HOW MUCH DO YOU PAY YOUR HIRED HELP?
Phill_Most
4,594 Posts
been thinking about this for a minute... too tired / busy for house chores lately. possibly just a maid / cleaning person but possibly also some sort of a manservant (can't use that title though.... sounds waaay too 
for my liking... not that there's anything wrong with , i'm just saying for MY liking, being that i'm not ). a personal chef would be nice too, maybe just a couple days a week. didn't some of you on this forum once discuss your butlers and things of that nature? i need some advice... if you're a true 
plaese help. thanks in advance 
for my liking... not that there's anything wrong with , i'm just saying for MY liking, being that i'm not ). a personal chef would be nice too, maybe just a couple days a week. didn't some of you on this forum once discuss your butlers and things of that nature? i need some advice... if you're a true plaese help. thanks in advance
Comments
Good luck. I know there are a few companies in the city that will send a squad of people to clean your house. It only takes a few hours, but I'm not sure how much it costs.
Baby Sitter - $10/hour
Gardener / Lawn Slave - $9/hour
Brazilian cleaning lady - $75 per session
$20 an hour for cleaning
$12.50 an hour for babysitting, sewing, cooking, etc.....
Damn!
I've been looking for someone to come by once a month and the lowest I've heard was $150. Can anyone recommend a service around $70-80 in Richmond, VA?
That's the thing. Services like "Merry Maids" will charge you double what a Polish or Brazilian immigrant would. These people are hard to find, though. But if you can score a good one through word of mouth, they will take care of you!
Also bear in mind I am talking like a 2-br apartment for $75. If you have a larger house $150 sounds about right.
Barbara Ehrenrich devotes a whole chapter to Merry Maids and basically lays this out: 1) they entirely exploit their labor force while the franchise owner pockets most of the $$$. 2) Maids are trained to do cosmetic cleaning - basically, making shit LOOK clean but many times, they're actually spreading germs and failing to do any real deep cleaning, let alone hygenic cleaning.
In my experience, the main things to look/ask for in hiring a cleaning person is:
1) Someone who charges by the hour. Many will do it by the room and that has some logic but the thing is: you don't want someone who is going to speed through your house, giving it a cosmetic cleaning but not actually getting grime/dirt, etc. out.
2) Someone who brings their own cleaning supplies.
3) Make sure they're not using the same rags that clean your toilet to clean your sink (this is what the Merry Maids did. YEEECCH!). Also make sure they actually use hot water (using tepid water is another sign of trying to speed through a job).
And in general, if I'm hiring through a service (i.e. a company that has teams of cleaners vs. someone who runs their own business and does the cleaning too), I always try to tip 20% or more because I'm assuming the business owner is going to screw them out of a higher % of their wages.
Yeah the woman who cleans my 2BR is Polish. I get her 1-2 times monthly. It's worth it and she does a great job. That reminds me, I have to tip her again this year, but I tip all the folks who do shit for me like my super, my UPS dude, the dude at the laundromat etc.
yes, i think i pay my lawncare guy something like that too. so why is the schitt looking 50% shades of brown right about now? i might have to fire the muthaf***er
2 bedroom here as well. I wouldn't hesitate to pay $150 to have someone clean a house, but my apartment shouldn't take more than a couple hours to clean thoroughly.
NO DOUBT
I think our guy has a gambling problem. He called me up the other week asking for 2 months pay in advance with some bullshit story. OOF
We've had the same lady (and sometimes her daughter or sister) clean our house a few times a month since we moved in 4 or 5 years ago.
Having a house and kids that schitt is
She charges about $100 a session and she's here all day.
Other than a few times when she's MIA or late we've had no problems.
Your family doesn't count dude.