# Is a housekeeper worth it? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 18, 2003, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-housekeeper-worth-it/155987 "2003-02-18T23:09:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![scout1222](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/34f0e0/32.png) [@scout1222](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scout1222)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2003, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-housekeeper-worth-it/155987/21 "2003-02-20T23:06:25Z")
**Yarster** , it sounds like you’re kind of on the fence with her. Would she be someone you’d recommend to someone else? [sub]just askin’ since you’re in the same city and all…[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Brynda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Brynda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brynda)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2003, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-housekeeper-worth-it/155987/22 "2003-02-21T23:07:23Z")
This is the one luxury I will never give up. Like **Cranky** , I hire a one woman show. She charges $50 to clean my 1,000 sq foot place, but I always leave her $60. She cleans the bathroom, kitchen, the floors, dusts, washes any dishes I leave (I try not to leave many) and changes the sheets. I try to have the house clutter picked up before she comes and get all the dirty laundry off the floor. She has a key and is here when we are not. I trust her completely. One advantage is that she has cat-sit on several occasions. She already has a key, she and the cats know each other, and she lives nearby, so it works out wonderfully. ---
**Author:** ![Ziactrice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@Ziactrice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ziactrice)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2003, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-housekeeper-worth-it/155987/23 "2003-02-22T05:51:29Z")
I got laid off in November, and there are no jobs to be had locally in my field so I’ve started my own cleaning service. I try to be worth what I’m charging, but it is hard to compete against people who don’t report the income or have to pay for insurance. I have to pay self-employment taxes, and general liability insurance, increased car insurance, etc. I figure costs of the job based on the number of bathrooms, the square footage that has to be mopped, vacuumed, or otherwise cleaned, and so on. I try to be clear up front about what is included and what is not. A home full of breakable bits (no matter how lovely), is much, much harder to clean than a home rather on the stark side. Some cleaning services deliberately won’t bid on a cluttered home, or will refuse to dust. A generally tidy home is much faster to clean, so I’ll bid less. Myself, I will not handle breakable items of any sort - the job is dangerous enough considering the chemicals and things that tend to fall down on one. So far, I’ve been beaned by a shower caddy, and had my foot clobbered by a hidden, heavy wood TV tray that was behind a garbage pail I moved while mopping. Additionally, the profit margin is small enough that breaking one item can wipe out a month or three’s entire profit. I fill out actual bid sheets and contracts for my regulars - it is a lot easier to prove in court that I’m an independent contractor if you can wave the actual _contract_ in black and white at the judge. I do it to protect my customers, and to protect me by making sure they know exactly what I’ve promised to clean or not. I’ve charged from $65 for a once-thorough on a friends 1 bedroom apartment, up to several hundred dollars for heavy-duty spring cleaning for a large home (also a once-thorough). I charge my repeat customers less, averaging out the cost of that first, longer cleaning. I may have to stop doing that - one customer has already made comments about dropping me because ‘it shouldn’t cost so much to clean a house that is already this clean’. So, I’ll have to charge more for the first visit, and less on follow-ups. I bring all my own supplies and equipment, except when the customer prefers a special type of wood polish, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Washte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Washte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washte)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2003, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-housekeeper-worth-it/155987/24 "2003-02-22T15:10:46Z")
I would do _anything_ to get a housekeeper into this place. Because our living situation is unique, and this is not my house, it is not kept to my preferred cleanliness standards. Having said this, I could clean the place myself but I wold have to hire a skip, and spend hours upon hours upon hours to get it the way I would like it. Alas, I cannot. So I just stay in our room and make sure I wear shoes whenever I go out of it. Yes. I would do _anything_ for a housekeeper. sorry darlin’ but it’s true. ---
**Author:** ![CanadianSue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@CanadianSue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanadianSue)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2003, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-housekeeper-worth-it/155987/25 "2003-02-22T16:31:29Z")
I have a lady that comes in every second week and does a marvelous job. I pay her $35.00 and she cleans the house from top to bottom, including changing the bed linens. It’s nice to come home and know that it’s done. I clean in between, but she does the big stuff which is great. It lets me spend more time with my son. ---
**Author:** ![DeVena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dec6dc/32.png) [@DeVena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeVena)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2003, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-housekeeper-worth-it/155987/26 "2003-02-22T17:05:17Z")
Definately worth it… I had surgery last year with big complications. So we hired someone to come in every 2 weeks. Lovely. The happiness of coming home to a clean house (that I didn’t have to clean) was so worth it. After several months, we started renovating the house and stopped maid service. I miss it so much! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-housekeeper-worth-it/155987.md?page=1)