3000 peso per month (about $60US) she comes 3 times per week, for a 2 bed 2 bathroom condo. She does, laundry, ironing, cleans dishes ( never uses the dishwasher) And of course cleans everywhere.
Pays my bills and does a grocery shop. She will house sit if i am waiting for technicians or trades. And basically gets things fixed if they get broken.
I want to pay her more but this is the going rate so I buy her kids birthday gifts and give bonuses and stuff when I can
Couldn’t do without her She is fiercely protective of me and my stuff!
I’m not sure why you’d assume that. If someone is your employee, they have to be doing a lot more than performing a service for you every once in a while.
There can be (speaking for the US here). There are some specific amounts that if you exceed, you have to report to the IRS, withhold social security, etc. I think the amounts are something like 1000 a calendar quarter but don’t quote me on that. If you exceed that thousand a quarter then yes, it’s supposed to be reported.
This of course assumes it’s all done above the table. We paid our nanny all above the table - withheld FICA and Federal tax, paid unemployment, etc. Paperwork hassle but at least we didn’t have to worry about IRS agents knocking down our front door!
From what I understand, in the case of a cleaning service, in theory they’re supposed to provide an invoice, and document their own income. The hirer could report the income (via 1099?) but I don’t know all the nuances.
Does anybody really say “maid” anymore? I’ve always heard “cleaning lady” or “housekeeper.”
Your best bet as far as that goes is building an ongoing relationship with an independent cleaning lady who is known in your area and depends on personal references to get work. Some random person from some random agency who probably will only get assigned to your place once has far less incentive to be careful with your Hummel figurines. Would you recommend someone to a potential new client if she breaks your stuff all the time?
And I’m sure that you can find personal recommendations in your area if you asked around. In lieu of that, you can check with someone’s references and ask about how often stuff gets broken.
That said, you do have to be pragmatic. As Mama Zappa said, you can simply ask her not to touch certain areas. (And that’s another benefit of using one regular person–it’s a lot easier to be sure that certain preferences are honored.)
As far as the theftables/breakables that concern me most, it’s not my extensive collection of Franklin Mint “I Love You This Much” angels. I’ve got model rockets and trains. But mostly I’ve got music equipment, some of which is pretty expensive. Now I’m sure that most Sterilization Technicians would know not to knock over a guitar or give a mixer a bath, I’ve known a few people that would do something just that clumsy or dumb. Perhaps I can designate my studio as off-limits to their services.
We have a cleaning lady come once every other week. She charges $17.50 an hour. so I pay her $70 for 4 hours of work. She mostly dusts, vacuums, mops and cleans the bathrooms and kitchen.
I found her though word of mouth. She was working for my neighbor who was pleased and recommended her.
I had someone previously who I found on Craiglist, but she was a total nightmare! Now I’ll only go by personal recomendation.
Our housecleaner comes every other Thursday and charges $17 per hour. She typically takes 2-3 hours to clean our 3 bedroom/1 bath house. She dusts, cleans the bathroom, mops and vacuums floors, thoroughly cleans the bathroom and kitchen – even going so far as to empty the crumb tray from the toaster before she shines it up, wipes down cabinets and baseboards, dusts the mini-blind slats. She is awesome.
She brings her own supplies and equipment. And whatever she uses smells fucking fantastic. When I come home on cleaning day, I can smell the “clean” from the garage. And our tub shines like new!
We found her through a friend of a friend. I’ve never had a problem with theft, and do not feel uncomfortable leaving the side door unlocked for her.
I am pretty neat as a rule, not much clutter in my house, so I don’t really pre-clean for her. I resist the urge to even give the toilet a quick swipe before she comes. I do make sure the sink is empty of dishes so she can easily clean that, and I stash away . . . er, sensitive items like sex toys and the occasional doobie.
We had a cleaning lady a couple of years ago who was thorough but so slooooowwww that it made me nuts. She used to take the books and crap off the shelves to dust and leave them on the floor. Maybe to prove she had cleaned there? I hated coming home to a clean house and having to reshelve all my shit.
[I Love Lucy] I made my husband fire her because I couldn’t stand it and was too much of a wuss to let her go myself. At least she didn’t eat my leftover roast beef. [/ILL]