My cleaning lady does not employ a cleaning lady.

180K and use a cleaning lady every other month to do a deep clean. Like a PP, I'm not comfortable having someone home when I'm not here and it's both hard to find someone willing to come on a weekend and to find a 3-4 hour chunk of time on the weekend when someone will be home.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:0 HHI, retired with net worth in 8 figures. No cleaning lady.

So no kids, lots of free time, no wonder.

Have a kid in elementary school and pets but yeah, I prefer cleaning my own house. My mother had maids and frankly, it was like living at the airport - too many people around all.the.time.

So lazy. No wonder obesity is a huge problem.

we're at $280 HHI and no cleaners, both work one kid. I think I would like to find a cleaner but it just seems to be a hassle to train someone how I like things done.

Anonymous wrote:0 HHI, retired with net worth in 8 figures. No cleaning lady.

So no kids, lots of free time, no wonder.

0 HHI, retired with net worth in 8 figures. No cleaning lady.

Anonymous wrote:

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?

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.

$2.4k is like a weekend for two in a major city with flight, food, car rental(or cab), and some activities like shows, tours, and etc.

I would gladly trade a weekend vacation for year round house cleaning.

Not everyone chooses to vacation in a big city. Not PP but we did a week long beach vacation for less than that last year. And why do you care so much how others spend their $ anyway? My sister always gives me a hard time for choosing to buy local, organic produce. No ones forcing you to come spend time at our supposedly-messy houses.

175k HHI, SAHM, no cleaners. I do hire a service to come in twice a year for fall cleaning and spring cleaning though. It's amazing how much crap we accumulate throughout the year.

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

It takes a 2-person crew 5-6 hours to clean my house.

20 minutes is longer than it would take me to clean up after my self in my home office after a day of madness.

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.

Geezus, how cheap are your hardwood floors if they have cracks big enough to hide dirt? I thought all of the holier-than-thou types on DCUM only bought high quality unfinished flooring that's sanded and finished in place so that there are no seams.

Of course nothing gets 100% cleaned, including the floors. A cleaning service helps you get to 90-95%, not to the point of being able to serve smoked salmon off of a plank on the floor.

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?

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.

$2.4k is like a weekend for two in a major city with flight, food, car rental(or cab), and some activities like shows, tours, and etc.

I would gladly trade a weekend vacation for year round house cleaning.

When I was at 87k, two kids in childcare, and no child support - I couldn't afford a cleaning lady. Now at $113k with child support (that is taken from his paycheck) I have one twice a month.

To find the right cleaning lady is not easy.

So, if I found one who I liked, who was a good worker, who made my life easier, and was reliable - I would make the finances work.

However, I am usually dissatisfied with the quality of their work after a few times of good service, because they will do the bait and switch. So, I let them go!

We (I in particular) do clean despite having a housecleaner. I can't imagine not cleaning between weekly visits because I like a clean house and I want DC to know how to do these things. So it's not either/or.