Housecleaner holiday gift - how much?

[Anonymous]

We pay our housecleaner $90 every other week.

Two questions -

1. How much should I give for a holiday gift?
2. We are going to be out of town over xmas week and I was going to ask the cleaner not to come - but then she loses wages, so I almost feel like whatever we give her in bonus is not going to make up for the lost wages. Should I just have her come that week anyhow? Should I pay her for that week AND give her a bonus?

What to do? If we had tons of cash, I would just give her a big bonus and tell her to take the week off. Wish we had tons of cash!

[Anonymous]

We had our housekeeper skip this week so that she will be able to come clean while we are out of town. Nothing better than coming home to a freshly cleaned house after a long road trip. Ours charges $100 per visit so we are giving her a $100 bonus. I hope that's ok because that's really all that we can afford after paying 4 daycare teachers and a regular babysitter their holiday gifts.

[Anonymous]

We pay $130 up from $110. I plan on giving $100. Normally I say double the pay, up to 100.

That's tricky about having her not come.

[Anonymous]

I would have her come anyway, and come home to a clean house. Yes, double the week's wages for a tip.

[Anonymous]

I would have her come as well. I love coming home to a clean house! And yes, I typically give the price of one cleaning.

[Anonymous]

OP here - so the cosensus is that I should give her a bonus of $90 (equal to one cleaning) and also have her come the week I'm gone?

*sigh* I'm so broke. Any other opinions?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - so the cosensus is that I should give her a bonus of $90 (equal to one cleaning) and also have her come the week I'm gone?

*sigh* I'm so broke. Any other opinions?

You could have her come that week you are gone and then give her a bonus in January. Better late than never.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - so the cosensus is that I should give her a bonus of $90 (equal to one cleaning) and also have her come the week I'm gone?

*sigh* I'm so broke. Any other opinions?

I don't think you have to do this. We don't pay service companies when we are out of town and this lady is probably glad to have you as a client.

FWIW: we gave our cleaning lady double one week as bonus.

[Anonymous]

NP here. I am going to give our ladies one week's pay as a bonus, but sometimes I wonder-I don't budget that much for my parents or siblings for a gift. Doesn't that seem a little backwards? My cleaning lady is getting a more expensive Christmas gift than my mother in law?

[Anonymous]

I'm guessing your cleaning lady doesn't have the same lifestyle as your MIL, though?

We are also doing one extra payment as bonus.

[Anonymous]

11:38, that's kind of how I've rationalized it. My MIL (and my parents, etc) don't NEED anything and the gift is really more of a token. I assume my cleaning lady can use her $80 a lot more than my MIL can use an extra $50 or whatever budgeted towards her gift. I think the same things when I read about how much people gift to their children's teachers (like $100 to each of several teachers, etc). My kids are too young for that yet, but there is just no way I will have the budget to do that!