I want a housekeeper...

[sjford0419]

My husband is ALWAYS gone (military) he is returning next week and will be leaving again in September for his 4th deployment to Iraq. I told him that I want a yard person AND housekeeper when he leaves. With three kids, a job and school, (not to mention my wonderful digi-scrapping obsession!) I do not feel like doing housework, much less yard work! My brother said that he will pay for the housekeeper if I get one...he feels bad that I have to go through this so often!

So does anyone have a housekeeper? How much does it usually cost to have one?

**I just wanted to add that my husband can't believe that I want this!!!

[my3hens]

You def deserve one honey!! I dont have any advice or recommendations but I hope ya find something thats the right fit!

[brooke22]

I think its a great idea! I have a yard person and its nice not to have to worry about that.

[Katie]

I have 2 jobs and just couldn't keep up if I didn't have someone clean my house. I pay $80 per cleaning.

[sjford0419]

I thought I was being crazy for a minute...ME want a housekeeper? But seriously, my stress level would be so much better if I could come home to a clean house and nice yard!!

[lizzyfizzy]

I AM A CLEAN FREAK! fyi. k. we can move on (:p)...my sister and i owned a housecleaning company for a very brief time, named Clean & Crisp. fun name, huh? we had tons of clients right off the bat, anyway. we charged per sq. ft of the house and by how often we were hired. i think for a 1200-1800 sq feet for a weekly clean it was $75 or something like that.

[lizzyfizzy]

also my gardner charges $25/week for light maintenance and mowing.

[SirScrapalot]

I just hired a yard person b/c I couldn't be bothered to deal with it, plus I am super allergic...come up with an allergy to trees and dust...then the housekeeper and yard person are for your health

[KristinCB]

For my anniversary in july I asked my hubby if i could have a cleaning lady come in just ONCE for kind of a deep clean/spring clean since I haven't been able to keep up as well since lucas came along (ok and really i probably could be cleaning instead of sitting here but thats besides the point).. at first he said no cause he didn't think it was a good idea or a very romantic gift but I finally got him convinced I think that it would be an awesome present..

I'm not a very good cleaner! I keep things tidy and mostly clean but I know I don't get as good as it could.

[schock77]

...have a cleaning lady come in just ONCE for kind of a deep clean/spring clean since I haven't been able to keep up as well since lucas came along (ok and really i probably could be cleaning instead of sitting here but thats besides the point)...
I'm not a very good cleaner! I keep things tidy and mostly clean but I know I don't get as good as it could.

Those are my thoughts exactly. When we put our last house up to sell, we had a GREAT company come in and clean...wow! Between my job, 2 kids, distractions (such as SSD :p ) it's tough keeping up. And I have 2 dogs so I have to sweep and vacuum every other day or their hair will start to accumulate along the baseboards. Argh!

[Angie4b1g]

My cleaning lady quit.

What does that tell you? :glare:

[Kat Stokes]

I want a housekeeper too but it's just not financially feasible for us right now... :(

[sjford0419]

I think I would want someone to come in every 2 weeks. I usually clean on Saturday mornings, but it would be nice to just do "maintenance" versus the major cleaning! It usually takes half of my day on Saturdays to clean up! AND then I have to get up at the crack of dawn on Sunday morning to do yard work. Any later than that and it is sweltering hot!

[Nettio]

If it makes you feel better, I know quite a few of the ladies here hired housekeepers when they're DHs were deployed. IMO, that's part of what the extra deployment money should be for - to make things easier for you! If it wasn't just me, I'd totally do it. As it is, I think it's actually easier for me to keep everything clean when he's gone. :D

[iJenny]

My mom has had a housekeep come twice a month for years now and I think she pays $60-$65 per time and her house is probably 2800sf or maybe 3000?
I would kill to have a housekeeper. But alas, my husband doesn't see the need for it. BUT... we do pay someone to come mow our tiny lawn a few times a month. Does that make any sense? :cursing:

[mcardall]

Honey, you deserve a cleaning lady, a gardener & someone to rub your feet every night! :) My parents paid $120/mo for lawn maintenance just mowing & edging. Trimming bushes & landscaping & weeding was more. And we looked into a cleaning lady when I was pregnant last time. In Florida, for 1000 sq ft, it was $45 per hour, estimating 1 hour a week. That was just for scrubbing the bathrooms, dusting, vacuuming & mopping. And I had to have the beds made & everything cleaned up off the floor before they came. If they had to move something to get to the baseboards, they wouldn't clean it. We opted to just live with a messy house since the reason we were doing it is that my hubby didn't have TIME to do the cleaning as he was working 70+ hours a week and I wasn't ALLOWED to lift anything heavier than 5 lbs. My duvet weighs more than that! Anyway... good luck! I agree with the pp who said that the extra deployment pay is supposed to help you cope with not having your spouse around. If you need help, it's supposed to hire your help!

[pbumbaca]

I think I would want someone to come in every 2 weeks. I usually clean on Saturday mornings, but it would be nice to just do "maintenance" versus the major cleaning! It usually takes half of my day on Saturdays to clean up! AND then I have to get up at the crack of dawn on Sunday morning to do yard work. Any later than that and it is sweltering hot!

I could have wrote this! I definitely think you sooo deserve a cleaning lady and a landscaper! My dh is way to picky to let anyone mow the yard but if he wasn't I'd definitely let him hire someone so I feel like I should hire a cleaning person! Plus I always help with yardwork, weeding, planting the flowers, shoveling mulch and does he help me in the house? NOPE! I just found out he cooked breakfast for his whole family this weekend up in Maine, he won't even microwave something here!

I think it is going to cost me $90-100 a week to have my very small house cleaned! I used to pay $45 back 12 years ago. I will probably do every other week and then will only have to do it myself for the other 2 saturday's but even that will give me about 8 hours back!

[robinforman]

We pay our ladies $90 every two weeks (our house is 2700ish sq. feet)- they do exactly what you are talking about, major cleaning so we just have to keep up with maintenance. We started when we both were still working and decided it wasn't worth taking 1/2 of the TWO days that we had off to clean (and now we are just addicted! LOL!)

We also have a guy come in for yard maintenance, and we pay him $30 visit (it varies how much he comes- every week in the summer, then he cuts down to less than that for the fall/spring and takes the winter off). He mows, edges, weeds, and then blows the area to clean up. I actually think we probably pay more than we need to for him, but he is the grandfather of a former student and I know the money is going to a good cause so I don't mind paying a little more, kwim?

HTH!

[Nikki Epperson]

I would love to have someone come in and do the basics for me! I feel like the house is always a wreck since my aunt passed and we brought home a ton of stuff that I don't have room for! :) But, we don't have the money and it wouldn't fly w/ my hubby anyway! Even when I was working nights, he didn't see the need! He would wait until the house was completely trashed and then stay up at night and clean it. But 2 days later -- trashed again. I should so be cleaning right now. :(

[sjford0419]

My next door neighbor does house cleaning...she has her own business. She cleans houses on Hilton Head and also does a few businesses. I am going to ask her if she can recommend anyone (I think it would be weird for my neighbor to clean my house!) and hopefully she knows someone!

As far as my yard, I stopped someone yesterday, but he said he wasn't taking any new customers...so I am on the hunt!!

[jessica31876]

My son this summer wanted to get some yards to mow. Around here he would be paid a whole lot more then 30 or 40 bucks because most of the yards are an acre or more. I mow the lawn here sometimes and my son does it sometimes or he will use the riding lawn mower and I use the push mower to get it done quicker. My husband does alot of the housework. I am waiting for the kids to be back in school to do a deep cleaning. I just get so stressed seeing it messed up in a few hours that Ive kinda let it go and avoided really looking to see how much mess has accumalted and just straightened up while they are out of school. When they start back I will go through each room and clean the walls , dust, sweep, mop and toss whatever we dont need. We have a really small house though so it wont take me that long. probably half a day.

As for housekeeping ebing as though I am a SAHM I would never be able to pull that one off and having a teenage son well the yard work is another no LOL but when my sister lived across the street from me she was kind of a slob and would pay me 25 dollars to clean her car out and 75 dollars to deep clean her house.

[sjford0419]

I tried to teach my 7 year old to cut the grass...but he couldn't push the lawn mower!! :p

[scrappychic]

We hired one a while ago before we had kids and it was $65 every cleaning. She came by every other week. Our gardener charges $80/mo for mowing the front and back lawn.

[jessica31876]

probably still a little young...but just wait til he is 13 or 14. Its such good leverage. You can get alot done when they really want something LOL ;-)I tried to teach my 7 year old to cut the grass...but he couldn't push the lawn mower!! :p