I had a cleaning lady for awhile and her rate was also $25 an hour. She was great, trustworthy, meticulous, but she was slow. I am cleaning myself right now and it is quite a job, but good exercise. My only complaint about my cleaning lady was that she did not arrive at 9 as previously arranged, and sometimes would not get to our house until 11. That part drove me crazy. Anyway, I think there are pluses and minuses to both plans.

Hope things work out for you.

I was considering freelancing, but my college schedule is so hectic it works better for me to have a working relationship with one or two particular families so that I can make sure I have time to do my job for them and still get my school work done.

$7 is not minimum wage LOL, but sometimes the lady I was working for would ask me to do really simple jobs, and I didn't feel right charging her a whole $10 for a job that was extremely simple to do and took pretty much no effort.

I worked 4-8 hours weekly for the women. If I worked 5-6 hours a every other week I would only expect to be paid $45-60 dollars. There are a lot of people out there that would happily take around that amount of payment and do a really good job. I hope that you can find the right person! I know it can be a really difficult process and it can be really hard to search for the right trustworthy person, but they are out there!

I know many college students around my age, like me, that charge between minimum wage to $12 hourly .... We all work very hard for the money that we are earning.

Don't get me wrong, there are people out there that both charge cheap and do cheap work, but that is not always the case. I cleaned and worked my butt off every single time I cleaned a house, and never would I leave a job having ever did anything but the best work I could possibly do. That does include moving the furniture type cleaning.

So I think it is possible to find cleaners that charge less than $15 an hour that do a spectacular job, but it takes awhile longer to find them. I learned they are generally among the college students.

:D LOL

When I transfer to a four year university, school should have me Texas bound! ;)

I am the cleaning lady ! :D
I am also the cook, babysitter and the maid.

How nice would that be to have someone else besides me come clean my house. I hate cleaning and spring cleaning is the worse.

I dont know how I would feel letting a stranger come into my home whether I am here or not. I think knowing that they are with a legit cleaning company with great references and knowing they have been bonded/had a background check would make me feel much better about letting them roam my home freely. I'm sure that you will pay more but "you get what you pay for" paying for a peace of mind and trust goes a long way.

Maybe you could ask for a resume with references and do some interviews. Seeing someone work history in black and white and making a few call could help you find the right person.

there are lots of people that work very hard for their $12.00 an hour. I sell industrial filters and the workers that build the filters get paid less than that, they work in un airconditioned factories, work with sharp metals, use cutting tools, have to measure things very precisely, carry large boxes around, work with hot adhesives and so forth. A friend's son pours asphalt part time, talk about a hard nasty job and he makes only a few dollars over min wage.

I have nothing against cleaning people but can't help but wonder, why they feel they can come into your house and look at it and tell you what they will charge to clean it. What if I don't want the same stuff done each time, what if one week I want more or I want my oven cleaned instead of some tables dusted. If you show up at a job most bosses tell you what you will work on (within your job scope) not the other way around. I also have found that through the years the longer you have a cleaning person the less time they spend on your house and start cutting corners. One time I had a gal for a few years and I was paying her $95.00. At that time I was not home while she cleaned. One time she did not show up when planned and I was upset since I had company coming for the weekend. She said I can come by this evening and I said there is not enough time, she said oh I know your house and I can be in and out in under 2 hours!, I said I pay you $95.00 and if you are spending under 2 hours to clean a 3,200 sq ft home well if that's the case and that's all it takes I will just do it myself. The good news is in the US we are a free enterprise and if you clean houses and can command a high wage, more power to you, that is your right to do so, but it is also my right to look for someone that is willing to work for a fare wage and I guess from the amount of people ringing the phone the price is not to bad. I will be careful and get ID and luckily I have someone that can do a quick background check for me.

oh I forgot to mention I used Craig's list last year for garden help and also got a great response. I wound up with a part time teacher for a while and then an assistant pastor from a Baptist church and when it came time to move trees and mulch he brought in some of the boys that had gone to his HS and were home for the summer from Baptist college. Which gives me another idea, I should check with some local churches.

Wow this might get rid of the little bit of doubt I have in my mind. Even though I have a gal scheduled for Friday I still have talked to a few more people. I just spoke to a lady that only wants to clean part time, she volunteers for meals on wheels and cleans for one lady, she works about 4 to 5 hours for $50.00. Then as we talk she tells me she lives on the lake next to the lake I live on, just about a mile a way. The lady that is in charge of the social activity on her lake is a friend of mine and we have run event's together, she knows her and goes to the same church. She also knows several other people I know, so right now I have sent some messages out just to confirm everything.
But that would be so great since I would not have to worry about her. Actually I am surprised she wants to clean but says she would because she wants a little extra spending money since her husband is retired. I think it would be worth giving her a try, I was tempted to ask how old she was but kept my mouth shut.


OK LOL this message just came in, I must say I still have faith in Craig's list, they all seem so nice but can't hire them all. Looks like I might have a clean house by this weekend which means I will have time to make an outfit for Lola and mess it all up:D I guess if the lady that knows my friend is to old I can hire the one from the email below and she likes dogs to boot!

Donna-
Hello, I just saw your ad on craigslist. I am very interested in this opportunity. I am 35 I have a 6 year old daughter who is in school. I live in Waterford, we've been here for about 6 years. I used to work at a hotel, I worked the front desk but would help out with housekeeping when it was needed. I've also helped clean our church, we used to take turns, one family would take a month and clean the Saturday before Church. Obviously I clean my own house, we have a dog and it seems like a never ending job with all of the hair, ha! Well, I hope that you consider me. Thank you.
Thank you
Jenny

I got my cleaning lady through an agency - actually, he's a guy. I don't think he's legal either. But that really isn't any of my business & I never asked him about it. I got my nanny from the same agency. I really like having that go-between. I went through about 5 nannies before I found "the one" & I'm so glad that I wasn't the one that had to fire them all.

We have someone come in every other week and she gets done in about 3 hours. We pay her $70.00 for the work.

I have one, she comes every two weeks and spends about 4 hours cleaning. I pay her $75.00 every appointment, she does my living room kitchen 3 bathrooms and the stairs but no laundry and does not change the bedding (by my choice).

I have had a cleaning lady for many years. It is very common in Miami.
The first lady came one day a week and also picked up my girls from school. She also did several of my friends houses. She charged about $90.00 for the day, the house was about 2800 sq ft. We moved she didn't want to travel the extra distance

Had a couple that I didn't like at the new house then found a wonderful lady through a friend. Small house but about the same price. The house was very clean when she was done, windows, blinds the cornors everything!

Now I don't have one.

My parents have had several different people clean their house over the years. I too agree that you get what you pay for.

I'm really taken aback by your comment "I guess if the lady that knows my friend is too old I can hire the one from the email". My parents had a lovely older lady come and clean the house. She was my favorite out of all of the cleaners. She picked up cleaning actually as a hobby because she was retired and wanted to stay active while making some money on the side. She was so sweet and thorough. And yes, it did take her longer but that didn't bother my family, we enjoyed her company.

So, I wouldn't judge someone based on their age.

I agree, my mom has been retired for several years and doesn't have to work. She loves cleaning and keeps a spotless home. She was bored so she went to work cleaning my vets home. She can work and clean circles around most people less than half her age.

We have had a cleaning lady here for a few months now. They are two ladies that come and they are usually here about 3-4 hours. They come every 2 weeks and charge us $85.00 and we have a 2400 sqft home. However they give us a list of products to buy when they first started that they like to use. If they bring their own they charge $100.