Reply to Hiring a housekeeper--best practices?

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[quote=Anonymous]I use a small local service, not a large national chain.  This means no high advertising costs to absorb, no uniforms, company vehicles, etc.  They are bonded, make sure if you go with a small company that they are indeed bonded.  I also like that I am supporting a local business.  I prefer a service vs an individual because I can work through their boss and I don't speak spanish, which is just the reality of dealing with household help of this nature in the DC area.  The biggest benefit of having an individual vs a service I think would be laundry.  I would think a single person would be more likely to do your laundry if you desired.

I did not do a background check as the company I use was referred to me by my former boss and he has used them for at least 5 years.  I have left money & jewelry all over the place and nothing has disappeared.  I even had some old cookbooks in the trash and they asked if they could have them before taking them out of the trash.  Again, if you select a bonded company, ideally you are protected against any sort of loss.

The owner came to my house with a checklist of what I wanted done and what they normally do.  I pointed out specific areas I wanted addressed and we discussed what would and would not be covered.  There are some areas of the house that are off limits.

I suggest every 2 weeks.  Do you have children?  Do you have multiple bathrooms?  2 weeks is just about enough time for nasty, grimy water rings to form in the toilet of a rarely used bathroom and the perfect amount of time for an awesome soap scum ring to form on the bathtub if you're bathing children, even if you do rinse out the tub each time.

The first 3 or 4 times they came to the house, DH or I were there while they cleaned.  Only after a couple months did we give them a set of keys.  The owner gives the crew the key the morning of the cleaning and gets it back from them that evening so they do not keep them in the interim.  [/quote]

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