I absolutely hate clutter. Dh wants the house clean at all times so we have a cleaning lady 1 day a week for 10 hrs at a cost of 250 per week. I do the rest during the week like dishes, laundry and sweeping floors.

My mom started off with someone coming to clean once a month. She wasn't able to afford it after a while so the cleaner comes every 6-8 weeks now for a deep clean. She had many clients who stopped using her to clean b/c they couldn't afford it anymore so she was fine cleaning for my mom less frequently if it meant keeping her business. She has a 3 bedroom townhouse and she pays $120 I think. Maybe $140.

I never realized a service would come once every other month. Is this typical of housecleaners, and about how much does it cost? (Five bedroom, 2 1/2 bath home.)

Anonymous wrote:I work 50-60 hrs/week and could afford a regular housecleaner, but am reluctant to spend that much on cleaning. What I do is to clean kitchen daily after dinner, vacuum and mop once a week on weekends or whenever the moment comes up one evening, clean sinks and toilets as needed (daily to once a week), laundry as needed- family of four runs though 5 loads a week.

All this keeps us afloat. But I can never get to everything. Once every other month (on average) I cave and ask the cleaners to come. It only takes a few days before the house needs to be cleaned again, but seeing it look perfect encourages me to keep on trying.

This is what I do as well. I have the housecleaners come every other month and then try to maintain as best I can (single mom) in between.

Anonymous wrote:I will not pay for someone to go through my things. Plus no one can clean the way I like.

+ 1. We used to have a housecleaning service. Then we renovated our home with high end finishes. I'm not paying someone to inadvertently etch or chip my marble.

DH is pretty fantastic around the house. If I didn't have a husband who was great about splitting the household chores, I'd have to break down and hire a service again.

I work 50-60 hrs/week and could afford a regular housecleaner, but am reluctant to spend that much on cleaning. What I do is to clean kitchen daily after dinner, vacuum and mop once a week on weekends or whenever the moment comes up one evening, clean sinks and toilets as needed (daily to once a week), laundry as needed- family of four runs though 5 loads a week.

All this keeps us afloat. But I can never get to everything. Once every other month (on average) I cave and ask the cleaners to come. It only takes a few days before the house needs to be cleaned again, but seeing it look perfect encourages me to keep on trying.

I feel like it would add to the serious dent in my take-home pay after childcare. I was working full time plus a part-time evening teaching gig at a community college this semester and we survived, so I guess I have no excuses now.

My DH keeps saying the house wouldn't be so hard to clean on the weekends if we were better about putting things back in their rightful places during the week. He's definitely right about that-- so that's one of my New Year's resolutions. I typically spend either all of Friday evening or half of Saturday simply getting the house READY to be cleaned. That is an insane waste of time.

Immediately upon coming in the door, I vow to hang up our coats, organize the boots / shoes, make sure our lunch bags are dismantled and repacked for the next day. That stuff all clutters up the front door area.

I already set out my son's clothes for the week in a closet organizer (5 complete outfits so he can dress himself in outfits that coordinate- he is 4.5). But I'm TERRIBLE about putting away clean laundry. So that tends to clutter up rooms. Another resolution: put away clean, folded laundry as soon as it comes upstairs.

Third resolution is to put away anything that is cluttering up the kitchen counters.

I feel like if I do all of those things, I can spend part of Saturday cleaning the bathrooms and kitchen, dusting, vacuuming, and mopping, and it won't kill my entire weekend.

I finally gave in this year -after 10 years of marriage.

I cannot keep up. My mom stayed at home and you could eat off the floor.

Sadly, while my husband does help out, we just didn't have the energy.

So yes- $150 every two weeks.

Anonymous wrote:Fulltime working single mom of three who are involved in evening activities four days a week plus Saturday with no housecleaner. Two things. Organization and planning and don't let things get out of control. Every evening we pick up the house and get everything ready to go out the door in the morning. We eat simple meals so there aren't too many dishes. Kids help out. We tend to pick one evening a week to clean and on that night there are no electronics or TV until it's done. Friday nights work best because there is no homework.

I admire you, PP. Your kids are growing up with a great example.

I will not pay for someone to go through my things. Plus no one can clean the way I like.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In my family Saturday morning was "clean the house" morning. No activities, nothing could happen after breakfast until the whole house was clean. We all pitched in.

I had the same growing up. I hated it and now do NOT do that at home.

Huh. We did that at my house as a kid and I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it. We clean house at our house on Saturday now. We do a lot through the week so it's not so bad on Saturday. My 11 year old loads the dishwasher every day. My 8 year old takes out the recycling every day. DH and I both pick up stuff and try to keep stuff up every day. DH and I both do laundry every day. On Saturday, DH vacuums and I clean the bathrooms (2 full and 2 half). DH makes sure the trash goes out. I make sure that everybody has clean sheets and blankets. The kids are responsible for their rooms on Saturday.

I can't handle having cleaning people in my house. I hate having people in the house. I also hate the idea that my kids have a cleaning lady. It's too much like having a servant.

Fulltime working single mom of three who are involved in evening activities four days a week plus Saturday with no housecleaner. Two things. Organization and planning and don't let things get out of control. Every evening we pick up the house and get everything ready to go out the door in the morning. We eat simple meals so there aren't too many dishes. Kids help out. We tend to pick one evening a week to clean and on that night there are no electronics or TV until it's done. Friday nights work best because there is no homework.

we are both FT with long hours, live in a small 2BR house with two kids under 5. have never had a regular housecleaner. what works for us:
-kids have to do a lot. At end of day before bed all dirty clothes are put in their hamper, toys are always put away. One way we do this is just have a couple big laundry baskets or bins for them to throw stuff into like pp suggested. Not super neat but keeps stuff off the floor. they also clear their places after every meal, bring everything to the dishwasher. it seems like a small thing but somehow it helps keep control of the mess. I had a friend with four kids who kept a stack of small washcloths in the bathroom and her rule was the last kid to use the bathroom had to wipe down the sink and throw the cloth in the hamper. Helped to give kids incentive to get teeth brushed quickly at night and kept the bathroom presentable until the weekend.
-we also set aside every other weekend or so to do some family cleaning for an hour or two in the morning. When I was growing up many of my friends had chore hours as a family on Saturday where laundry was done, floors were vacuumed, etc. If I went over during that time I could help with chores, but kids had to finish before they could play.
-empty the dishwasher first thing, even if it's late at night. I can't explain it but somehow if that isn't emptied the whole system goes to hell quickly, esp. if you have a small kitchen like we do.
-we hire a housecleaner before a big event--like a holiday party or kids birthday party at the house. That's usually two or three times a year. it's more expensive to hire a service but at least it makes me feel that it's not all on me or as stressful to worry about that.

Anonymous wrote:Also, something that helped me, although it sounds really silly - get a toilet brush and bottle of toilet cleaner for EACH TOILET IN THE HOUSE. They were always in the other bathroom so I always put it off.

+1. To add to this, I keep wipes in every bathroom. Baby wipes even work for this and are cheap. When I notice the sink starting to look bad, I just grab a wipe, spend 30 seconds cleaning the sink/toilet seat/whatever and it looks great.

Anonymous wrote:In my family Saturday morning was "clean the house" morning. No activities, nothing could happen after breakfast until the whole house was clean. We all pitched in.

I had the same growing up. I hated it and now do NOT do that at home.