For several years I have had an older [60's] lady cleaning for me every other week. Recently I have hired a younger lady for the off week. It works wonderfully. The young one can climb step ladders and clean things that have been waiting for a while. She can get on her knees and clean under my sewing machines. She can clean deep cupboards, etc. I trust them both and enjoy their company. I am approaching 86 so they are a blessing. Luck me.

:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

Times has changed in recent years but my Aunt had a awesome cleaning lady that all us cousins would call her Aunt Corrine! Don't cros. Her cuz we would get reprimanded! But seriously if you have friends using one and recommended, then try one for couple weeks to see how it goes. But be sure to let her know what's off limit like moving machinery around or cleaning certain items.

I have a cleaning lady that owns her own business, she came highly recommended and as it turned out I had worked with her mother. The lady has 4 kids and she needed to be able to control her own schedule. She comes every other week and the primary duty is cleaning the kitchen and both bathrooms. She also dusts and vacuums all the rooms but does not move items. I knew this when I hired her. So we do straighten up the place before she comes. But it is best for us to put things away than someone else.

My mother didn't trust strangers to clean her house. So when she was unable to do it, I was the only one cleaning her bathroom when I came twice a year. My sisters didn't mind cleaning up the kitchen while staying with her, but I was the one that did the bathroom. I tried to vacuum one time and she got upset. But it needed to be done - I was surprised she didn't have mice.

When I first hired my cleaning lady I was nervous and felt embarrassed - but if I liked cleaning and was good at it, why hire someone to do it? I love it now - I do other things while she is here.

I have cleaned for others for many years. many years from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. after that I had a courier job with a local bank. Did that every weekday for about 15 years. I had so many people wanting to hire me and some of my friends advised me to hire help and take more jobs. I was not comfortable doing this as I did not want to be responsible for others working for me. I would not have control over if they did a good job and/or if they broke or stole something. I now have 3 and sometimes 4 people I clean for. Most are every other week. Both myself and them are flexible due to scheduling our time. Works out well for everyone.
I seldom take on anyone new nowdays but if I do I ask what they want done and give them a list of things I need for cleaning. they laugh when I need an old toothbrush. I do floors on my hands and knees and like to get into corners and in the bathroom around bottom of stools and around faucets. I ask them to let me know if they are unhappy and how I can fix the problem. If I can't please them I am open to quiting.

When I was working, I had someone in to clean and never had any problems. She often did more than she was expected to do and the house always sparkled when she was done. Wish I could still justify having her come to clean, but since I'm home "retired" ( yeah, right) I don't feel like I could have her cleaner while I sew ... hmmmm ... or could I??? Lol. :-)

Rubesgirl, When I retired I kept my house keeper. After all, I retired because I'm getting older and I don't want to add cleaning house to everything else I do.

I had a cleaning lady that liked to take all day.
She wanted to do what she wanted and she'd be dammed if I asked her to do otherwisw.
She didn't care what I liked or wanted. I got her from some single men I know who loved her.
Of course they did, she wore hot pants, remember them and no bra. would like to wait til my dh got home b4 she left.
You could never find anything coz she went in the drawers and closets.
I did get a new one, chgs less and is done in 2 hrs.

I have never hired a house cleaner, but getting to the point that I need to. I am 82 and I have a very bad back, and can do very little housework. Can't stand up but a few minutes at a time. (I can handle sewing very well though), until the sciatic pain kicks in. What is considered a fair hourly wage for a cleaner? Or is it better to pay by the job, and not by the hour?

I got lucky - DH & I hired a woman based on a referral from our real estate agent when we bought the house. Turns out this cleaning lady is the agent's cousin. We ended up not trusting our agent at ALL, but the cleaning lady has been wonderful so I feel lucky. She's licensed and bonded and owns the business herself. She had a crew of 2-3 girls she used to bring with her but after the economy tanked she scaled down so now it's just her and her husband. It takes them a little longer but the price is the same and the work is just as good so I don't care.

We have an electric combo lock on our front door so we just gave them the code to the door. DH works out of the house so sometimes he's home, sometimes not, sometimes for part of the time. They come and go as they need to.

At first we were nervous about it but they've been great so we don't worry anymore. A couple minor things have been broken but they never hide anything and have always offered to replace or pay for things so we don't worry about it - mistakes happen. Nothing has ever gone missing, except for a vacuum attachment that I think must have gotten thrown away somehow, as they don't have it and we can't find it!

We actually tried another (cheaper) cleaning lady for awhile but it was really bad. Another lady who owned her own business, but she was very very short and wouldn't use a stepladder or a long brush, so the upper parts of the shower started to mildew, upper cabinets never got wiped down, etc. Plus she'd leave grunge behind on the kitchen counter and when we asked her about it her answer was, "I don't scrub. I wipe, but not scrub." Um...but that's what we hired her to do! We went back to the original people (who don't mind scrubbing when necessary) and we don't try new people anymore, LOL.