If you gave her a $10 raise from $150 to $160, that’s a 6.6% raise, which doesn’t quite cover inflation over the last year of 7%. But by all means keep patting yourself on the back for the effective paycut.

How many times have you given her a raise or she’s asked for herself in 10 years?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fwiw, I think $160 for a 3800 square foot house is low. I pay $200 for a smaller house.

Maybe. There will always be people who pay more or pay less. This doesn't convince me that she's being reasonable. I am now thinking she doesn't want to clean my house anymore, but feels bad saying so. She works full time at Target, and I just read somewhere they are paying people $24/hour, maybe she doesn't need to clean houses anymore!

That’s “up to” $24/hr and doesn’t apply to low level workers. They usually make $15-17.

OP here. They are raising their minimum wage to something up to $24/hour. So it does affect low level workers.

Do you know what “up to” means?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fwiw, I think $160 for a 3800 square foot house is low. I pay $200 for a smaller house.

Maybe. There will always be people who pay more or pay less. This doesn't convince me that she's being reasonable. I am now thinking she doesn't want to clean my house anymore, but feels bad saying so. She works full time at Target, and I just read somewhere they are paying people $24/hour, maybe she doesn't need to clean houses anymore!

That’s “up to” $24/hr and doesn’t apply to low level workers. They usually make $15-17.

OP here. They are raising their minimum wage to something up to $24/hour. So it does affect low level workers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fwiw, I think $160 for a 3800 square foot house is low. I pay $200 for a smaller house.

Maybe. There will always be people who pay more or pay less. This doesn't convince me that she's being reasonable. I am now thinking she doesn't want to clean my house anymore, but feels bad saying so. She works full time at Target, and I just read somewhere they are paying people $24/hour, maybe she doesn't need to clean houses anymore!

Do the math in full time @$24/hr. Does she own a home, have school loans, children, etc? Food prices were way way up before gas prices. Her rate seems low. If she’s asking so soon after a raise, she probably needs it. (Over time, I generally give my cleaning person the same level of raises I get. Have you kept up with that?)

OP here. Of my friends that I've recently compared rates, I pay more, so I'm just not moved by that particular argument. I'm tempted to switch to one of my friend's housekeepers, but like another poster pointed out, I have history with this person, and I like her and trust her, so I'd feel terrible letting her go over this. I have to just go with the 2nd raise or counteroffer with maybe $5.

OP, how many miles away does she live?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fwiw, I think $160 for a 3800 square foot house is low. I pay $200 for a smaller house.

Maybe. There will always be people who pay more or pay less. This doesn't convince me that she's being reasonable. I am now thinking she doesn't want to clean my house anymore, but feels bad saying so. She works full time at Target, and I just read somewhere they are paying people $24/hour, maybe she doesn't need to clean houses anymore!

Do the math in full time @$24/hr. Does she own a home, have school loans, children, etc? Food prices were way way up before gas prices. Her rate seems low. If she’s asking so soon after a raise, she probably needs it. (Over time, I generally give my cleaning person the same level of raises I get. Have you kept up with that?)

OP here. Of my friends that I've recently compared rates, I pay more, so I'm just not moved by that particular argument. I'm tempted to switch to one of my friend's housekeepers, but like another poster pointed out, I have history with this person, and I like her and trust her, so I'd feel terrible letting her go over this. I have to just go with the 2nd raise or counteroffer with maybe $5.

You’re not paying her enough to begin with.

OP, what's the mileage from her house to yours?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fwiw, I think $160 for a 3800 square foot house is low. I pay $200 for a smaller house.

Maybe. There will always be people who pay more or pay less. This doesn't convince me that she's being reasonable. I am now thinking she doesn't want to clean my house anymore, but feels bad saying so. She works full time at Target, and I just read somewhere they are paying people $24/hour, maybe she doesn't need to clean houses anymore!

That’s “up to” $24/hr and doesn’t apply to low level workers. They usually make $15-17.

OP you are pretty awful. That’s a very low rate for a big house.

OP I think your rate is low but not astonishingly low, given that you get your house cleaned weekly. I'll just point out what I haven't seen anyone mention yet: you trust this person. More than anything, that's what we value with our cleaner. She can get into our house when we're not there, she comes when we're out of town, and it's a benefit not a problem.

I can understand why you feel somewhat slighted, she's not acknowledging the raise at all. But I wouldn't blow up your relationship with her over this. Either offer the temporary stipend ("until gas is back under $3"), compromise at $5, or give her the raise but tell her it's an advance on next year's raise because of inflation.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fwiw, I think $160 for a 3800 square foot house is low. I pay $200 for a smaller house.

Maybe. There will always be people who pay more or pay less. This doesn't convince me that she's being reasonable. I am now thinking she doesn't want to clean my house anymore, but feels bad saying so. She works full time at Target, and I just read somewhere they are paying people $24/hour, maybe she doesn't need to clean houses anymore!

Do the math in full time @$24/hr. Does she own a home, have school loans, children, etc? Food prices were way way up before gas prices. Her rate seems low. If she’s asking so soon after a raise, she probably needs it. (Over time, I generally give my cleaning person the same level of raises I get. Have you kept up with that?)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$160 is not a lot of money for the size of your house, and it's costing her extra to come work. Everything is more expensive right now, and that includes her labor. Give her the extra $10

+1

+2 Or good luck finding someone who will clean your house for that rate.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fwiw, I think $160 for a 3800 square foot house is low. I pay $200 for a smaller house.

Maybe. There will always be people who pay more or pay less. This doesn't convince me that she's being reasonable. I am now thinking she doesn't want to clean my house anymore, but feels bad saying so. She works full time at Target, and I just read somewhere they are paying people $24/hour, maybe she doesn't need to clean houses anymore!

No, not maybe. I’ve had a lot of different cleaning services and talked to a lot of people about this. If you are in the DMV, you are paying less than just about everyone right now on a per square foot basis.

Maybe explore other options for cleaners.