Do you have a cleaning person?

[Cyclonepride]

Could some of that be cleaning materials?
If we use bleach in our home, it activates any sort of allergen floating around. Other stuff doesn't do that at all.

She's pretty much allergic to everything, though some of it could have to do with Iowa, as she usually feels great when we go to Florida. We also have three small dogs (have hair rather than fur so that they don't shed), and that doesn't help I'm sure.

 

[BigBake]

We had a service coming every other week a long time ago when money was more flush. They just did the bathrooms, kitchens and the main living areas. It was expensive but dang't yes, it was so nice to have that clean feeling. Like many already shared, multiple kids and both parents working our house is barely keeping up. We have a level of clutter that's just too high but I try my best to make sure we keep things hygienic...regular cleaning of cooking surfaces, vacuum, bathroom scrubbing and bedding washed.

Agree with what others said too, it was nice to have them clean but it was a pain to declutter so they could before every scheduled visit.

 

[BigBake]

I'm way too cheap to pay someone to do something I'm perfectly capable of. Same reason I do all of our minor car repairs, minor house repairs, mowing/fertilizing, snow removal, etc. It has to be a MAJOR convenience to me to even consider, and cleaning isn't close to that level for me. Some people say their time is more valuable, but with how much time we still spend in front of the TV I guess I still have enough to clean for a couple hours a week.

I'm 100% with you on paying someone to do those things but I just flat out don't have the time. I try and do every project I can if time allows but then reality hits.

 

[EnhancedFujita]

We have a cleaner that comes every two weeks and its awesome. We loved it and it is such a relief because there isn't a feeling that there is some cleaning or something that could be done when you just want to sit down and relax for a bit.

Reading these other comments though, I think we might be way over paying. The cleaners come every two weeks, they say its a four hour job, and our housing is 5 bedroom, 4 bath, 3200 square feet. They charge us $170 a visit, which seems to be a lot higher than what others are paying.

 

[0u812]

I have had one for about 3 years now......as a single dude, its about the best $$ I spend every month. A gal I know personally does it, and does a pretty good job....hits most of the rooms, and really concentrates on the kitchen and bathrooms. $50 per month, and she is there 3-4 hours, once per month.....absolutely well worth that.

 

[CycloneErik]

She's pretty much allergic to everything, though some of it could have to do with Iowa, as she usually feels great when we go to Florida. We also have three small dogs (have hair rather than fur so that they don't shed), and that doesn't help I'm sure.

Yeah. If it's environmentally-related, that would make it hard.
Time for a cleaning service!

 

[ca4cy]

Good subtopic. How often do you do laundry every week? Wait til it's a mountain or two or try to keep feeding medium to large loads throughout the week?

For a while we were going with the mountain technique, but now I generally try to do a medium load or two at least every other day just to stay on top of it. For me the washing through folding phases go smoothly enough. But I'm terrible about putting clean clothes away and it drives my wife insane.

I would say 2 or at most 3 times a week. The bulk of it (4-5 loads) is done on Saturday or Sunday if we've got something going on Saturday. If we know we're going to be gone for the entire weekend it will probably get split up more on a couple week nights. Aside from the weekend, there's probably a load getting done 1 or maybe 2 nights during the week if the kids have something they need clean for a specific purpose. Towels are more likely to get done during the week because you can just throw them in the dryer and not have to worry about over drying anything. Bedding is a weekend job and more often than not will be done on Sundays when all the clothes get done Saturday.

And I'm right there with you on putting clothes away....I suck at it. I'll put my own stuff away but nobody else's. If we're short on clothes baskets it's probably because our freshman daughter has 2 or 3 baskets of clean clothes in her room that need to be put away. In a 4 person household, I'd say she constitutes 1/3-1/2 of the laundry.

 

[JP4CY]

I have had one for about 3 years now......as a single dude, its about the best $$ I spend every month. A gal I know personally does it, and does a pretty good job....hits most of the rooms, and really concentrates on the kitchen and bathrooms. $50 per month, and she is there 3-4 hours, once per month.....absolutely well worth that.

Only 15ish bucks an hour for a cleaner? Wow

 

[CtownCyclone]

If we're short on clothes baskets it's probably because our freshman daughter has 2 or 3 baskets of clean clothes in her room that need to be put away.

Growing up, Mom did the laundry, but we had to put our own away. If we didn't do it in a reasonable amount of time, we'd find it dumped on our bed and have to fold it and put it away anyway.

 

[The_Architect]

We have one who comes every other week and cleans our entire house for $90 a week. Best spent money by far. It free's up a weekend day for us each week.

 

[NickTheGreat]

Samesies.

With 2 young kids, the worst part to me is all the constant clutter, just drives me nuts. Once that's picked up, the sweeping/vacuuming is the easy part.

I'm way too cheap to pay someone to do something I'm perfectly capable of. Same reason I do all of our minor car repairs, minor house repairs, mowing/fertilizing, snow removal, etc. It has to be a MAJOR convenience to me to even consider, and cleaning isn't close to that level for me. Some people say their time is more valuable, but with how much time we still spend in front of the TV I guess I still have enough to clean for a couple hours a week.

I used to be this way, but as I get older and more kids it makes more sense to hire out.

I haven't gotten to that point yet, but it's inevitable. We haven't even gotten to elementary school yet, or real kids "activities."

 

[cyclonepower]

I have had one for about 3 years now......as a single dude, its about the best $$ I spend every month. A gal I know personally does it, and does a pretty good job....hits most of the rooms, and really concentrates on the kitchen and bathrooms. $50 per month, and she is there 3-4 hours, once per month.....absolutely well worth that.

that is insanely cheap, we use a company not cheap but do a great job...you get what you pay for sometimes

 

[mj4cy]

We had one once. It was kind of stupid though. The wife would clean our house before the cleaning person came. Your mileage may vary though.

Same here. We have one come once a month, but the night before we have to tidy up the house. I don't mind straightening up but I hate cleaning, so it's a win/win. Wife is happier and I don't have to clean.

 

[cyclonesurveyor]

Yes - the kids. Ages 11 - 9 - 6. every week they clean bathrooms, pick up, vaccum, dishes and etc. They mow in the summer and scoop the driveway when it snows. The oldest does more but the youngest always wants to help at least.

As long as you hold them accountable for doing a good job, they tend to do a pretty good job. They get paid a monthly allowance.

I do a deep clean if we are having visitors staying with us.

 

[isufbcurt]

My wife would probably like one but I wouldn't. I clean/do a ton of house chores that a lot of people joke about having a woman do. We hit the chores list pretty hard on the weekends so we don't have a ton to do during the week. Try and get the dishwasher running every night before we go to bed, and I unload every morning while the coffee is brewing, that's probably the biggest thing for us. We cook a lot, so when we come home from work, its so nice to be able to chop, boil, etc right away and not worry about the dishes.

Cudos to you.

But the last thing I am doing on my weekend is cleaning.

 

[Cybyassociation]

We had one once. It was kind of stupid though. The wife would clean our house before the cleaning person came. Your mileage may vary though.

Yup. My wife goes into psycho mode before the cleaning ladies. Why the hell am I paying someone to come in here and clean the house if you're going berserk and cleaning before they even get here?...So it doesn't take as long. Does she really think they're going to look at something and be like, "Hey, that already looks pretty clean, let's just skip this part.

Another example of my wife going psycho about cleaning:

I had an HDMI cable that was not currently being used because I hadn't bought the AppleTV we were going to hook it to yet. It was running from the TV, through the tube that goes through our wall, to the component area. The end that wasn't plugged in was hanging down. She unplugged it and ran it out of the tube because she didn't want people to see it hanging. When I brought the AppleTV in, I've got nothing to connect it to and I have to unplug another cable just to run this thing back through.

 

[PineClone]

We have a cleaner who comes once per week and does floors, kitchen, bathrooms, and dusting. Prior to that we were spending at least half of each Saturday cleaning the house. It's one of the best decisions we've made and it would take a monumental event for us to go back to cleaning ourselves.

Like my pappy used to say, "Buying time is far more satisfying than buying things."

 

[EnkAMania]

We have a cleaner once a week, it's great not having to use weekend free time to clean.

 

[Donqluione]

Cleaning services are expensive. It's better to just move frequently.

 

[FredCyclone]

A good deep scrub of the bathrooms and kitchen once every two months is worth the money.