Cleaning person in Northwest Chicago Suburbs? Recommendations?

March 7, 2008 1:13 PM

Price is a factor, but I'd like to start with a 1 time trial and deep clean, and then see about monthly cleanings. I have a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom 1200 sq ft condo which gets pretty messy because I'm traveling every week and my roommate doesn't always keep up. Molly Maids says the cost would be between 80-95 dollars for a monthly cleaning, I'd prefer it to be around 60 bucks. For the first cleaning I'm willing to spend up to 150 bucks. Any suggestions?
posted by ets960 to Home & Garden (5 answers total)

Response by poster: Looks like I screwed up my title. Booo. Sorry everybody.
posted by ets960 at 1:25 PM on March 7, 2008

Ask other people in your building -- someone on strata council might have a suggestion. For $60, I would think you could get someone for max 3 hours. That should be enough time to do maintenance cleaning and perhaps pick up stuff. If you want extras, like cleaning out the fridge, cleaning windows and so on, you might need more time. You could also look at getting someone every 2 weeks for 2 hours.
posted by acoutu at 2:19 PM on March 7, 2008

Yeah, ask around. Independent folks are usually noticeably cheaper than services, but they're harder to find. Try CL.
posted by crickets at 2:29 PM on March 7, 2008

Hire a freelance cleaning person instead of an agency. An agency will charge you more per hour and then only pay the cleaning staff minimum wage. You can hire a feelancer for less and then she or he will get to keep all of that money. And then too you'll get one person you've selected and with whom you can develop a working relationship cleaning your place, as opposed to different people every week.
posted by orange swan at 5:09 PM on March 7, 2008

Cleaning agencies are notorious for overcharging and treating their employees badly (see "Nickled and Dimed"). Keep asking around and find a freelancer.
posted by foxy_hedgehog at 7:25 PM on March 8, 2008