away or do bed linens, deal with my dogs, etc. I can do that myself. I also stay home while she is here.

My needs are the bathroom, vac, sweeping, kitchen floor... basics with every other time a focus on something like blinds or globe covers for bathroom lights to be washed.

Don't forget to leave her some water and a tip.

I want my cleaning lady to CLEAN, not tidy. I make sure the house is perfectly tidy, things put away, nothing on the kitchen counter that doesn't belong there, kids' rooms neat and orderly, everything off the floor. So when they get here, they don't have to waste time picking stuff up, they can get right to the actual cleaning. Saves time and money.

I make sure the house is tidy, but don't "clean" anything. In general, in my opinion, it's not her job to put things away and it is our responsibility to make sure that surfaces are cleared so that she can do her job.

When she first started, I made a list for her:
- Things to get done each week
- Things to get done once a month
- Things to do if you have time

We have a 2000 square foot raised ranch and our housekeeper cleans the whole thing and the laundry in under 4 hours each time. If you don't have her doing laundry, then depending on the size of your house, 3 hours is plenty!

I guess it depends what you want her to spend her time doing. 3 hours isn't a lot of time, and if she's spending some of her time folding clothes, she's got less time to scrub dirty stuff.

My opinion is that I don't want to pay someone $20/hour to fold clothes or making my bed. I would rather she spend her time cleaning the toilet, the shower, the floors, dusting the baseboards, etc. So I do all the tidying up, getting the clutter off of the counters, stacking the mail, etc, before she comes. Then she can focus on the dirt :)

We've had two types of cleaning ladies. The first one would do anything and charged an hourly rate. I would tell her how many hours for that day (usually 3 or 4 hours for our 3 bedroom two storey house) and leave a list of what we would like done and she would get to as much as possible. She did things like put away the dishwasher, laundry and hang out to dry, floors, bathrooms, dusting, clean the fridge, take out the rubbish. It was perfect.

Our new cleaning lady charges a flat fee and tells me what she will do - the dusting, mopping, vacuuming, bathrooms and kitchen. She is from a commercial company and does the bare minimum so I make sure to pick up all the toys, clothes and put away EVERYTHING from the countertops so that she can just clean, rather than have to move things.

I clean up enough that she doesn't have to pick up DD's toys or SD's clothes before she can get to the bed/vacuum. By now she's been and gone but you should be able to tell what you think about her work when you get home. We had a couple of cleaning services and have used the same woman 2x month for years. She does a good once-over. We don't ask her to do dishes or laundry or deep clean the fridge or wipe the baseboards because those things aren't as important to us as getting the bathrooms and kitchen done. With the other services either they didn't like that DH actually followed up on all the checkboxes on their form or they didn't like us (we actually got "fired" from one).

There are standard cleanings and hourly cleanings. A standard cleaning is done at a predetermined flat rate and includes specific things (that the cleaing service should tell you about). Its usually surfaces, floors, sinks, faucets, cobwebbing, dusting, toilets, showers, mirrors). Standard cleanings do not generally include windows, dishes, laundry or tiding.
However, at an hourly rate, its pretty much whatever you want them to do. I do all my tiding, laundry, clear up counter tops, and dishes before they come.