How I Save Money on a House Cleaner

by Stacey Carroll, Contributing Writer

Image © Lyn Lomasi; All Rights Reserved

Having someone come in and periodically do all the deep cleaning is awesome. They typically clean everything I haven’t touched in six months or longer like behind the toilet, the blinds, the cabinets, and the hood over the oven. They’re also going to have better cleaning chemicals that remove stains and hard water from sinks and bathtubs. It’s something I really appreciate, but it’s also something I have to budget for. Here’s how I save money on house cleaning services.

Hire Local

I typically hire local. I want to know who’s going to be cleaning my home, and I want to meet with them prior. A lot of time this isn’t possible with a large cleaning service. You’ll meet with the manager and discuss a price. Then, another person will come in and clean. They’re also bound by price limitations. They have to charge so much for each service. A local cleaning service will be more willing to negotiate services and prices.


Do The Light Cleaning

If you’re like me, you want the cleaning service to do the heavy cleaning not the light cleaning. This means that I typically pick up all my things and clear off the counters. The faster they’re able to move through the wipe down and stain removal of the counters and surfaces, the cheaper the price will be. This was a negotiating point with the lady I hired. She was willing to pick up all my dirty clothes, shoes, trash, and do my laundry, but the cost increased by $100 dollars. I told her I’d pick up my own stuff and do all my dishes.

This has a dual goal. By picking up and organizing your own stuff, you know what you’ve got and you can put away any sensitive documents. I found a tax statement and a W-2 while cleaning up a pile of papers. Those are things that I do not want the cleaning lady to have access to.


Ovens, Refrigerators, and Dishwashers

I opted out of having the lady clean the inside of the refrigerator, oven, and dishwasher. I can do those things myself, or I can have her come back at a later date and just do those things. Either way, they weren’t on my must do list for this cleaning session. Also, if you have a self cleaning oven, it’s pointless to pay someone to clean it. They’re just going to twist the knob to clean, let it run, and then wipe out the bottom.

It took me two days to pick up, organize, and take out the trash. My apartment is ready for the cleaning lady to come in and do the deep cleaning. The result was a $200 savings on my cleaning bill which is well worth the time spent cleaning and organizing my own stuff. Plus, she won’t be asking me where things go. It saved me time and effort, and it saves her time and effort.

Author Bio:

Stacey Carroll is the author of the thriller series - Avia.  She also authors the paranormal erotica series - The Blooddoll Factory. Stacey grew up in Indianapolis, Indiana. she went to college at Indiana State University (ISU) and graduated with a Bachelor's degree in aerospace in the professional pilot program. She has flown Cessna 152s, Cessna 172s, the Pipe Seneca and the King Air. She also graduated with a minor in computer science that specialized in web design.

She has always been interested in reading and writing, and the first book she was ever read was the Grimms Brother's Fairy tales. From the ages of 6 to 11, she read the Nancy Drew series. By the age of 11, she had graduated to Stephen King novels. A few of her favorites include Carrie, Tommyknockers, The Dark Tower Series up to book 3 (That's where it stopped in the late 80s/ early 90s), Pet Semetary, The Shining, Night Shift, The Stand, It, Cujo, Christine, The Eyes of the Dragon and Thinner (Richard Bachman). In her teen years, she moved on to Anne Rice and got through about four of those books before they degraded. If you've ever read Anne Rice, you know book 5 isn't readable. Stacey has read a couple Harry Potter books as she was introduced to them in the early 2000s, and she's never read or watched anything Twilight or 50 Shades. Sorry. I'm a vampire purist, and nothing needs to be said about the latter. You already know.

She is currently an author and freelance writer. She received an honorable mention in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine in 2008 for a short story entitled The Field. In 2014, she was published in 13 Stories by Us by MacKenzie Publishing.

Other books by Stacey

• AVIA II
• AVIA Memories

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