Paying for housecleaning

[MoneyGal]

Two kids, we both work full-time. My husband does all the vacuuming, though; and he certainly "does more" housework than a previous generation of husbands would have. He just told me that he considers vacuuming a basic maintenance activity that lets him inspect the house in general (looking for loose nails, wobbly floorboards, etc.).

I will say that my viewpoint on housecleaning changed when I had kids. When we were a couple with no kids, I wasn't anywhere near as interested in doing housework. Still didn't pay for it; I was just much more indifferent to the overall state of the house.

[donald]

One thing i have noticed(and maybe it's been like this for a longtime) because there is so many residential home cleaning co's and its generally a immigrant based operation(with low overhead)it's actually helped drag down the prices(imo it's not that expensive)The trend in home cleaning or maid services are pretty high in middle class(whatever middle class is lol)20 yrs ago one would never hire out those chores unless they were wealthy.(3k for a full year of cleaning is actually not that bad,if it actually is that amt or $20 hr rate...is laundry in that also?some companies will do that also)I have a friend that has a cleaning co and he won't touch private homeowner only commercial clients and cleaning for home builders before they turn it over(he said it's very cut throat from a business side)Guess the same things could be said for lawncare and snow removal services.

[Four Pillars]

I HATE housework and so I do very little of it. I also am too cheap to pay to have it done. Hence, this place is a dump but, as they say, Martha Stewart doesn't live here. I did have the place looking fairly clean and tidy back around Christmas however. Sorry that you missed it!!

By the way, nobody ever spent time on their death bed wishing that they had done more housework!!

Just look at this place!! What a dump!!!

Or hiding under their death bed...

Seriously - very funny post Belguy.

[Four Pillars]

MG, you and others have raised a ton of interesting points in this thread.

I just value insourcing as much as I can.

I think this quote pretty much answers the question. If you are big on "insourcing" then cleaning is one of those things that you can easily do yourself and save a significant amount of money. There's no question that doing your own cleaning is the right choice for you.

Personally, I don't like cleaning and have no problem outsourcing some of this work. I can't and don't "justify" it, it's just a choice that I've made.

I don't think you can say that having a cleaner means spending $3k per year. Some people hire someone very infrequently and other have various levels of cleaning. In our case, we have a guy who charges $20/hour. Usually around 5 hours every two weeks. But he is often away or not available - I suspect our annual cleaning cost is more like $1800 per year.

At this point in time, I don't care a fig what our cleaning bill is - however in September, both the kids will be in school full time, so I need to talk to the wife about either cutting down on things like cleaning services (ie she will do it) or she can get a job. Any advice on that front???

[leoc2]

One thing i have noticed .... Guess the same things could be said for lawncare and snow removal services.

I have a neighbour who has the time to cut his own grass but would rather pay a gym membership and walk on a treadmill rather than walk behind a lawnmower. Gee go figure

[brad]

My sister and I got the clean genes in my family; my two brothers did not. They pay for housecleaning because if they didn't they'd be living in pigstys. My oldest brother lived in his apartment for 15 years and never once cleaned it...I visited him a few times and couldn't bring myself to use the shower because it was literally black with grime. He now lives in my stepmother's house (she died in January) and as a condition of giving him the place my other siblings and I required him to hire a house-cleaning service.

Even I have a pretty high tolerance for filth; I clean my office only once a month and get around to cleaning the inside of my car once about twice a year. But my girlfriend and I clean the house every week; she takes care of most of it because I do all the cooking, food shopping, and meal planning.

[brad]

I have a neighbour who has the time to cut his own grass but would rather pay a gym membership and walk on a treadmill rather than walk behind a lawnmower. Gee go figure

Outsourcing yardwork is a parallel issue to housecleaning, but in this particular case it's worth noting that you only have to mow your lawn about six months out of the year and even then it's about once a week. With a gym membership you can work out every day, 12 months a year. No contest.

That said, I've never understood the need to pay for a gym membership unless you're a swimmer or you use equipment you can't buy for the home. Some people need to work out in an environment with other people around, or they need a structured environment with a personal trainer, which I can understand. But I find it a lot easier to stay with an exercise program if everything I need is right here at home. No excuses: if it's 40 below zero or a blizzard outside, you can still work out because your gear is in the basement. I deliberately chose a daily exercise regime that I can perform at home (rowing on a rowing machine); when the weather's okay I have a bike circuit that I ride instead. I have free weights and exercise bands that I use for strength training. I would never pay for a gym membership; my rowing machine cost me about $800 in 2002 and my touring bike cost about $1,300. Both have performed flawlessly ever since I bought them despite heavy use (more than 6 million meters on my rower so far, and lots of long tours on the bike in addition to daily rides in summer); I would have spent a lot more in gym fees over the past 10 years than $2,100.

[CJOttawa]

We live in a sub-900 square foot apartment so writing a cheque to a cleaner would probably take more time than just firing up the Kirby ourselves.

Plus, clutter bothers us so we clean as we go - fold the blanket, put books away etc. It never gets to a point where a cleaner would have anything to do.

[MoneyGal]

That said, I've never understood the need to pay for a gym membership unless you're a swimmer or you use equipment you can't buy for the home.

Olympic weighlifting; I don't have the space for a full platform, squat rack, etc. Plus the actual weights are hella expensive. And it actually wouldn't be safe for me to work out alone, come to think of it.

[brad]

Olympic weighlifting; I don't have the space for a full platform, squat rack, etc. Plus the actual weights are hella expensive. And it actually wouldn't be safe for me to work out alone, come to think of it.

Exactly, but it was your choice to pursue Olympic weightlifting, so you're willing to pay the price. I think you could extend the same reasoning to people who choose to outsource and pay for work that you choose to do yourself (housecleaning, car maintenance, etc.). It boils down to choices and priorities. Do we need to justify them?