Anonymous
Post 02/23/2026 23:16     Subject: What is normal when it comes to having a cleaning lady?
Anonymous wrote:We have a team of six wonderful ladies. They come every Friday, but the time varies. If they come before 9 I will make chilaquiles, with a choice of salsa roja or verde. If they come around lunchtime I will make a steak with veggies and fries, a tuna salad, or saltimboca. If they come towards evening then it is usually a seafood starter (think ceviche or boiled shrimp), followed by some kind of stew, and then a flan for dessert.


Anonymous
Post 02/23/2026 23:14     Subject: Re:What is normal when it comes to having a cleaning lady?
Anonymous wrote:Even though it is not a given to cook breakfast 🍳 for your house cleaner(s), I think it is a lovely gesture.

Especially if you have a trusting, reliable + detailed person.

My Mom cooks breakfast for her gardener who comes 2x/month and I think that is fine.
He rides his bike to her house and during the summer months it can get really hot.


If I were a house cleaner (or anyone showing up to do a job in someone's home where I was their at-will employee) I'd be very uncomfortable if they had prepared food for me. I'd feel obligated to eat it even if I wasn't hungry, or had already eaten, or wasn't feeling well, or didn't care for what was offered. It would be so awkward. Am I eating too fast, making it seem like I don't want to sit and chat? Am I eating too slow, making it seem like I'm lazy and don't feel like getting started on work? Did I eat enough to be polite? Did I eat too much and now she's going to offer me seconds? Can I be done yet, I'm on a tight schedule and this is going to make me late for the second house I have to clean after this one.
Anonymous
Post 02/23/2026 23:11     Subject: Re:What is normal when it comes to having a cleaning lady?
Mine comes every other week, usually between 9-10am. I have never considered cooking breakfast for her- that part took me aback a little in your post? When she comes, I let her in and then I head out for a run or to do some errands so I'm not in her way. It's hard for me to WFH when she is cleaning around me, and probably awkward for both of us who are just trying to each do our jobs. I can see on the ring camera when she is finished and leaving, and that's when I come back home. If she's taking longer than usual, or I have meetings, I come back earlier obviously.

She's been coming for almost a decade and we have a pretty comfortable pattern. If it was someone new, I would not feel as comfortable leaving the house I guess?
Anonymous
Post 02/23/2026 23:00     Subject: What is normal when it comes to having a cleaning lady?
Anonymous wrote:I’ve never heard of anyone cooking meals for their cleaner.


I do.
Anonymous
Post 02/23/2026 10:31     Subject: What is normal when it comes to having a cleaning lady?
Anonymous wrote:It's important to keep expectations low. Cleaners make things look clean but they never clean as well as you would if you had the time and inclination.


And they break things and don’t tell you
Anonymous
Post 02/23/2026 10:31     Subject: What is normal when it comes to having a cleaning lady?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:OK. If you're seriously asking this question, it's not the norm to cook any meals for the cleaner. Mine comes in at 11am, they clean till 2pm. I pick up all the toys, dirty clothes, paper from the floor that my kids left so they can vacuum. I'm guessing others might not. I load all my dishes so they only need to clean the sink. They don't get annoyed or ask for extra if I forgot and there were a few dishes left behind. They never asked me to do either the picking up or the dishes, I just do it as a common sense/reasonable thing to do. I stay out if their way- if they are cleaning the upstairs, I don't use the upstairs bathroom or the rooms. Once you start fully trusting them, you could even be out of the house entirely.



This is us but weekly.


This is the way I operate with my cleaning lady. She has been coming for 18 years. She comes for 3 hours a week and I am usually absent, although my husband works from home and keeps out of her way. I put everything away before she comes so she can concentrate on cleaning. I load the dishwasher and she empties it. I strip the beds and put the dirty bed linen in the washing machine, so she can make up the beds and hang the washed sheets from the machine. The place sparkles.


wtf. What stuff? Why only you?
Anonymous
Post 02/23/2026 10:30     Subject: What is normal when it comes to having a cleaning lady?
Anonymous wrote:I'd like to hire someone to help me with my household. We are moving in Feb to a bigger home (not a huge house, about 2500sqft, just bigger than our tiny apt) and I know I'm going to need help. Growing up we had a cleaning lady only a few times a year to help us with big cleans like spring cleaning or right before the holidays. I'm looking to hire someone for weekly cleaning.
Can anyone give me advice on what is expected from your cleaning person, what is expected of me as the customer, etc? For example, my coworker told me that her cleaning person arrives at 8 am. Coworker cooks breakfast for the cleaner and then she usually gets started cleaning at around 9 am. There are specific areas that she wants deep cleaned and everything else is kind of a touch up.

My main concern is that I don't want the person to feel like I'm hovering over them.

What is normal for you if you have someone to come clean for you?


Men seem to mis-think that a Cleaning Lady organizes their home and ott it so their stuff away— then cleans the surfaces and vacuums the floors.

Nope, the more cluttered and untidy your house is, the less they have to do! No surfaces to clean, no problem.
Anonymous
Post 02/23/2026 10:28     Subject: What is normal when it comes to having a cleaning lady?
It's important to keep expectations low. Cleaners make things look clean but they never clean as well as you would if you had the time and inclination.
Anonymous
Post 02/23/2026 08:14     Subject: What is normal when it comes to having a cleaning lady?
I have had the same woman since 2018. 5 hours/week, 9 to 2. About 1x/month I have different extras that I have done. Windows or my office or DH's office (we WFH) etc, in which case I pay for an extra hour.

I make her lunch, but only because I make lunch (nothing fancy) and I wrap her's up so she can take it with her when she leaves. I provide water and she loves Coke Zero.

I give her an extra 2 weeks pay for Christmas bonus. I also give her any and all extra food I have every week because we don't like leftovers and she seems to love them. I offered and she always wants them. I also give her any extra clothes, items, whatever that we don't want. (I don't like clutter.)

I come and go as needed because she is trustworthy and she makes my life easy as I hate to clean, and she is a great cleaner, trustworthy and does whatever needs to be done.
Anonymous
Post 02/23/2026 07:39     Subject: What is normal when it comes to having a cleaning lady?
We have a team of six wonderful ladies. They come every Friday, but the time varies. If they come before 9 I will make chilaquiles, with a choice of salsa roja or verde. If they come around lunchtime I will make a steak with veggies and fries, a tuna salad, or saltimboca. If they come towards evening then it is usually a seafood starter (think ceviche or boiled shrimp), followed by some kind of stew, and then a flan for dessert.
Anonymous
Post 02/23/2026 07:33     Subject: What is normal when it comes to having a cleaning lady?
Is it normal to have broken items on a very regular basis? We've had the same cleaning company (often different people) for 8 or 10 years. Every third time or so, there is a broken vase, picture, or something else.

This time we came home and the paper towel holder is gone. It was a marble stand that sits on the countertop (not super fancy, from Target or World Market or PB I think.) I assume they broke it? It's not the cost that bothers me so much but the fact that I constantly have to fix or replace something. And at least leave a note!
Anonymous
Post 02/23/2026 07:31     Subject: What is normal when it comes to having a cleaning lady?
No meals provided. I would only do that if it were an all day housekeeper situation.

We have a group of 2-3 women, they are only there for about 1.5-2 hours (our house is about 1800sqft and they don’t do the basement or dh’s office). We put clutter away so they are just CLEANING and not organizing. My dh works from home so he lets them in and out and stays with the dog in the office.

We don’t ever get “deep clean” effort I don’t think, but all hard surfaces are dusted and cleaned and fabrics are vacuumed.
Anonymous
Post 02/23/2026 07:24     Subject: What is normal when it comes to having a cleaning lady?
We have a team of 2-3 that comes every other week for 60-90 minutes for a flat rate they provided for us. They just do a deep clean and change the sheets and make the beds. I have everything picked up and the dishwasher running when they get here so they can just focus on the cleaning. We go away for a month every year so they do come right before we leave and do not come until we get back. We do give them 2 big bonuses a year.
Anonymous
Post 02/23/2026 05:11     Subject: What is normal when it comes to having a cleaning lady?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:OK. If you're seriously asking this question, it's not the norm to cook any meals for the cleaner. Mine comes in at 11am, they clean till 2pm. I pick up all the toys, dirty clothes, paper from the floor that my kids left so they can vacuum. I'm guessing others might not. I load all my dishes so they only need to clean the sink. They don't get annoyed or ask for extra if I forgot and there were a few dishes left behind. They never asked me to do either the picking up or the dishes, I just do it as a common sense/reasonable thing to do. I stay out if their way- if they are cleaning the upstairs, I don't use the upstairs bathroom or the rooms. Once you start fully trusting them, you could even be out of the house entirely.



This is us but weekly.


This is the way I operate with my cleaning lady. She has been coming for 18 years. She comes for 3 hours a week and I am usually absent, although my husband works from home and keeps out of her way. I put everything away before she comes so she can concentrate on cleaning. I load the dishwasher and she empties it. I strip the beds and put the dirty bed linen in the washing machine, so she can make up the beds and hang the washed sheets from the machine. The place sparkles.
Anonymous
Post 06/18/2024 05:35     Subject: What is normal when it comes to having a cleaning lady?
Our house is about 3500 sq feet, amd we never provide food for our house cleaner. They (2 of them) stay about 3-4 hours, and clean from top to bottom:
Bathrooms - tub/shower/floors/sinks/countertop
Kitchen - floors/countertops/sinks/cabinets/fronts of appliances/table
Bedrooms - change sheets/clean floors/etc

They also dust everywhere, vacume all rugs, and depending on time (and if our college age kids are home or not) sometimes do other things like clean the inside of the refrigerator