Image: scottchan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
There are a few reasons why we have never liked the idea of a live-in maid, but the major one would be that our privacy would be severely compromised. With the initial trust issue to deal with, coupled with the fact that there would literally be a stranger in our midst at all times, we felt that the price we had to pay for someone to “take care of the house” just wasn’t worth the while.
At one time, for the sake of having a clean house, I considered hiring the hourly maid-cleaning services. I even made a few phone calls, but somehow I never got around to doing it. The thought of having to be there to supervise each and every thing that is done for 4 hours straight overwhelmed me.
So I did what little cleaning and scrubbing I could, making sure the important things like the floor and bathrooms were relatively clean. But there was only so much I could do, especially now with two kids to handle too. Plus, I sometimes had to take a self-declared rest because my hand eczema sometimes acted up, resulting in my inability to do much. It was lately that I began to feel that so many other *important* places in our home were being neglected; the kitchen, the balconies, some nooks and other crannies…
I finally decided to engage some hired help in the form of a freelance hourly maid, who provides house-cleaning services for a very reasonable fee. More importantly though, she was recommended by a friend of mine, so she’s more or less “tried and tested”.
But having had absolutely NO experience whatsoever with maid cleaning services, I had the urge to clean and tidy up a few things around the house the day before the cleaner arrived, just so it didn’t look too messy. My husband thinks I’m crazy, as if I was getting the house ready for a guest…but that’s how I was. Haha…you don’t expect me to dirty the house on purpose, right?
And yesterday, was trial run day. She arrived at about 8:45a.m. and I asked her to tackle the kitchen stove first. She didn’t just do that…she also wiped the cabinets and countertops clean, wiped the windows and walls of the kitchen and then proceeded to clean the balconies. She was independently efficient and worked quickly, plus the results were nothing short of marvelous!
I was impressed.
I definitely could not clean so many things in the same 4 hours all by myself. I had no regrets and I am very pleased indeed.
My kids were also visibly impressed by how nice everything smelled (although I don’t understand how different it is when I cleaned up, since I used the same detergents :P), and hubby was also very glad. The best part was that I didn’t need to deal with itchy hands which I sometimes get when working with detergents. (I’m allergic to rubber gloves by the way, so I can’t wear them while I work)
Looks like we might be making this a regular fixture…
Little Miracles
Our Journey of Love
Glad you found the hourly cleaning services good. We used to get someone in as well. No issues with the quality of work done. But with us being away at work on weekdays, we could only call them on weekends. This would mean half-a-weekend-day gone. This led to us getting help from a robot…
The Giddy Tigress says: Well, a robot is great to have, but you’d still need to mop and clean the floor yourself later on, yes? …unless you have the robot that mops too! hehe. Anyway, this lady that did the cleaning for me, works at night on weekdays too 🙂
From our experience, you only need to supervise and instruct the first few times. After that, the cleaner would already know what to do so you just need to do inspection check.
The first couple of times will be very clean because they want to impress you. After that, they could become less motivated.
The Giddy Tigress says: I do understand where you’re coming from, but I think that’s applicable to those agencies who have many cleaners driven around to clean houses. The cleaning lady that came to my house the other day is a freelance one, which means she works on her own. I’m assuming (and hoping) she would be more consistent and dedicated in her work?
i used to hire part time cleaners too until i found out that the actually place a dirty milk bottle into my book shelf, then simply chuck all the toys into whatever boxes they can find, used my car shampoo to wash the porch cos she claims that it smells nicer for whatever reason and i think that if i were to pay 55 and also walk around and supervise them, better i spend 4 hours cleaning myself. hahaha yeah adino is right.. the performance deteriorates
The Giddy Tigress says: Well, I’d say perhaps some of the cleaners’ performances do deteriorate with time, but I’m hoping this lady’s different, for the simple reason that she works solo and she’s freelance! But anyway, even if the standard deteriorates, it’s up to us to pull the stopper, no?
Hi, I assume if this lady is freelance therefore she is not Indonesian but local Chinese right? May i know how much you have to pay to her for 4 hours of work and what type of work she does it for you? Thanks and always love your blogs!
The Giddy Tigress says: She’s Indonesian, actually. And the rate is RM40 per 4 hours. I think she does all types of cleaning: kitchen, bathroom, floors, cabinets, fans, and if you want her to clean some shelves, she can do so too. Thanks for visiting!