Clean My House: Tips for Hiring a Cleaning Service/Person

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cleaning houseThe year was 2013. The house was a disaster. Our work schedules were insanely busy. And… I was pregnant and tired. I felt like I didn’t have the time or the energy to clean the house. So, after much pleading and reasoning with my husband, we hired a housecleaner!

Hey – no judging! I’m not lazy. I’m not above cleaning. And, I’m not rich. But, this was something that we felt would improve our quality of life. Well, it has! Bringing Kristy in to clean every two weeks has proven to be such a blessing.

You may be wondering if having a cleaning service or person is for you. Well, I can’t answer that question, but I can offer a few pieces of insight on the subject.

1) Hire the right person or business.

This was my first time hiring someone, so I started where else? Google. I had a couple of large cleaning companies quote our house. They take into consideration the size of your home, the number of rooms, how many kids you have, what pets are in the house, etc. I looked on Craigslist as well. What ended up working was good old word-of-mouth. A co-worker recommended her cleaning person, and that’s who we chose. Do your research and decide the right fit for your family.

2) Make sure it fits your budget.

I think there’s a misconception that only wealthy people can afford this. But, there are options for most budgets. If this is a priority, look at your monthly budget and see if there’s room to budge. Some of the bigger companies can be pricey, but independent cleaners tend to be more affordable. Also, if you’re just looking for occasional cleaning, check out discount sites like Groupon, Amazon Local, and others.

3) Plan around your schedule.

If you work outside of the home, it works great to have someone clean during the day while you’re gone. If you’re a stay-at-home mama or worker, consider scheduling so as not to interfere with nap time, conference calls, etc.

4) Communicate with them.

Once you’ve got your person(s) on board, be sure to communicate with them about various items like what cleaning products they’ll use (cleaning chemicals or green products, etc.) or how you like certain things done.

5) Don’t feel like you need to clean “for” cleaning day.

I used to clean before Kristy would get to my house. I didn’t want to burden her with too much mess. But, it turns out “she’s seen much worse.” So, don’t worry about pre-cleaning too much. Although, it doesn’t hurt to declutter enough to clear a path. Ha!

6) Appreciate them!

We’ve gotten to know Kristy quite well, and while that’s not necessarily going to happen with everyone, do let them know you appreciate their work. Tips are good, especially around holidays. And, you can never go wrong with a simple “thank you.”

Kristy the "household miracle worker" holding Miss Charlotte when I was home on maternity leave.
Kristy the “household miracle worker” holding Miss Charlotte when I was home on maternity leave.

I’m a huge advocate for a cleaning service or person, if you can afford it and if you’re comfortable with someone else cleaning! I still clean and declutter, of course, but Kristy takes the burden off of us for more time-consuming things like cleaning the bathtub, vacuuming the stairs, and mopping the floors.

As a mom herself (of school-aged kiddos), she always tells me that she’s here so I can spend less time cleaning and more time snuggling my little Charlotte girl! I’ll take snuggling over scrubbing any day. 🙂

Have you hired help for housecleaning? What considerations went into your decision?

39 COMMENTS

  1. I agree that you should definitely give your cleaning company the appreciation that they deserve. They will do a much better job if you do. Good communication is really the key. You have to make sure that they understand what you want them to clean and how you like them to clean it.

    • Hi Erika! Kristy is incredible, but unfortunately I do know she’s not taking on new houses anymore:( She’s cutting back a bit to spend more time with her kiddos. But, I bet if you ask around, you’ll get some great word-of-mouth recommendations from other mamas!

  2. Cleaning our house has always been something we do on Saturdays, and we are just getting to the point where it’s not enough. I completely agree that you should make sure that it fits your budget to hire a cleaning service. I’m sure that if we tried, we could afford to get one for our house.

  3. I love your tip on not cleaning for cleaning day! It’s so easy to feel embarrassed about the state of your house before the cleaning service comes, and feel like you need to get it looking presentable for them. However, the thing to keep in mind is that this is what they’re there for! They’re not coming to judge the state of your house–they’re there to help you get it clean so that you don’t have to stress about it when company comes over.

  4. This are pretty useful tips. I have to agree with the last one. Saying a little appreciation like “Thank you” to your cleaning company will always motivate them to work harder. Cleaning your own house is fun but if you have important errands to run or you are working outside and don’t have time, hiring a cleaning company will always save your day.

  5. Thanks for sharing article. Hiring someone to clean your home is complicated. On one end of the spectrum lies a history of domestic work fraught with racism. On the other end rests the fear of being judged for having a sink full of dishes at the end of a particularly busy week.

  6. I like that you point out to make sure that hiring a cleaning person fits your budget. I can see why it would be a good idea to budget out the costs it would take to hire a professional cleaning service. My sister is a single mom with three children and works full time. I’ll have to talk with her about perhaps hiring an expert cleaner to help alleviate some stress from her life.

  7. I appreciate your tip to make sure that a janitorial service fits your budget when you are looking for one. I also like what you said about ensuring that the janitorial service will plan and work around your schedule. I’ve also heard that janitorial services can use different types of cleaning materials and practices that are more effective than the normal cleaning practices you can use. Thanks for the tips!

  8. Working with a cleaning company that meet your needs as well as your budget is critical. Never be afraid to share your thoughts and any complaints that you may have with your janitorial company’s owner.

  9. I have been in your exact same situation myself – including the pregnant and tired part! It is definitely well worth it to invest in a home cleaning company, but necessary to go through the process of vetting them and reading reviews first!

  10. I am currently pregnant and busy, and I too feel that house cleaning services could relieve some stress. These tips are great to make sure we have the best experience possible. I agree with you that it’s important to have open communication and that you don’t feel obligated to do a pre-clean. Thanks for sharing these great tips for hiring someone to help with the house cleaning!

  11. I liked when you talked bout the importance of communicating well with cleaning services. It makes sense that doing this can help you know what they are doing and when. I would want to make sure I take my time to find someone that is not afraid to provide their advice on what to use when cleaning by myself.

  12. I’m glad that you mentioned talking to the cleaning service about what cleaning products they use. My daughter has some unique allergies, so I should keep that in mind as I look for a service. I’ll try and keep searching for someone that will fit my schedule as well. Thanks for the advice!

  13. I agree with you in that it is important to make sure you do your research when choosing a good cleaning company. It makes sense that doing this can help you know how good they are and what their reputation is in the community. Personally, I would want to make sure I take the time to read online reviews and find a cleaning company that has experience dealing with homes and families like mine.

  14. I do like that you mentioned some ways on how to locate cleaning services, such as Google, Craiglist, and word-of-mouth. I have no idea on how I should start with mine but I would maybe try the idea of getting a recommendation from my friends and see how it’ll turn out. Additionally, maybe BBB could have them there too since it holds almost every service from plumbing to Realtors. I’ll give it a look later. Thanks for the helpful tips on how to hire a cleaning service!

  15. I liked that you had mentioned that when it comes to hiring a maid that it can be important to make sure you can find someone who will fit your budget to make sure you can afford them monthly. My wife and I are both very busy with our jobs and when we are home we like to spend that time we have with our children and this makes it hard because our home gets very messy fairly often. We’ll have to start looking around for a maid service that will be able to fit within our budget and keep our home clean so that we can spend a lot of time with our children.

  16. I think the scheduling would be the most important aspect of the cleaning service. If you work at an office, you would have to work around the busy hours and times that there would be meetings. Thanks for the awesome cleaning tips!

  17. My office at work has been very messy and I’ve been wanting to get it to a position where I don’t have to worry about clean it is any longer. I liked that you had mentioned that it can be important to make sure that it falls within budget to avoid any possible problems. I’ll have to start pitching the idea of hiring a cleaner to see if it’s something that we can possibly have done, and to see if it fits in the budget.

  18. I’ve been looking for a good house cleaning service, and I think that getting some information would be good. I’m glad you talked about being able to communicate with some house cleaning services. I’m going to have to do a little research and try to find the best house cleaning options!

  19. Thanks for the tips for hiring a house cleaner. I like how you said that we need to find someone who fits our budget. We don’t have a ton of extra money, but I’d still love professional cleaning help.

  20. My sister just gave birth to her first child and she can’t manage all of the chores at home. It was mentioned here that when planning to hire a cleaning service, she should first plan her schedule and communicate with them properly. Furthermore, it’s highly recommended to hire a professional janitorial cleaning service.

  21. Thank you for pointing out that when it comes to cleaning services there are options for almost any budget. My husband and I are wanting to hire a maid to help us with the cleaning around the house. I’ll have to look into finding the best service for us and our budget.

  22. I like what you said about hiring a cleaning service for our homes would help in saving money because you’ll be sure that the house is cleaned properly without breaking any furniture. It’s just my dad and me in the house. He’s always busy at work, and I’m also busy with college. We haven’t had a proper house cleaning in years, so it’ll be good to hire a professional cleaning service to help us. I’ll sure to suggest this to my dad.

  23. One of my friends recently had a child, so I think she may be interested in hiring a cleaning service while she heals up. It was helpful when you said to make sure that she hires a cleaning service that can work around nap time. Thanks for all the great tips on hiring a great home cleaning service.

  24. My spouse is going to be incapacitated for a month and I am thinking about hiring a maid service to help keep the house in order. I agree that it is important to communicate with the cleaning service so that you have the house cleaned to your specifications. I’ll be sure to give the maid service a tour of the house and how we usually clean each room so they know.

  25. While hiring the cleaning service there are many things which need to be consider as these things are very necessary to be while hiring the service person you make sure that it do not hits your budget whatever is you budget it is necessary to be it do not effect from it.

  26. I like how you mentioned that you should make sure you can communicate with the professional cleaning service you hire so you can talk to them about how you like certain things done or what kind of cleaning products they will be using. I work full time and have a lot of other commitments, and it’s hard to find time to clean my house, and the mess is really starting to stress me out so I’ve been thinking about hiring a professional cleaning service to help me. I will definitely keep your great tips and information in mind when hiring the perfect cleaning service to clean my home and relieve my stress!

  27. Thank you for your great tips on hiring a cleaning service. I want to hire a cleaning service for my house. I will definitely keep all of your great tips and information in mind when trying to hire a reputable cleaning service.

  28. I like how you mentioned that you should make sure you can communicate with the professional cleaning service you hire. I need to hire a cleaning service to clean my hardwood floors. I will definitely utilize all of your great tips and information when hiring a cleaning service.

  29. It’s interesting to know that when you are looking for a cleaning service company, it works great to schedule the cleaning during the day while you are gone. My husband and I are thinking about hiring a cleaning company for our house, and we are looking for advice. I will let him know about your recommendations to find the best cleaning service available.

  30. Thanks for the tips for hiring a home cleaning service. I am thinking about hiring one because I never feel like I have time to clean. I will have to make sure that I plan around my schedule so they can clean while I am gone like you suggested.

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