Having a maid or house cleaning service used to be something only the super wealthy could afford. But as life gets busier and more hectic people are beginning to realize just how much their time is worth. Choosing to ‘outsource’ the cleaning of your home can save you a lot of time, money, and headache. Affordable house cleaning isn’t as out of reach as you might think.
Why Hire A Cleaner?
There are many reasons to hire an affordable house cleaning service. Three of the most common reasons are time, money, and stress.
Stress
If you are like most people, you don’t particularly enjoy cleaning. You enjoy having a clean home, but the process to get it looking that way? Maybe not so much. Even if you do a good job of keeping up on the cleaning, the constant, never-ending cycle of it can cause a lot of stress. As hard as you worked today, you’ll just have to do it all again tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that. And never mind trying to get to the deep cleaning or organizational projects that have been on your to-do list for years. Or maybe you just feel overwhelmed and need a break. Hiring a service frees you up to spend your time however you like without extra stress weighing you down.
Time
Even if you live alone cleaning can take up a lot of time. The time it takes increases exponentially as you add in things like a partner, children, or pets. With a lot of people working from home right now, you might find there are more messes to clean and even less time to do it. This is especially true if you are also trying to balance work with your child’s distance learning. You likely have had to adjust your workload to try to compensate for your new routine. Hiring a service to take care of the cleaning for you ensures you have more time to focus on work, school, and family. Or maybe you are an essential worker and have been working outside the home through the pandemic. Some workers, especially those in healthcare, have been working over time. The last thing you want to do when you get home from a long shift is to spend time cleaning. Save yourself some time and hire a cleaner to handle it for you.
Money
While hiring a cleaning service may seem expensive, it can actually save you quite a lot of money in the long run. Consider how much money you make per hour. How many hours will you spend cleaning your home? The average adult spends 6 hours a week cleaning. If you make $100 an hour, and spend 6 hours cleaning, you are – in essence – spending $600 on cleaning your home. The average cleaning service costs around $150 for a two person cleaning team to do the same work, or often better, in around 2 hours. So at the end of the day, you have to ask yourself, how much is your time worth to you?
The cost of cleaning products can really add up too. Your service will provide their own cleaning supplies and equipment. They are also trained on how to use these products and what works best on the different surfaces in your home. So you don’t have to worry about wasting money trying to find the right product for the job.
Cleaning products can also damage surfaces if you don’t know how to use them. This results in costly repairs or replacements. A bonded cleaning service has insurance to cover the cost of repair in the unlikely event that something is damaged during a cleaning. This is especially important if you are renting.
How To Find an Affordable House Cleaner
Hiring a cleaning service may be more affordable than you might think. But first you will need to find a cleaner in your area. Here are some things you should know about finding an affordable cleaning service:
Research
Cleaning companies are a dime a dozen. Each one is trying to offer competitive pricing or a better value than the next company. So its important to do your research. The best way to find a reliable and affordable service is through word of mouth. But assuming you dont know anyone who hires a service, you can search reviews on Google, Angie’s List, and other such websites. You can look up their typical pricing and what type of service you can expect from them. Just be sure to check their reviews on more than one website. Some platforms allow companies to pad their rating by hiding negative review.
Ask Questions
Before you hire anyone, be sure to interview the company. You’ll want to find out what services they provide and how many times a month do they recommend scheduling a cleaning for best results. Are they bonded? Do they have insurance? What type of cleaning products do they use? Will you have to provide your own products and equipment? What is their definition of ‘clean’? What services do they provide? You’ll also want to consider what makes your home unique. Are there any questions or concerns you have about how that might affect the services they offer? What is their policy on background checks for employees? How do they ensure your privacy and safety?
These questions will help you determine the level of professionalism you can expect from the company. Asking the same questions to each company you interview will also help you decide which one will be a good fit for your home. Remember, the price fitting your budget doesn’t always mean their service will meet your standards.
Cost Assessment for Affordable House Cleaning
Another thing to look at is cost vs. value. A service might be inexpensive but the value they offer may not be that great. And vice versa. A more expensive service doesn’t always mean you get a better value. On average, a house cleaning service will charge somewhere between $100 and $150 for a house cleaning once every two weeks. However, cost will vary based on where you live and the particular needs of your home. If you have a particularly large or messy home your cleaning crew will have more work to do or may need to come more often. The price of the service will reflect this. If your home needs less cleaning, your service will be less expensive.
Just beware of companies that quote a price significantly lower than the other companies in your area. While it may be tempting to go with bargain bin pricing, this may mean that they clean on a rotational basis. With rotation cleaning they only clean certain surfaces with each visit. On one visit they may focus just on the kitchen and dining area and the living room and hallways on the next. They’ll tend to the bed and bathrooms on the one after that, instead of cleaning the whole home on each visit. So be sure to ask why their price is so much lower and what value they offer that the competition does not.
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