Is your house a mess? Do you find that you never have enough time to wash the dishes, make the beds, vacuum, and have a few minutes of free time for yourself? Are there things that need cleaning that you keep putting off? Do you settle for superficial cleaning when a room really requires a deep clean? If so, you may be in need of a cleaning service.

It doesn’t matter if you live in a rainy city like Orlando, Florida and track in a lot of mud, or if you live in a city with little rain – your house will inevitably need a periodic cleaning. This is especially true if you have small children or pets. Despite this, many people are apprehensive about spending money on a cleaning service. If you’re unsure of the benefits of a quality, professional cleaning team, here are a few reasons why it’s worth the money.

Freeing-up Time

When you hire a cleaning service, not only will your home actually shine, but you’ll free up time for yourself and your family. Whether you take up a hobby, spend time with the kids, work out, read a book, or tend to other household chores like gardening or repairs, a cleaning service can be a vital utility. Imagine returning home from a long day at work to a spic-and-span home. Just seeing the shine is worth it.

Saving You Money

While some people may think hiring a cleaning service is a needless expense, in truth, it can actually save you money. For someone who works from home, hiring a cleaning service can free up hours you could be earning money. In addition, a tidy, organized home will help you be more productive — you won’t have to clean up your work area every time you want to get something done.

Keeping You Healthy

For many people, messiness is cause for anxiety. They feel pressured to clean and frustrated when they don’t clean enough. Hiring a cleaning service can alleviate that stress. In addition, being clean and organized will reduce the strain caused by lost keys, receipts, glasses and remote controls. What’s more, for allergy sufferers, eliminating dust and bacteria may do wonders for your breathing.

Tips

Be sure to only hire bonded and insured cleaners. However, despite this, if you have expensive jewelry, collectibles or cash at home, be sure to store these things in a safe location. Consider investing in a fireproof safe that attaches to a wall. Even if you trust your cleaning service, having valuable items in a safe place while someone else is in your home will still provide extra peace of mind.

Remember, a cleaner doesn’t replace the need to properly maintain your home. If you have chipping paint or other damage to your walls, the right person to call is a painter. But with a cleaning company taking care of the dirty work, you’ll have extra time to see to the small chores that need to be taken care of around the house

This was a home cleaning service job in Mobile, Al. Shower pictures of before and after.

Discovering a domestic cleaning company
A domestic cleaning service will likely be the ideal technique to reduce the amount that you just need to commit cleaning, nevertheless, you can find lots of issues to think about if you are going to hire a cleaning firm, and they’ll all need to do with all the ways in which the organization performs for your schedule, price range and personality. You can no doubt ought to be completely certain that you’re not at danger of hiring anyone who will not operate alongside your household within a way that indicates that the cleaning service is definitely an quick addition to your day-to-day life. So, how to be entirely certain that practically nothing is going to go incorrect? Just adhere to the following quick measures.

1.Get a recommendation
Realizing that a cleaning organization is excellent just before you’ve even met them can be a effective issue, plus the most trusted way of undertaking that’s to ask around your friends, family members and neighbors for tips as to who you should be working with. A lot of people use a cleaner, so you are really likely to possess a person that you simply know nearby who will probably be able to provide you suggestions on who to use. Taking guidance from a person which you know is very important at the same time, as it will mean which you entirely trust what they say. You are going to realize them as people sufficient to understand that they do not have any reason to lie to you around the topic, nor to convince you to utilize one business over an additional. Possessing customers that talk to one another will imply that a domestic cleaner is much more probably to provide a great job each and every time at the same time, as they understand that a undesirable clean for a single client could have repercussions with all the other! Even when you don’t discover anybody who would be fantastic for you personally via the approach of asking about your pals, you may effectively uncover a few organizations that you just know you need to steer clear of!

two.Individual or corporation?
Often it’s hard to know regardless of whether to work with a organization or a person to have the cleaning done. A cleaner who works for themselves will most likely give you a better personal connection, and also you will know that the money that you give them will visit them in its entirety. Nonetheless, using a professional cleaning company, you are going to not be at threat of becoming given excuses for not turning up; alternatively there will constantly be a replacement who can get the job carried out devoid of any hassle. This really is the situation with obtaining a very good relationship along with your cleaning service; you wish to feel like you trust and get along effectively with them, having said that, this connection can imply that specific folks will take advantage, as they are able to manipulate your compassion as a way to get time off, or to rearrange schedules that make your life extra complicated.

three. Appear closer
When looking to get a cleaning corporation, you should think about the ways in which they promote themselves. It truly is very simple and straightforward to upload an advert on a absolutely free advertisements internet site on the web, so feel about strategies in which a enterprise may well show its dedication towards the lead to. Locating an advert within the regional newspaper, or perhaps in the corner shop window will show you that this cleaning service are hunting to create the effort, as an alternative to undertaking the bare minimum in an effort to get their enterprise. For those who discover a domestic cleaning service that you simply like the appear of, then possess a appear on the net to determine if there have been any testimonials posted about them.

Is a clean home a splurge or necessity?

Cleaning house is a necessary chore but it may be good for your health to invest in a cleaning service every now and then. Most busy moms will attest to the fact that a clean and organized home makes the daily strains of parenting a bit more bearable. Can a clean home bring a semblance of sanity to a seemingly crazy home front?

The clean factor

Parenting is a messy job. Moms are often in the midst of clutter, both literally and figuratively. Whether they’re wiping sticky fingers or sorting through the mental chaos, a sense of calm can be painfully evasive, which is why a professionally cleaned home can make a huge difference in a mom’s mental health. When Heather, a mom of three from Arizona, walks in the door after her house has been cleaned, her mood immediately improves. “I know in the grand scheme of things, it’s not a huge deal but when my house has been cleaned, I feel like the rest of my life is suddenly organized,” she says.

Read about 6 secrets of organized moms >>

Hire it out

It is the rare mom whom actually enjoys cleaning her own home, so many moms are willing to do what it takes to fit professional cleaning into their budgets. For some, the almost emotional reaction to a clean home is worth the cost. “While having a clean house is very important it is not important for me to be the one to clean it,” says Graciela Meibar, chief diversity officer for Mattel. “It’s not the best use of my time or gifts. A clean house gives way to a clear mind. It gives children a sense of security and order. It provides time and space — haven for the soul, in a world of chaos.”

Read about financial tips for stay-at-home moms >>

A useful luxury

There are some luxuries that are plain and simple splurges, like a nice car or a killer pair of shoes. A professionally cleaned home, on the other hand, can be a useful luxury. With the weight of cleaning off her shoulders, a busy mom can focus on other areas of her life and breathe a bit easier knowing that at least her home will be in order.

Read the super moms guide to time management >>

Creative clean

Clearly, budget can be a huge issue for many moms, but they are still deserving of quality mental health. Greg Nicklas, general manager of Maid Brigade in Portland, Oregon provides moms with the following tips to help them experience a professional-caliber clean without the price tag:

  • Clutter is your No. 1 enemy. A cluttered home further stresses a person out and creates a thought of impossibility when it comes to the actual cleaning of the home.
  • Make it a point to spend 20 minutes a morning or at night going through and moving laundry to the proper receptacles, bills to a basket and dishes tended to.
  • Delegate — kids love to help out. Yes, they may not do a perfect job but running a vacuum is something even a 6-year-old typically finds entertaining.

Is your house a mess? Do you find that you never have enough time to wash the dishes, make the beds, vacuum, and have a few minutes of free time for yourself? Are there things that need cleaning that you keep pushing off? Do you settle for superficial cleaning when a room really requires a deep clean? If so, you may be in need of a cleaning service.

It doesn’t matter if you live in a rainy city like Orlando, Florida and track in a lot of mud, or if you live in a city with little rain – your house will inevitably need a periodic cleaning. This is especially true if you have small children or pets. Despite this, many people are apprehensive about spending money on a cleaning service. If you’re unsure of the benefits of a quality, professional cleaning team, here are a few reasons why it’s worth the money.

Freeing-up Time

If you hire a cleaning service, not only will your home actually shine, but you’ll free up time for you and your family. Whether you take up a hobby, spend time with the kids, workout, read a book, or tend to other household chores like gardening or repairs, a cleaning service can be a vital utility. Imagine returning home from a long day at work to a spic-and-span home. Just seeing the shine is worth it.

Saving You Money

While some people may think hiring a cleaning service is a needless expense, in truth, it can actually save you money. For someone who works from home, hiring a cleaning service can free-up hours with which you can do work. In addition, a tidy, organized home will help you be more productive and you won’t have to clean up your work area every time you want to do something.

Keeping You Healthy

For many people messiness is cause for anxiety. They feel pressured to clean and frustrated when they don’t clean enough. Hiring a cleaning service can alleviate that stress. In addition, being clean and organized will reduce the strain caused from lost keys, receipts, glasses and remote controls. What’s more, for allergy sufferers, eliminating dust and bacteria can do wonders for their breathing.

Tips

You should be sure to only hire bonded and insured cleaners. However, despite this, if you have expensive jewelry, collectibles or money at home, be sure to store these things in a safe location. Consider investing in a fireproof safe that attaches to a wall. Even if you trust your cleaning service, having valuable items in a safe place while someone else is in your home will still provide extra peace of mind.

Remember, a cleaner doesn’t replace the need to properly maintain your home. If you have chipping paint or other damage to your walls, the right person to call is a painter. But with a cleaning company taking care of the dirty work, you’ll have extra time to see to the small chores that need to be taken care of around the house.

Cleaning service with professional equipment during work

A housekeeping service may be worth it if it can help prevent self-induced stress. (Getty Images)

If you’ve ever wondered if you should hire a cleaning service, the answer is almost a no-brainer. Of course you should. Who wouldn’t want to have someone come in and clean their house or apartment?

But cleaning services aren’t cheap. Angie’s List members pay between $120 to $150 for biweekly house cleanings, according to company data. The average cost, per HomeAdvisor.com, is $151. RedBeacon.com, another site that helps people find home-improvement professionals, puts the average cost at $121. Care.com suggests around $100 to $175 per cleaning. What you pay, of course, depends on how many rooms you’re asking a cleaning service to tackle.

So, again, it’s more than obvious that a cleaning crew would be nice to have, but should you get one? Is it worth the money? Here are some reasons to consider enlisting professional help to clean up your life.

It may reduce stress brought on by your family. Maybe your spouse is a neat freak, always complaining about your slovenly ways. Or maybe your in-laws often visit, and you think a cleaning service might curb the catty remarks.

Meghann Timmins, a 24-year-old public relations professional in Atlanta, hired a cleaning service for family-related reasons.

Six months ago, her parents were coming for a visit, and while she was happy to have them over, she began to fret; she’d been away for a weekend and had been busy with work.

“I desperately needed someone to come clean according to their impossible standards,” says Timmins, who found a cheap but effective service through an app called Handy.

The cleaning crew charged $85 to clean her two-bedroom town house, and since Timmins and her roommate were splitting the cost, they decided it was definitely worth it to keep the cleaners coming every four weeks.

“They take the time to clean things that I don’t have to touch and that my other roommate doesn’t think about. It is absolutely worth the money and saves us so much time,” Timmins says.

It may reduce self-induced stress. Maybe your family isn’t giving you grief for your messy house. Maybe you’re the one berating yourself.

Graeme Seabrook, a vacation rental manager in Charleston, South Carolina, says she hired a cleaning service after her second child, a daughter, was born.

“My time is worth more to me than the cost of the service. I also had dealt with postpartum depression and anxiety after my son was born, and we were looking for ways to make the transition to a family of four as smooth as possible,” says Seabrook, who now blogs about maternal mental health.

For her, the $125 she spends every other week is worth it. “The time I spent cleaning, feeling guilty about not cleaning, worrying about how bad my house looked and stressing about how we would get it all done – I have all of that time back now,” Seabrook says.

You hate cleaning. Few people would likely choose vacuuming over going to the beach, but some people claim to at least enjoy certain tasks like folding laundry while watching TV or vacuuming while daydreaming. But others can’t fool themselves into thinking cleaning is anything but a grind.

Dana Todd, an executive in Chicago, seems to be somewhere in the middle of indifference and despising it.

“I hate housework,” Todd says. “I don’t mind keeping the house tidy, but for scrubbing and doing detail work, it would literally take me a full day because I’m inefficient at it.”

You would lose money by cleaning. Todd has done the math, and she feels that she comes out ahead financially by paying for a house cleaner.

“Back when I was just starting out in the workforce, one of my female peers explained the concept of opportunity cost with respect to hiring a cleaner versus doing it myself. She asked me to do a simple calculation of how much time it would take me, and my hourly rate based on my salary versus the cost of hiring a professional,” Todd says.

In other words, let’s say you make $100 an hour. If it would take you five hours to clean your house, you are, in a sense, spending $500 when you clean your home. Instead, you could spend $150 for a two-person cleaning crew to do the same work, or even better work, in two hours.

But if you make $10 an hour, and it takes you five hours to clean your home, you are, in a sense, spending only $50 to clean your home for five hours, and you may decide spending $150 on a cleaning service simply isn’t a good deal – even if  you’re just as time-starved as the person making $100 an hour.

You aren’t a complete slob. It sounds counterintuitive, but for a cleaning service to work well, and for you to get the most out of your money, you have to at least be making an effort to be clean.

Now, if you completely channel your inner Oscar Madison, you risk undermining the cleaning service you’re paying. But many cleaning services ask clients to do some pre-cleaning before they get there. That may sound crazy, but it makes sense. If you leave a bunch of clutter on the floor, either your cleaning crew won’t vacuum or mop your floor or they’ll pick it all up, which takes time – time you’re paying for.

Another way to look at it: If you’re spending $150 to have several rooms, or all of the rooms, in your house scrubbed, dusted and vacuumed, you probably don’t want, say, a third of the time being spent on your dirty dishes.

Of course, you can undermine your cleaning service in other ways that make it less cost-effective. Amy Bates, who owns a Merry Maids franchise in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and writes a cleaning blog, DontLookUnderTheRug.com, has seen her share of rookie mistakes.

For instance, if you have an aggressive pet who likes to chase the cleaning crew around, consider having the crew come on grooming day, Bates suggests.

And you certainly want to tell your cleaning service what your priorities are or any pet peeves you have. “If you never want water on your wood floors, you should communicate that,” Bates says.

It’s also smart to really think about what day is best for your cleaning service to come over.

“A lot of people like cleaning services to come on Fridays, but for me, I like Mondays,” Bates says. “There are a million children at my home every weekend, and if I can start the week with a clean house, that’s a game-changer. But if I have someone come on a Friday, and the kids make it a mess over the weekend, by Monday, I might feel that’s a waste of money.”

And how you feel about the money is really the best way to tell if the cleaning service was worth it, just about anyone who has ever used a cleaning service will tell you. If within hours or days, you regret spending the money (and especially if that’s how you feel after the second and third time), a cleaning service isn’t for you. But it’s probably money well spent if not only your house is clear of cobwebs, but your mind is, too.

Think a house cleaner is a luxury you can’t afford? Here’s the going rate for professional house cleaning services and what additional tasks may cost you.

Keeping your house clean can be a monumental task, especially if you work full time, have young children or pets or all of the above. As a result, many busy homeowners are hiring a professional house cleaner to help lower their stress and make their lives easier.

But how much should house cleaning services cost, and exactly what are homeowners getting for their money when they hire a maid or cleaning company?

How much cleaning services charge

Professional house cleaners typically set house cleaning prices one of two ways: By hour, or by square foot. On average, hourly costs range from $25 to $45. Square foot rates are often used for a “first clean,” as a baseline for pros to work from. First cleans are also more expensive, as cleaners need to determine how long they’ll spend in a home, and if there are any rooms which require extra work — for example a family bathroom or large play area.

The total charge also includes the number of people cleaning. For example, an average cleaning at Moving Ahead Cleaning, Willoughby, Ohio, is $180 for four hours for two team members. The per hour price drops to $30 an hour per person for subsequent cleanings, says marketing manager Heather Argenti. Spickety-Span in Sterling, Virginia, charges $69 an hour for a team of two for the first cleaning and a flat rate based on square footage and frequency for subsequent cleanings, says Yusuf Mehmetoglu, vice president of operations.

In addition, rates will differ based on how often you want pros to clean. Generally, the more times a house cleaner comes in a month, the lower the price per visit, though this is often a matter of $5 or $10 per clean. Some cleaners offer a discount if homeowners are willing to pay for multiple visits upfront, or if they sign a long-term contract.

A deep house cleaning will most likely cost you more than a general house cleaning. Make sure you know what’s included on that deep cleaning list.

When hiring a house cleaning service, you’re probably going to have to commit to a “deep cleaning” right out of the gate. Most companies require it for new clients. But what exactly does that service entail? In a nutshell, it means almost every nook and cranny of your home will get special attention.

On average, a deep clean costs between $200 and $400, depending on the size of your house. Standard routine cleanings after that initial visit typically cost between $100 and $150. According to recent Angie’s List reviews, members reported spending an average of $227 on a deep cleaning and $123 for a bi-weekly standard house cleaning.

A deep cleaning is also a good idea if you’re moving, preparing for the holidays or planning a special event. And there’s no need for you to lift a finger — hire a pro to handle the dirty work!

The tasks tackled in a deep clean vs. a standard clean varies by company, so be sure to find out the specifics first. To give you a better idea of what to expect, we compiled a list of what’s generally included in a standard professional house cleaning, highlighting the extras often considered in a deep clean:

House cleaning in the bathroom

• Showers cleaned and disinfected DEEP CLEAN: Shower door given extra attention

• Tile walls cleaned and disinfected DEEP CLEAN: Tile grout scrubbed

• Baseboards wiped or dusted DEEP CLEAN: Clean doors/frames for fingerprints

• Trash removed DEEP CLEAN: Wastebaskets sanitized

• General dusting DEEP CLEAN: Individual knickknacks cleaned

• Toilets cleaned and disinfected, including the base and behind the toilet

• Vanity and sink cleaned

• Floors washed and disinfected, carpets and rugs vacuumed

• Mirrors and fixtures cleaned and shined

• Mildew chemically treated

• Cobwebs removed

• Towels changed