am I the only person without cleaning help?

[Anonymous]

We are scrimping in a lot of ways, but not this, because almost all of our fights over the last few years have been over cleaning. We both absolutely hate it. We didn't start having someone else clean until our DC was born, though.

[Anonymous]

I grew up with a maid and have had a cleaning service to do my house for about 10 years (since 1st child was born). I was raised to treat our maid with kindness and total respect and certainly feel the same way about the ladies who clean my house now. I did go with two sisters who started their own cleaning company (LLS) when they moved to this country, partly to not worry about taxes and partly because I like supporting small, women-owned businesses and partly because I really like these women. Its is certainly not a status symbol but, I do think feeling uncomfortable about it is a class divide. I certainly do know how to clean my own house (who do you think cleaned when I was single and in school, and first working etc... I would not live in squalor!!) but I certainly do not want to so I pay someone to do it. We also have someone who does laundry and ironing. It makes life significantly more pleasant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I grew up with a maid and have had a cleaning service to do my house for about 10 years (since 1st child was born). I was raised to treat our maid with kindness and total respect and certainly feel the same way about the ladies who clean my house now. I did go with two sisters who started their own cleaning company (LLS) when they moved to this country, partly to not worry about taxes and partly because I like supporting small, women-owned businesses and partly because I really like these women. Its is certainly not a status symbol but, I do think feeling uncomfortable about it is a class divide. I certainly do know how to clean my own house (who do you think cleaned when I was single and in school, and first working etc... I would not live in squalor!!) but I certainly do not want to so I pay someone to do it. We also have someone who does laundry and ironing. It makes life significantly more pleasant.

That shoud read "LLC" not LLS, sorry!

[Anonymous]

I actually have a question about this topic...our issue is not so much " dirt " , but clutter...how does a cleaning service help with clutter? I would spend time getting ready for the cleaning service...

How do others handle this???

seriously - I have no idea how to manage Cleaning Lady Ettiquette...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I actually have a question about this topic...our issue is not so much " dirt " , but clutter...how does a cleaning service help with clutter? I would spend time getting ready for the cleaning service...

How do others handle this???

seriously - I have no idea how to manage Cleaning Lady Ettiquette...

I'd love to know this too. I've heard you have to declutter before they come. It would take me longer to declutter than it would for them to clean, sadly enough.

[Anonymous]

DH knows that if he doesn't find a home for his stuff before the cleaning ladies come, it's getting tossed. I also know that I want to get the most out of my cleaning service so it helps me to just keep things less cluttered in general. Except the dining room table - no idea why but crap lands there.

Something that helped me greatly was before their first visit (for which they charge by the HOUR,) I had a couple friends come and we just spent a whole day and knocked out a lot of the clutter. It was much easier with someone else that wasn't emotionally attached to it to help me go through things. Don't worry about your friends seeing your clutter, believe me, they have clutter too. And friends who will come help clear clutter, that's true friendship right there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:10: 26 - boohoo. So do I. Do you want a medal? I personally like saving money. That is how people hold onto their money - but no one here seems to get that concept.

I don't need to "hold onto" an extra $200 a month. I earn much more than that from investment income each month and I work full time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nope. No house cleaner for us. (2 kids, both of us have always worked FT) Our kids are teens and since they were very young, they've been expected to help clean the house. It's something we all do as a family and doesn't take much time at all. Now that the kids are older I notice that they are much better at picking up after themselves than many of their friends. They know that if they make a mess, they're going to have to clean it up.

But picking up isn't cleaning. My boys pick up after themselves, and we have a cleaner every other week.

They also know how to clean bathrooms, vacuum, dust, and do their own laundry. It's not hard if everyone does their share.

Who does the floors in the common area? The kitchen as a whole? Guest bathroom? How big is your house?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I actually have a question about this topic...our issue is not so much " dirt " , but clutter...how does a cleaning service help with clutter? I would spend time getting ready for the cleaning service...

How do others handle this???

seriously - I have no idea how to manage Cleaning Lady Ettiquette...

They don't. You have to pick up every night before you go to sleep to avoid clutter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I actually have a question about this topic...our issue is not so much " dirt " , but clutter...how does a cleaning service help with clutter? I would spend time getting ready for the cleaning service...

How do others handle this???

seriously - I have no idea how to manage Cleaning Lady Ettiquette...

I'd love to know this too. I've heard you have to declutter before they come. It would take me longer to declutter than it would for them to clean, sadly enough.

Yes it does. Do you declutter AND clean now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I actually have a question about this topic...our issue is not so much " dirt " , but clutter...how does a cleaning service help with clutter? I would spend time getting ready for the cleaning service...

How do others handle this???

seriously - I have no idea how to manage Cleaning Lady Ettiquette...

We keep the house clutter free for the most part. With all of us out of the house during the week it's not THAT hard. It helps that DH is really, really anal. We pick up a bit every night. Our bedroom tends to get pretty horrific, then before the cleaning lady comes I bury stuff in the closet and in my dresser drawers. It means that we are constantly cleaning out and getting rid of stuff. My folks are fairly close by and as our toddler outgrow stuff, OUT it goes to their house (and if we don't have another it will be given away). I'm constantly clearing out my closet and our linen/medicine closet, and my toddler's room. If you do this often enough it doesn't take long each time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I actually have a question about this topic...our issue is not so much " dirt " , but clutter...how does a cleaning service help with clutter? I would spend time getting ready for the cleaning service...

How do others handle this???

seriously - I have no idea how to manage Cleaning Lady Ettiquette...

I'd love to know this too. I've heard you have to declutter before they come. It would take me longer to declutter than it would for them to clean, sadly enough.

Yes it does. Do you declutter AND clean now?

Yes, I do. It is far more time consuming each week than running the vacuum or cleaning our bathroom. I wish it was more instinctual for me to declutter. I'm definitely working on it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I actually have a question about this topic...our issue is not so much " dirt " , but clutter...how does a cleaning service help with clutter? I would spend time getting ready for the cleaning service...

How do others handle this???

seriously - I have no idea how to manage Cleaning Lady Ettiquette...

They don't. You have to pick up every night before you go to sleep to avoid clutter.

That's not always true. My cleaner de-clutters, too. The pro is we arrive home to an amazing zen space, the con is we often can't find things b/c she put it somewhere we didn't expect. I seem to attract random clutter, so I asked my cleaner to de-clutter when she started. It's all about communicating what you want. It's far less stressful than you'd think!