For retired single women

[Anonymous]

I am about to retire, and figuring out my budget. Pre-COVID, I had a cleaning woman just two afternoons a month. I have enough money (I think), but am not wealthy by DCUM standards (ie was a government employee).

Right now I am trying to decide if I want to re-engage a cleaning person to do things like clean the bathtub, floors, vacuum OR should I continue doing these tasks for myself? On one hand, I will have more time and need ways to stay physically active. In the other hand, things only get harder as we age (I am 66) and wonder if I have earned some indulgences after working for so long??

[Anonymous]

I'm your age and I really appreciate having pros come once a month to do the deep cleaning I'm unlikely to do myself. Every two weeks would be too much for me. But I have significant arthritis that makes some housecleaning tasks very painful. You don't really have to decide this now, but maybe plan to increase the amount of help you hire as the years go by.

[Anonymous]

If you can physically handle it, why not clean yourself? You’ll be retired and have free time.

[Anonymous]

My question is how much do you value not having to scrub your toilet. That is tremendously valuable to me whereas a fancy car, not so much.

[Anonymous]

I think if you have a good person, keep them. Good people are hard to find. Give it a year or 6 months. Keep them and see how the budget feels

[Anonymous]

As a retired single woman, there are only a couple of things I’m willing to get down on my knees for and cleaning toilets isn’t one of them. Bathing my grandchildren is one of them.

[Anonymous]

Budget for it. Start out by trying to clean yourself. Might find it's not so bad when you are not tired from working, but you'll have the money if you decide to hire help.

[Anonymous]

How much is a once or twice a month cleaning anyway?

[Anonymous]

It has been a while…but I think I used to pay about $95 for two hours (a small condo).

[Anonymous]

I just get one four times a year
By myself it does not get unmanageable in three months

[Anonymous]

If you can afford it keep paying someone to clean your home. I clean my own condo, it's not a hardship for me but it never gets very dirty either. If I had extra money I'd probably pay someone to clean it occasionally.

[Anonymous]

I have someone come every two weeks and really focus on the kitchen and bathrooms. I know I can do it myself but I can afford not to.

[Anonymous]

I can't imagine NOT hiring someone if you've got the money. If you're having to cut back on other things then I'd consider the tradeoffs.

But yeah - having someone clean the house every couple of weeks is a tremendous luxury that I think makes my life better. But I live with three pets, and a very messy husband, so those are relevant factors.

[Anonymous]

Since you are questioning it, maybe cut back to once a month. Also, take a look around and see how dusty and dirty your place gets during that month.

[Anonymous]

Do you entertain or have friends over often? In looking around, I'd think about whether you'd be embarrassed to have someone come over unannounced. This has as much to do with clutter (and I am a clutterbug) as cleanliness, but if cleaning your bathroom isn't something you're going to keep up with enough such that you'd be fine with a friend dropping by unannounced and needing to use your bathroom, then by all means get a cleaning person.

A Roomba or similar robot vacuum cleaner is well worth it, separately, just to help keep the dirt and dust down on a daily basis. Sadly there's no Roomba that will scrub toilets yet.