Hiring a cleaner

I know some of you hire a cleaner once a week/bi weekly. I would love to do this but when I have inquired through companies the quotes I find are outrageous and the people I called on Kijiji flaked out on me. I am in Toronto so I can probably plan on spending a bit more anyways but what is a reasonable average rate? I don't have a super huge house (1400 square ft semi detached). I am one of those people though that would feel I need to clean my house before the cleaner is even allowed to come over. It's awkward letting someone else see your messiness in it's true glory!

Pm me if you have a referral of someone in Toronto too please!

I knew someone that was looking into hiring an immigrant woman who was sponsored by their church and didn't speak English very well but was willing to clean in exchange for being able to bring her child with her to the home to play and to hopefully both of them to learn some English. Not sure if she ever did that but you might have some success contacting an area church for information.

I used to have cleaning help before I hired an assistant. She came every other weekend. I paid her $90 per day and she will clean the whole house (washrooms, mirrors & windows, vacuuming, moping, dusting, and either ironing or help with cooking or any other special task I needed). My house is a little bigger than that so around $90 to $100 I would think is a good budget for an experienced cleaner. She was very good with lots experience in cleaning and did her job in about 4 to 5 hrs. I had other cleaning ladies as trial before her, but she was the fastest and better. She also has a clear police record and one of her references is a judge that is also her client. If you are interested I can send you her info. She lives close to Yonge and Eglinton, not sure whether she is still located there, though. Let me know if you want her contact info.

I love having a cleaner! I pay $20 an hour. Right now I have 2 ladies that come together for an hour on a bi-weekly basis so I pay $40 for that hour. They only clean my upstairs which is approx. 1200 sq ft. It has 3 bedrooms, 1.5 baths, kitchen and living room and back entrance. I clean the daycare area myself. I also get the ladies to come in the morning while I am working so I don't have to worry about leaving the house when they are here.

As for cleaning before the cleaner - yep I do that. I make sure all of my daughter's toys are put away, dishes done, everything off the counters, all clothes picked up and put away/taken to laundry room, in the morning I make all the beds and put all the cats toys up and away. I want them here to clean the floors, bathroom, dust etc not have to move a bunch of stuff or work around a mess.

The awesome part too is that it can be claimed as a daycare expense at income tax time!