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Success after IF
cjsbdl
member
pls come in if you have a housekeeper
cjsbdl
member
We had the same housekeeper for a few years, and she was awesome and I cried when she got out of the business. She was reliable, inexpensive and I trusted her.
So we went without one for a long time and when I was pregnant with Eleanor we decided to hire someone to come every three weeks. We went through three people before we found someone we clicked with. I like her a lot, but she is never on time and the cleaning is spotty...but I can live with those things because I trust her.
Now my issue is that she takes F.O.R.E.V.E.R to clean the house. I pay her by the hour. Coincidence? The first time she was here it took her six hours. OK, fine...first time and all. Then it was taking her five hours sometimes, other times longer. I talked with her about it and told her I needed to know what I'm going to be paying her every time for budget reasons, so we agreed that she would come for four hours. We made a priority list for what I really need to be done (i.e. make sure the master bath is cleaned, powder room downstairs is last priority, etc) with the understanding that it's fine if she doesn't get to all the lower priority areas. And she never cleans the kids' rooms...I do that.
Well, now she is constantly asking me (or calling me if I'm not home) to tell me she's not done with the floors, kitchen, etc (all of which are on the high end of the list) and do I want her to stay another hour to get it done? I usually say yes, because, well, those things are a high priority...if they aren't clean I feel like my house isn't clean, which means I've just spent a bunch of money and am not satisfied.
I'm not really asking if it's reasonable for me to expect her to stick to our agreement, because I am definitely going to discuss this with her again. But what I want to know is do I have unreasonable expectations?
Our house is just over 3200 sq ft, four bedrooms (but she only regularly cleans our master, because we also usually skip the guest room unless my mom has been here), two and a half baths (but since her first visit she has never gotten to the powder room), four downstairs rooms (dining room, office, den, kitchen), a bonus room which she does not clean but does vaccuum.
So she is cleaning one bedroom, two bathrooms, the kitchen, the dining room, the office and the living room.
Is it unreasonable for me to expect she could do this in four hours?
I'm asking sincerely because our old housekeeper had no problem cleaning the entire house in four hours (and doing it well), but maybe she was just really fast.
TIA!
This discussion has been closed.
Re: pls come in if you have a housekeeper
I am in the same situation, and I am on the verge of firing my housekeeper. She never gets finished...and my house is smaller than yours, but probably messier.
I ask her to work from 9am to 1pm, and honestly, last week, I don't know what she did for 4 hours. Nothing was done.
It is ridiculous.
I wish I had some good advice, but my housekeeper sucks too ;-0
Our house is 2400sqft and my cleaning lady cleans the whole thing in about 3.5 hours. 3 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, kitchen, dining room, living room, family room. Also she vacuums the halls and the stairs. I would say that she does a pretty good job. Not great, but its clean enough for me.
I think it would be reasonable for her to clean what you're asking in 4 hours. If it were your whole house, then no. Perhaps you might need to find another person - although I know that its difficult to find someone you trust!
I think LVBlvd has the best set up. I need two women to come and work 4 hours...I'm going to look for a team after I fire my current person.
My cottage (ha ha!) is 1500 square feet. My housekeeper does kind of a "surface" clean every other week - but she is DIRT cheap so a surface clean is fine for what we pay her. She does kitchen (including wiping cabinets down,) 1.5 bathrooms, living room and dining room, upstairs hallway and 3 bedrooms (all of which are fairly small.) She vacuums all floors and mops all hard floors (which is basically the whole house - but we have some large area rugs.)
Like I said - it's what I would call a surface clean - not a deep clean by any stretch - but she does all of that in 2 hours. Granted, my house is much smaller than the houses being described here. Hey it's charming!
I'm embarrassed to say we pay her 30 bucks a pop - so basically 15 bucks an hour. Like I said, dirt cheap. We often give her at 10 dollar tip (so - 20 bucks an hour.)
"When it comes to sleeping, whatever your baby does is normal. If one thing has damaged parents enjoyment of their babies, it's rigid expectations about how and when the baby should sleep." ~ James McKenna, Ph.D., Mother Baby Behavioral Sleep Center, University of Notre Dame
I interviewed a "cleaning team" but they were going to charge me $275 for four hours.
I don't know what is worse. Ours rushes through so she can get done, and skimps on things because we pay a flat fee.
I am really annoyed with her right now. I specifically asked for one small task last time (windex the two long windows surrounding the front door, skinny windows) and she didn't do it!! Not sure what to do about this??
She is far from perfect. But she is so nice and finding someone reliable and trustworthy is so hard.
Good luck!
"I have four children. Two are adopted. I forget which two. -Bob Constantine
"All for Love,' a Saviour prayed 'Abba Father have Your way. Though they know not what they do...Let the Cross draw men to You...."
Davez has always said to get one, but the couple of times I tried, I just couldn't hack it. (cleaning before she came to clean, trusting to leave her, sitting around if I didn't.....) but if things go well with this pregnancy, I'll be left with very little choice to hook up with someone at least this winter and spring.
How did you find your gal/s? any chains you recommend or hate?
I wanted to add that I totally trust mine. They have a key. Sometimes I'm home, most of the time I'm not. They do an excellent job - I've never been able to get my house as clean as they get it.
"When it comes to sleeping, whatever your baby does is normal. If one thing has damaged parents enjoyment of their babies, it's rigid expectations about how and when the baby should sleep." ~ James McKenna, Ph.D., Mother Baby Behavioral Sleep Center, University of Notre Dame
My housecleaner brings a helper and they bang it out it 1.5 hours. She comes every 2 weeks. The house is 3/2, 1800 sq ft. It's $75 a visit and I live in a HCOL area.
After 2 rounds of IVF & 2 rounds of FET, we were blessed with identical twin girls!