Cleaning 4000 sq foot home

[Anonymous]

I have a 3500 sq ft house; three bedrooms, 2 full baths, 2 half baths, finished basement

We have 3 kids, 2 dogs, husband works at home and I stay at home: I feel like all I do is clean and it is still a mess all the time. We are currently getting ready for company this weekend and I have been deep cleaning for 4 straight days. With all of us at home all the time it's crazy, I feel once the kids start going to school I will have more time to keep up with the cleaning. Hiring help isn't in the budget currently, I'd love to have someone come in 2x a month, it would probably make a huge difference

[Anonymous]

2100 sq ft; 3 bedrooms, 4 baths plus finished basement.

We have it professionally cleaned once/mo - 2 people, 2 hours.

In between, we do a superficial cleaning of the bathrooms ourselves (Clorox wipes, swishing toilet bowl cleaner in the commode, that sort of thing). Kiitchen floor maybe gets mopped once/week with a Swiffer. We do all the laundry; the bed linens get washed and changed when the cleaning people come and one other time (by me) in the middle of the month.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:2100 sq ft; 3 bedrooms, 4 baths plus finished basement.

We have it professionally cleaned once/mo - 2 people, 2 hours.

In between, we do a superficial cleaning of the bathrooms ourselves (Clorox wipes, swishing toilet bowl cleaner in the commode, that sort of thing). Kiitchen floor maybe gets mopped once/week with a Swiffer. We do all the laundry; the bed linens get washed and changed when the cleaning people come and one other time (by me) in the middle of the month.

That is pretty much my approach except my cleaners come twice a month. Works for us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Another ignorant person with a myopic world view who does not that around the world most people will make their beds everyday. But whatever! AND my hoarder neighbor also has the same excuse that she has better things to do with her time than clean the house. She is not unpopular but she has isolated herself from other because she does not want anyone to come to her house. Sad!

Actually no, they don't. But agree - whatever!

I am sad for your neighbor - we always have people over so I know what she's missing.

[Anonymous]

It's amazing how passionate some of these threads can get! I grew up in a very large home in Potomac while my husband did not. He wanted the big home so I agreed to it under the stipulation that we would be pulling equal weight when it came to maintaining the home. He agreed and it has worked out just fine for us in our 5k foot home. Here's how we make it work without help on a consistent basis -
DAILY:
Both of us are fairly clean people so we always clean up the kitchen (wipe down the counters, put dishes away) each evening after dinner. A few times a week one of us will vacuum the kitchen and family room. Central vac with "hide a hose" has been a life-saver and highly recommend if you build a new home!

WEEKLY:
Now, one of the weekend mornings we spend cleaning the whole house. Each of us takes a level and can be done 1.5 hours if we're focused haha. I think the most helpful thing we did was keep a set of cleaning supplies on each floor so you're not running around looking for things or waiting for someone to be done with the vacuum so you can use it upstairs. Husband usually uses the central vac downstairs with all the furniture and floors while I just use the Dyson we keep upstairs to do the bedrooms. We keep cleaning caddies in our upstairs laundry room and one under the kitchen sink. Each caddy has windex, Method Granite cleaner, Pine Sol, Fantastic, and a Swiffer Duster.

If he weren't willing to help out, I can guarantee we would NOT be living in this house. It's just too much to do on your own if you value any fun in your weekends. Every two or three months we do have a woman who comes in and does a deep clean of the house for $100 and she does all the detail-oriented work that needs attention from time to time (shower door tracks, top of refrigerator, baseboards, etc).
I hope this helps - it works for us.

[Anonymous]

We have a Roomba for our tiled floor basement. Saves a lot of time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's amazing how passionate some of these threads can get! I grew up in a very large home in Potomac while my husband did not. He wanted the big home so I agreed to it under the stipulation that we would be pulling equal weight when it came to maintaining the home. He agreed and it has worked out just fine for us in our 5k foot home. Here's how we make it work without help on a consistent basis -
DAILY:
Both of us are fairly clean people so we always clean up the kitchen (wipe down the counters, put dishes away) each evening after dinner. A few times a week one of us will vacuum the kitchen and family room. Central vac with "hide a hose" has been a life-saver and highly recommend if you build a new home!

WEEKLY:
Now, one of the weekend mornings we spend cleaning the whole house. Each of us takes a level and can be done 1.5 hours if we're focused haha. I think the most helpful thing we did was keep a set of cleaning supplies on each floor so you're not running around looking for things or waiting for someone to be done with the vacuum so you can use it upstairs. Husband usually uses the central vac downstairs with all the furniture and floors while I just use the Dyson we keep upstairs to do the bedrooms. We keep cleaning caddies in our upstairs laundry room and one under the kitchen sink. Each caddy has windex, Method Granite cleaner, Pine Sol, Fantastic, and a Swiffer Duster.

If he weren't willing to help out, I can guarantee we would NOT be living in this house. It's just too much to do on your own if you value any fun in your weekends. Every two or three months we do have a woman who comes in and does a deep clean of the house for $100 and she does all the detail-oriented work that needs attention from time to time (shower door tracks, top of refrigerator, baseboards, etc).
I hope this helps - it works for us.

Someone deep-cleans a 5000 square foot house for $100!!!!!!????

[Anonymous]

Roughly 6,000 square feet 5 bedroom 5 bath home. Cleaning lady comes every Friday 8-6 and charges 250. The house is kept pretty much immaculate. She cleans every room each visit even rooms we don't use much like the guest room. She even organizes the playroom.

[Anonymous]

I feel like chiming in to defend the poor slobs. :p

I have a 1200 sf house, no outside cleaning service. Every day I wipe up the kitchen and make the beds. Once a week or so I clean the bathroom and vacuum. If I notice dust or wall smudges, I try to clean those up. We don't have much clutter because I hate clutter.

Most of the time our house looks a little messy. Not too messy, though.

Upside: Tons of time to spend on things I like better than cleaning.

Downside: no big, fancy house.

I feel I have made a good decision for my family. But I love visiting my friends' huge homes! More power to you if that's what works for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Roughly 6,000 square feet 5 bedroom 5 bath home. Cleaning lady comes every Friday 8-6 and charges 250. The house is kept pretty much immaculate. She cleans every room each visit even rooms we don't use much like the guest room. She even organizes the playroom.

Homes with small kids that are immaculate . . .

can't say I have friends who fit in this category, as my friends are not tightly wound.

[Anonymous]

I just assume if you can afford a 4000sf home in the DMV, you can afford a cleaning lady.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Roughly 6,000 square feet 5 bedroom 5 bath home. Cleaning lady comes every Friday 8-6 and charges 250. The house is kept pretty much immaculate. She cleans every room each visit even rooms we don't use much like the guest room. She even organizes the playroom.

Homes with small kids that are immaculate . . .

can't say I have friends who fit in this category, as my friends are not tightly wound.

Everything has a place in our home. We have no clutter and lots of organization. The only room that gets messy is the playroom and that is rare. Every toy has a place. I love having a label maker and pottery barn storage is the best. Even are cars are kept perfect. I go to the carwash every other day. I get compliments on how clean my car is in the school pickup line.

[Anonymous]

6 hours is plenty

[Anonymous]

We have more than 4k sq ft, and we have a service of 3 who come twice a month for 3 hours. Worth every penny. I work full time, and enjoy spending my time cooking, and being with my family and friends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have more than 4k sq ft, and we have a service of 3 who come twice a month for 3 hours. Worth every penny. I work full time, and enjoy spending my time cooking, and being with my family and friends.

How much do they charge for the service?