It will save you time, but not necessarily money unless the opportunity cost of not cleaning is greater than the price you pay for a maid. (I believe I phrased that correctly. If not, help me out economists). Basically, if you are doing something that generates revenue that is greater than the price that maid costs during the time she is working, then you are saving money. Chances are that you would just clean while you away from work during your free time, in which case you'd just be saving time, not money. There's no problem with that though, as you likely have a positive marginal utility from paying the money and receiving the free time. (Again, if I phrased that incorrectly, help me out economists).
My mom does that! Growing up I never understood wtf they hired a maid when they'd spend time cleaning before she got there.
Amen brother. These days, some parts of my house can get downright messy (kids will be kids), but in my bachelor days I kept the dorm/apartment absolutely spotless. It always amazed me when friends visited and genuinely wondered, "How do you keep your place so clean?" as if these amazing magical elves would appear from time to time and clean my place while I was at work. How do I keep it clean? I get off my ass and do the little things to clean it every day. I wash dishes after I use them. I throw dirty laundry in the hamper. I file paperwork away in a filing cabinet. I wipe down surfaces (counters, sinks, etc.) on a daily basis. Every weekend, I spend an hour or so doing the big things: Alternating between scrubbing the bathtub/shower and mopping/vacuuming the floors. Cleaning goes a lot more quickly if you don't allow random items to pile up all over the place and messes to permanently cake onto surfaces Also important: Don't wear your shoes inside! You'd be surprised how long you can go without vacuuming/mopping if you don't track the outdoors into your home.
you have to get the clutter out of the way or they will just put stuff wherever they want to. Mostly they are there to do the real cleaning, bathroom kitchen, vacuum etc
Can I get your sister for the same $$$? On a serious note, I think the point of the article is like a preventative maintenance on a car. You take care of the light stuff more often, so the big cleaning isn't so bad later. I guess.
The key to this is the weekend it takes to clean everything up the first time before the 19 minutes a day rule.
I've been trying to instill this concept into my boyfriend ever since we started dating. I don't think it's taken its hold quite yet. I know it's easy to let things pile up, but a little maintenance along the way can save so much time!
I've been trying to condition my roommate to do the same with stuff in the common area, but it hasn't been working so far. I think the problem for people who aren't used to doing it is that it is a conscious decision that has to be made each time to put things away. It's much easier to just go on auto-pilot mode and just leave things around without thinking about it. I think another thing that helps me keep stuff clean is that I was raised to be well-mannered, and some of those tenets seep over into keeping my place clean. I like to leave things how they were when I got there, push in chairs, etc...so I think that seeps over into putting things back away at home. I also think it is mildly inconsiderate to subject others to your messes; the best example of this that I can think of is people with very messy cars. You ride shotgun with them while sitting around filth and having your feet rest on fast food bags and miscellaneous crap on the floor. (I also apply this for the selfish reason of always wanting women to be comfortable when I bring them back to my place. Having a gross place - especially the bathroom - can kill the mood on a one-night stand with the quickness).
Well, I know why I prefer to keep stuff clean. My mother is Asian. It's just irritating... I know why he does it (mostly out of habit and because apparently he's always on the go), but I just can't wrap my head around why someone wouldn't want to do a little maintenance to save them an epic clean-up later!
Oh c'mon...I've had a lady come by and clean as I hate doing the floors...I do find myself picking up b/f hand...She's unreliable so I've had to clean myself for the past 3-4 months...cleaning is hard work...
