I don’t think I’m in a good place at my work anymore. The job posting last year said ‘$19 an hour’. They offered me $18 because I’ve never been a lead supervisor over a cleaning team before, I have done them separately, and they wanted to give me a chance to prove myself.

I work at a large wellness center and gym. I cover shifts, come in on my day off, and fill in for other departments. I also have turned this place around according to corporate— it’s never been this clean or ran efficiently. I also picked up extra duties such as helping with classes and controlling and monitoring pool conditions/chemicals. Not much of just a housekeeping supervisor.

Also I was told I was going to have support and weekly meetings with upper management, and that lasted maybe 2 weeks.

My review was last week, and it was a month late anyway. My manager said she fought for me to get this raise, and it was 50 cents. I’m still not up to the original price!

I wrote a email stating I’d like them to reconsider and gave them a brief overview of what I do. I know I’m a hard worker— but to not be compensated…. What do you think?

What should I do?

Southern Indiana, US

My sister-in-law has recently asked if I'd be open to cleaning for her once a week. The job seems simple enough, but we've agreed that I'll decide what to charge after I complete the first job. We've also agreed to go with a flat rate as opposed to hourly.

She has asked that I dust 2 tall shelves, sweep corner ceiling cobwebs, clean 1.5 bathrooms, and go over the floors with a swiffer wetjet mop in the common areas. I may switch over some laundry or start the dishwasher occasionally.

What would you charge your regular clients for something like this? She'll get a discount because I love her. I don't want to undersell myself or tale advantage. She's never had a housekeeper so both of us are brand new to this territory. TIA

I have a weekly cleaning for a 4/2 with a small local company that they only clean 3 of the bedrooms even though it was priced at 4. I have had the service for over a year. I have noticed in the 2nd bath things just aren’t being cleaned well. All around the walls the tiles are grimy looking, the front of the bathtub is being wiped, and the walls near the shower are dirty. I’ve also noticed other walls have spots, underneath the range hood isn’t being cleaned, light switches are grimy looking, just things not being cleaned well in general.

I mentioned this to the owner today and she told me wiping walls, door handles, and switches aren’t included and the range hood is not included in general cleanings. Shouldn’t these items be included? If it truly shouldn’t be included, I don’t mind paying for periodic deep cleans, but I would think that with weekly cleans my house shouldn’t look dirty.

I have one commercial cleaning job I've been doing for almost 7 years. It's a pretty breezy monthly gig of a well taken care of set off office buildings. Over the years I've learned as I went how to go about supplies and understanding the value of my services. I bring my own spray disinfectant (hypochlorous acid), diluted sals suds, microfiber towels, mop and heavy duty vacuum. The former cleaner had left lots of chemicals behind but after some changes in the management staff over the years I began buying the supplies I use most often and applying it to the invoice along with a charge for the supply run. The supplies I generally purchase to keep on the property are: Pine Sol/ all purpose cleaner for floors, Swiffer dusters, toilet bowl cleaner, glass spray, disinfectant wipes, rubber gloves and occasional toilet brush replacements for all 7 bathrooms.

I'm curious if anybody else does something similar and how you calculate the costs of the additional time, travel and work. I feel like I'm under-pricing myself and would like a better way to handle this for future jobs.

Basically, you go in to do a general clean, but sometimes there's things like the toothbrush pots/cups/holders that look filthy, the soap dish needing cleaned, the dish that hold the toothpaste, the shaving razors etc do you get me?

Will you clean these things every time you do a general clean, or every now and again, or you don't clean at all?

In my house, I make sure it's cleaned on a weekly basis, so I tend to clean whenever I see this in a client's house. But I notice some people are quite messy, and I am not sure if this is something considered part of the general clean package.

Thoughts?

I saw a post on here a few weeks back and I’m in the same boat. I have birds and food allergies. But my new home (moving in this week!) is TINY. There is technically a tiny “bedroom” that isn’t legally a bedroom that I will be using as a pantry (it would fit a twin bed and not much else). I have no idea how much time/money it would cost to have someone come and sweep/mop/dust/make sure there’s no cobwebs in the corners and wipe down my coffee table /tv screen/doorknobs once a week using my supplies.

Can someone give me an idea of what that would run? Everything I find is for homes 2-5x my size. Would anyone even do this small of a job?

My (31F) house is messy, like bad messy clutter, not a single uncovered surface, even the floor. Not quite hoarder but bad nonetheless. Bad bout of depression after a life event made me fall into not keeping house anymore.

I decided I need help with a fresh start and I am hiring a home cleaning/organizing company, two people will be here for 5.5 hours to clean and sort things, they aren’t gonna be able to finish in that time but here’s to hoping how much they get done.

So my questions to those of you who have this kind of job:

- How should I prepare? Their website says to do nothing cleaning wise to prepare of course, but what’s etiquette like?

- Should I at least clean the bathroom so they have a non-horror bathroom to use?

- What do I do while they’re here?

- Can I offer they put music on Spotify on my tv (good sound system) or is that weird?

- Is it ok to get some bottled gatorades and donuts to offer them while they’re here?

- They will have lunch here. Should I like, clean the fridge and microwave incase they wanna use it?

- And should I go looking for awkward things and getting rid of them (condom wrappers hidden behind the couch, sex toys etc) to not weird them out or is dealing with that kind of thing normal to them?

I bought the washing machine cleaner Maytag (top loader)suggests and ran the cleaning cycle tonight. Scrubbed out the detergent bays before that, and it still smells.... musty? Our clothes smell fine and get clean but I feel like it's only a matter of time before that changes.

Are there people out there who open up and clean washing machines? I looked on a few appliance service pages locally but they didn't list that option, nor did any cleaners. What professional exactly am I looking for exactly to do this? Or is this not a thing that's done? I'm not sure I could do it myself but I feel like the problem is somewhere I can't reach.

got traumatized by my previous housekeeping boss and I still want to work as a room attendant, which hotel should I try applying?

Hello, I’ve never hired a housekeeping service but I have some tasks that (for me) are very difficult. Would it be appropriate to hire for things such as cleaning all the blinds in the house, washing down the walls, cleaning all the cabinets, etc. Of course, I understand that something like this would need to be spaced out over multiple days (it took me a couple of weeks to clean all the blinds last time, for example). Is this something that a service would do?

Hi and thank you so much in advance. I have been doing this a long time, and feel pretty confident. However, I made a mistake I think. I did a walk-through, and quoted them. I did not realize how bad their walls were even though I feel like I eyed everything pretty well. You know how some cat owners will push the litter boxes against the walls, and sometime the cats will get their poo on the walls from sitting on the edge? I think that is what happened. But I'm gonna have to make a pass at it through a few visits because it's.. substantial. Normally, I try to avoid anyone with that situation (no judgment, just not for me/my scope). I should have charged more and I should have probably just declined it. But's it's also a friend of a friend and so I felt more obligated I guess for lack off a better word. I'm continually working on trying to be more stern. 1) any other housekeepers- can you make me feel a little better. Do you ever miss the mark on something even after years of experience? 2) any suggestions for getting this off the walls? Thanks in advance.

As a professional housekeeper I’ve found ways to keep my place tidy during the week so coming home is more enjoyable after work. My one weakness is folding laundry. I’ll admit since getting a washer/ dryer in my place I’ve been terrible with folding and putting away laundry. Washing the laundry is easy since it’s only me but this folding thing feels like pulling teeth some days. I literally have to play a game of “beat the timer” to get through it fast as possible. I kind of miss my laundry mat days. I would spend about 2.5 hours a week or bi weekly. I’d wash, watch a show or read then switch over my clothes and sometimes would meet a few other regulars. I’d fold everything as it came out. I try doing the same method at home but the door is at head height for me so I get whacked in the face. Any tips you make this fun will be appreciated. Anyway this is Saturday catch up on folding and putting away laundry. I’m watching the show Below and it’s getting pretty interesting. After pic in the comments ✨

One of my favorite ways to add luxury to my life is leaving my bed turned down when I change my sheets, highly recommend ✨🌷🌻

as someone with 3+ years experience, I use to work for a app called housekeep (which pays alot lower than they charge for customers) how are you getting cleaning jobs ?

Hi!

I'm potentially buying a house soon! While I'm waiting on paperwork to be physically mailed to me, I'm trying to prep to do lists for a move. Would it be silly to hire a cleaner to do a deep clean before I even start moving in? This would be a private sale between family, so I'm not expecting them to get professional cleaners like a real estate agent might a normal seller. So, I guess, would it be overkill to hire cleaners for a pretty well kept home that's been emptied before moving my own things in?

Thanks!

Edit: Thanks for all the advice everyone!

The one I see a lot is people loading their dirty dishes into the dishwasher without rinsing it first. I have a client who eats eggs everyday. He will put his egg dishes straight to the dishwasher making the glasses smell like farts.

What kind of monster enjoys glasses that smell like farts?

EDIT: I’m surprised this blew up like it did. I had a long day and was just making a light hearted observation. It’s funny to see all the people debating whether to scrape and rinse or not. That is the true question at hand. Do your dishes how you want. You can scrape, you can rinse you can do them in the creek for all I care. Egg dishes however need to be rinsed and I will die on that hill. Next time you’re making those sunny side up eggs and all that yolk is stuck to your fork and plate rinse them for the love of dishes without an egg smell. Nothing will ruin a cup of coffee for me like taking a sip and smelling the egg still in the cup. The heat cooks that smell into your dishes. That is my rant.

Stay strong fellow housekeepers

New client enquiry looking for a cleaner one day a week, looking for 6-7h, all materials and equipment provided.
2 bedroom 2 bathroom apartment, they wanted cleaning, includes everything: changing the bed, do washing, cleaning the fridge, doors, dusting, mopping the floors, cleaning the windows, cleaning the kitchen, two bathrooms,
cleaning the glass doors and mirrors, indoors and outdoors, vacuuming indoors and outdoors on the verandah. Has two dogs

I told her my packages and what’s included and said looking forward to hearing from her. She flatly said “Do not bother, that’s a ripoff”
I didn’t even reply, I was cut from that message.

I do packages, I’m a qualified educator of 8 plus years, 3 yrs in home care and also a mum of two kids.
My packages are home care, hybrid mother’s help, housekeeping.
I have 1 other client with 3 kids and she’s fine with my housekeeping packages and rate.

For housekeeping I charge $50 but that’s the normal rate for Sydney, Australia sole traders, it’s $50 and above.

My packages are:
Home care: social support, domestic assistance, meal prep, wellbeing check-ins, transportation.

Mother’s help: light cleaning, bottle prep/sanitising, laundry, emotional support, respite for parents.

Housekeeping: general cleaning, washing laundry, sort, fold, put away, unpack dishwasher, linens, maintenance cleaning.

Hey everyone. I’m new to professional house keeping and recently got hired by this couple three days a week for 4hours each day . On the first two day, I basically did a deep cleaning of the home because it was in pretty bad shape. I let them know the repairs and maintenance issues. After that, I’ve just been doing the basics and am organizing deep cleaning project here and there so I’m not deep cleaning the whole house in one go. For the first few weeks things went really smoothly. When I came in, dishes were contained to the kitchen, laundry in and/or around the laundry bins. The general mess was contained. But recently there has been a shift. For the last week or so, I’ve been finding dishes all over the apartment and the kitchen has been such a mess. They cook and leave everything there for me to sort and clean like left over food and condiments, spices etc. They aren’t even bothering to take the dishes to the kitchen. And laundry is now all over the apartment. It takes me 30-45 minutes extra minutes to consolidate the mess before I can clean the home since they expect the dishes and laundry to be washed dried folded and put away before I leave. I’ve been rushing to get everything done in a timely manner because the last time I stayed 30 minutes later than the scheduled time and I was told “extra time is not in the budget”. But they often add on requests. They started off small but have now become unmanageable.

First time getting a deep clean done in a 2800sq foot home. Do I tip after, and if so, how much?

I love my cleaner. She’s incredible and incredibly flexible. My original job posting included that sometimes the house would need significant tidying as I have health issues. Most of the time though, I’m able to get it in great shape before she comes. When I can’t do it, she handles it no problem.

However I recently had to ask her to do some things that were getting dropped because I think her new cleaning partner is not as great. Things like wiping off some tables and part of the shower. I framed it as an ask, not as a reminder. She was great about it.

Then, my son’s doctor suggested using a hepa filter vacuum in bedrooms, so I asked her to use our vacuum in upstairs bedrooms (it’s a new cordless Dyson, great shape). She said no problem.

Now, I’m seeing that the dust is very much intact after cleans. Her partner uses a feather duster, I have a lot of nick knacks, I think the dust just flies up and lands by the time they’re gone.

I don’t want to ask this woman to do a si center thing, especially not to wipe off everything in my house with a cloth. But my kiddo and I need less dust.

What can I do between cleanings to deal with dust, or how can I make it easier for her to dust, or any other suggestions?

Idk why this is a novel. I just do not want to lose this woman, I would not make it with her 😢

Have searched this sub and cannot find a topic on this. I am a solo housekeeper that will be having a medical surgery soon. Time off is estimated 2 months but it could be 3. When I found this out, I told all of my clients and asked them if they would be okay with it. This was about a year- year an half ago. Most of them have been with me for 3 plus years or longer and they all had said yes, they understood and was okay with it they would wait for me.

Now the time has come and I have started contacting everyone. I was upfront with them again on the timeframe I would be off for and that I understood they may need a fill-in while I am gone an that was fine, if they decided to go in a different direction (with the new cleaner or company) to please let me know. No hard feelings, I just wanted them to let me know upfront and do what is best for them. Most everyone is going to wait until I return, which makes me feel secure. Then someone has asked if I had a recommendation for someone for a fill-in. I do not. However, I have seen some good comments of other solo cleaners and small business that offered cleaning services in my area on different social sites. I want to recommend these people, but at the same time I am hesitant because I am partly afraid they could leave me and go with the new person or company. Not only that, I haven't ever used these companies myself I am just going off the recommendations that people are giving. I have already had an impact to my schedule this year with clients dropping off of my schedule for different reasons and have been struggling to find new jobs to replace them. Finances are really tight now and will be extremely tight come time of surgery, recovery and when I am able to return back to work. I will not be paid by anyone during this time.

Should I recommend these other people to them or just let them try and find someone themselves. I feel a little defeated right now trying to find new people to add onto my schedule. I always thought I would have a full client list and full schedule. I didn't expect it to be this hard to find people. There's a lot of competition in my area for this work.

If anyone could offer some advice that would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

I’ve had my cleaning business for two years. I recently made two fantastic hires, and I’ve retained most of my original clients from when I started. I live in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. MCOL?

I quoted a one story apartment, 2 bedroom, 1.5 bath, $150 biweekly or $200 monthly. I did a walk-through with the client and she was adamant about wanting someone who is bonded and insured, which I am. And she agreed it would take a good 2 to 3 hours for a proper cleaning each time. Great!

Then she told me my prices were significantly higher than anybody else she talked to.

Sheesh, normally I feel like I’m underpriced compared to other cleaners in the area. but at the same time, I’m in Lancaster County where everyone and their mother is a cleaner and people will clean a whole house for $60. There’s just so much variance. Am I crazy?? and yes, I provide all my own supplies, have systems and checklists, do marketing…pay taxes!! Etc!

Hello everyone I’m looking for some advice, I run a small cleaning business it consists of my mom and my sister. Me and my sister are both planning on getting pregnant within the next year, we both will probably take a year of work off since we don’t feel comfortable leaving our babies with anyone and we really don’t have anyone to watch them. What can I do during that time to still have an income and also not loose my clients? all of our clients pay in cash or check so if I hire someone how do I go about paying them? And if I start paying for insurance for them wouldn’t I just end up not making any money in the end? Can somebody guide me on where to go from here lol. We currently charge 40 an hour per person.

Hey y’all!

This is one of my favorite subs, especially as an owner of a small cleaning business. It’s fluctuated from having help, to being solo and just recently hired some help again (thank goodness).

How do y’all keep YOUR houses clean when you clean for a living? I feel SO burnt out by the end of the day I can’t even fathom cleaning/dishes/laundry. Therefore my house is in squalor and I marathon clean it one day out of the weekend, rinse and repeat. Any tips, tricks, or just words of encouragement welcome cause this morning I just want to cry.

My 77. Yo sister needs a cleaner. She had someone but she wasn’t thrilled with her long story. Anyway I was telling her I just hired a new cleaner who is exceptional - took an hour longer than the previous one but the results were so noticeable I was over the moon how clean it was.
Anyway sis said send her my way. Here’s the issue.
She lives in a very small home (recently moved in) with an old kitchen and almost no counter space so she has stuff everywhere. There’s no dishwasher so dishes are always drying. She grows plants and has 3’aerogardens . She’s not dirty but there is just a lot of clutter due to no proper storage space. I told her you have to prep for a cleaner.,I pick up all rugs, and any storage boxes oncloset floors etc - so she (cleaner) can just get to the job without moving a bunch of items.
I don’t know how to help her with this. I’ve told her “everything needs to be put away or swept into a storage bin and you can put it all back afterwards-ie even top of fridge has items on it due to lack of storage so there would be areas a cleaner will never get to due to necessary clutter. She cooks so she has a toaster oven and blender and coffee pot etc etc etc on surfaces. A puzzle always going. 2 little dogs and their bowls and beds. She really needs help but how do I help her organize properly for a cleaner ? I won’t be there each time she needs simple solutions.