HHI $150
4 kids
No cleaner.

I'm not raising lazy ass slobs. Everyone is expected to clean up after themselves, and everyone pitches in for deeper cleanings.

Our neighbors have cleaners, and I know how little time they actually spend in the house each week. I can't imagine how one cleaner can get through an entire colonial home in under an hour. They must be doing a cursory gloss...and that's not cleaning.

HHI 700K
two full time jobs and two young kids
no cleaner
part of it is I feel like I'd need to keep the house "clutter free" enough in order to have the cleaning people come. they couldn't possibly clean around all our clutter.
so yeah, our house is pretty slobby. I've learned to just let it go

I make 200k and clean my own house. Happy to - 20 mins every other day and a big clean every other month.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I doubt your cleaning service gets down on their hands and knees to scrub either, hon.

Remember that chapter of "Nickled and Dimed" where the author worked for a cleaning service? They were shooting for the appearance of clean, not actually-clean.

I'm one of the PPs now without a cleaning lady. This is exactly why. Spraying Bona on my floors and pushing it around with a mop only pushes the dirt into the crevices of the hard wood. Get down and give your floors a swipe with a wet rag after your cleaning people have left. Pretty sure you will see dirt.

I do a thorough vacuum first and then I use the mister mop so that minimizes whatever gets trapped in the crevices. I agree that hand scrubbing usually does an even more thorough job but I find that this way does a pretty good job too.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We made around $160k last year and cannot afford a cleaning lady.

Ditto, exactly. That would be a huge extravagance in our house.

We spend $2400 a year on a cleaning service. How often do you get takeout or eat out?

I'd rather spend that $2400 on a vacation. But I don't begrudge you for choosing to spend it on a cleaning service instead. Different folks, different choices.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Too funny- not one of the PPs either but similar HHI and no cleaning service. Just checked my Mint account and we also spent ~$1200 on eating out last year. Might have been a bit more do to times we paid cash. But yeah, I have no desire to give that up (and something else) to pay for a cleaning service. YMMV.

1200 a year on eating out?

Our group of six runs a bill of about $100 every time we go out, and we do this 1-2 times a week. The bill reaches $200+ if we have a particularly good meal or invite friends (our culture doesn't split checks).

We are not talking about fancy dinners with $30-$50 steaks plus drinks.

Our house is cleaned weekly, $110 each week.

Well there you go- we're currently a group of three, one of whom is quite young, and we typically eat out or get take out a couple times a month (as opposed to twice a week). So it's not surprising that we would spend less on that. Shrug.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:525k, two-income household, and no cleaning lady.

You and your spouse work enough to earn $525K and you have no cleaning help whatsoever? So you and your children do all the cleaning yourselves? I can't picture how you have the time for that.

Not pp quoted, but I am the pp who actually gets in her hands and knees and scrubs my own floors. I'm a single parent (full 100% custody) of a 4 and 6 year old. I work full time. As with everything, if you want to make the time to do something, you do. I'm not saying a cleaning service is bad and I'm "holier than thou", I just don't mind cleaning, I spread it out over time and I'd rather do it myself than be annoyed with a sub par service.

I will openly admit that I do miss having the whole house "clean" at the same time. I'd have to commit a full day to that and have the kids out if the house.

I had a cleaning lady when our total income was approx. $100,000 Dh was in the military and deployed to Iraq and I was a SAHM to a 4 year old, 2 year old, and a newborn (Dh deployed when he was 3 weeks old.) I felt I really needed it, and I only had it every other week ($80/time)

Now, Dh is out of the military, our income is about $150,000 and we don't have one. I don't feel as though I NEED one as badly as I did then, and I'd rather spend the money on other things.

Anonymous wrote:525k, two-income household, and no cleaning lady.

You and your spouse work enough to earn $525K and you have no cleaning help whatsoever? So you and your children do all the cleaning yourselves? I can't picture how you have the time for that.

They should allow you to deduct cleaning off your taxes

Anonymous wrote:

Too funny- not one of the PPs either but similar HHI and no cleaning service. Just checked my Mint account and we also spent ~$1200 on eating out last year. Might have been a bit more do to times we paid cash. But yeah, I have no desire to give that up (and something else) to pay for a cleaning service. YMMV.

1200 a year on eating out?

Our group of six runs a bill of about $100 every time we go out, and we do this 1-2 times a week. The bill reaches $200+ if we have a particularly good meal or invite friends (our culture doesn't split checks).

We are not talking about fancy dinners with $30-$50 steaks plus drinks.

Our house is cleaned weekly, $110 each week.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We made around $160k last year and cannot afford a cleaning lady.

Ditto, exactly. That would be a huge extravagance in our house.

We spend $2400 a year on a cleaning service. How often do you get takeout or eat out?

Not this PP, but one with a similar HHI who cannot afford a cleaning service. We eat out 1-2x a month. That's $1200/year. And I would rather have that nice treat than have a cleaning service for my small apartment.

Too funny- not one of the PPs either but similar HHI and no cleaning service. Just checked my Mint account and we also spent ~$1200 on eating out last year. Might have been a bit more do to times we paid cash. But yeah, I have no desire to give that up (and something else) to pay for a cleaning service. YMMV.

HHI 110K, 3 kids. No cleaning lady. Don't have that kind of discretionary income. I image if our HHI was $200K it could be an option but now that we are over 40 we get giddy about increasing retirement savings more than complaining about cleaning.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$230K and no cleaning lady. We did have one at $100-150K - the kids were young and, with two working parents, it was tough to keep up. I am glad we did it during that time - it was a splurge that was worth it. Now the kids are preteens/teens and both create less mess and assist with household chores, so it's not necessary to have one.

do any of you scrub the floors, or just kinda sweep and mop it? I find people who don't have cleaning services don't really put in the elbow grease necessary to have a truly clean house.

I'm one of the PPs. I absolutely get on my hands and knees and scrub. That's one of the main reasons why I fired the service. I scrub and buff the floors. My whole house it hardwood or tile. I cannot do it all at once, but I do a couple of areas at night during the week.

Me too! I think my house is truly clean, a much deeper clean than a cleaning lady. But cleaning doesn't bother me. I spend maybe 15-30 minutes on it a day.

I'm busy from 6 am until 8 pm with getting kids off to school, commuting and working. I do not want to spend 15 or 30 minutes daily on it. It would cut into my time to relax, talk to DH or girlfriends or read a book.

don't you already spend 30 minutes a day loading the dishwasher, doing laundry, cleaning up after yourself, etc? It's not like a cleaning service means you never have to clean. It just means you don't have to deep clean (IF you get a great service).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I doubt your cleaning service gets down on their hands and knees to scrub either, hon.

Remember that chapter of "Nickled and Dimed" where the author worked for a cleaning service? They were shooting for the appearance of clean, not actually-clean.

I'm one of the PPs now without a cleaning lady. This is exactly why. Spraying Bona on my floors and pushing it around with a mop only pushes the dirt into the crevices of the hard wood. Get down and give your floors a swipe with a wet rag after your cleaning people have left. Pretty sure you will see dirt.

+1. After reading that book I never really had a desire to hire a cleaning service.

That said, I can see the appeal with young kids and two working parents. As my kids get older I want them to participate in keeping the house clean and orderly. Don't want them going off to college thinking a maid is going to come pick up their dorm room for them!