Are you still paying your cleaning lady?

[EZEtoGRU]

Mom and I have a cleaning lady team come in twice a month in normal times. We have opted to not have them come clean since the beginning of March(due to COVID concerns) but we are still paying them anyway. I'm sure others on this board have a cleaning lady come in as well and maybe you have temporarily stopped the service. If so, are you still paying them? The same amount as always? More? Less? We're paying the normal amount even though they are not coming. I was curious if that is in line with the norm.

[gallahadesquire]

my cleaning lady still comes over. No change in pay

[marylander1940]

Mom and I have a cleaning lady team come in twice a month in normal times. We have opted to not have them come clean since the beginning of March(due to COVID concerns) but we are still paying them anyway. I'm sure others on this board have a cleaning lady come in as well and maybe you have temporarily stopped the service. If so, are you still paying them? The same amount as always? More? Less? We're paying the normal amount even though they are not coming. I was curious if that is in line with the norm.

 

No!

 

I gave her some money but I don't want someone walking into my place till covid/coronavirus/Wuhan is gone!

[+ Billsboy4]

Mine is coming every week and wears a mask and gloves

[+ Charlie]

We have been telling her not to come since mid-March, and we have continued to pay her. I actually raised her pay, because I know that she has lost other paying customers, and as an independent worker, she probably can't get gov't help.

[+ Snbrd]

Mine still comes, masked and gloved, but she brings no supplies, no mops, rags, etc. She uses my vacuum cleaners and tells me what cleaning supplies are running low and I get them. That sensible compromise was found on a website early in the outbreak.

[+ azdr0710]

Yes, I continue to pay myself to clean my house.

[+ purplekow]

Yes, I continue to pay myself to clean my house.

With your well known frugality I am surprised you can afford yourself or that you would work for someone who pays so little

[keefer]

We have been telling her not to come since mid-March, and we have continued to pay her. I actually raised her pay, because I know that she has lost other paying customers, and as an independent worker, she probably can't get gov't help.

 

Identical - we've asked her not to come since early March and have continued pay weekly. We talked to her over the weekend and said we're likely to continue this pattern until July...

[+ RJD]

My cleaning service comes every other week and consists of a husband, wife, and sometimes a third person. I keep my home pretty neat in between visits, so they’re usually in and out in less than two hours. They didn’t come for the first few weeks, but reached out stating they’d come if customers were comfortable having them in the house. They wear masks and gloves. I remain in my office while they’re here and leave only to allow one of them to clean it when I go into my bedroom which has already been finished. We maintain more than enough distance during the switch off. I leave their check on my kitchen counter before they arrive so I don’t need to get near them for payment.

 

It’s very generous of those who continue to pay without getting service and am assuming these aren’t pre-payments for future cleanings? I feel for everyone struggling financially through this pandemic, however, for myself personally, as a single person/income whose salary was cut 15%, I’m not in a position to indefinitely pay for services I’m not getting.

[BasketBaller]

I never had a cleaning lady/person, and as I've posted before, while the house has always been clean it hasn't always been neat. A certain chaos was our usual state, but that has changed with the residence of Navy Twin. Without a murmur of complaint he dusts, he mops, he polishes, he vacuums, which of course encourages the rest of us to keep it in shape. I don't think it's ever looked so good.

[Kevin Slater]

as an independent worker, she probably can't get gov't help.

 

Self-employed folk can get Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, similar to unemployment benefits including a $600 per week supplemental benefit. They also qualify for up to ten days worth of paid sick leave (funded by a refundable federal tax credit) through the Families First Coronavirus Response Act.

 

Kevin Slater

[MikeBiDude]

Mine still comes for a 1/2 day weekly. Masks gloves, uses all my supplies. We are almost “family” and we discussed how to handle it. We mask up when she is here as well, and switch upstairs/downstairs if I’m home when she’s working.

[+ FrankR]

Identical - we've asked her not to come since early March and have continued pay weekly. We talked to her over the weekend and said we're likely to continue this pattern until July...

Same here - have asked her not to come in as the NYC subway have shut down some lines that make travel difficult; but continue to pay her as usual.

[+ Keith30309]

No, but this thread has made me rethink my lack of consideration of this.

[+ Axiom2001]

my cleaning lady still comes over. No change in pay

 

The housekeeper for my mother (99 years of age) cleans twice a month. When I spoke to my mother a few weeks ago, I advised her to require the woman to wear a mask. In terms of pay, of course, she's earning her usual fee.

[EZEtoGRU]

Well it seems we're all over the place on this with some of us continuing to have cleaning lady visits and others not. If it were just me, I would be OK having them come. However, mom is 92. Michigan has been hard hit by COVID and given mom's age, I just can't take the chance. Thanks for everyone's contributions!

[+ bigjoey]

Normally, I have a woman come twice a month. I am paying her since March and told her to stay home She has worked for me many years and we have a good relationship.

When I go to California for the Summer, I have always payed her those months when I am not here. Same when I travel.

[+ Charlie]

My cleaning lady normally comes every other week. If she requests to cancel, I don't pay her, but if she makes herself available and I request that she not come, I feel I should pay her. She has been willing to come throughout the lockdown, but we have asked her to stay home. She has worked for us for several years, and before that she worked for a good friend of mine for several years, including doing many chores for my friend when my friend was terminally ill. She is a hard worker and has not had an easy life, so I feel an obligation not to make it any harder for her now.

[+ sam.fitzpatrick]

My cleaning service was providing someone every other week. With the work from home orders, and the confidential nature of some of my business phone calls, I haven't felt it appropriate to have someone in to potentially overhear the calls. Since I canceled with only 24 hours notice the first week, I made arrangements to pay the cleaner scheduled for my place then. But I have not been paying since then.

[+ Pensant]

Yes, I continue to pay myself to clean my house.

I split my time between two and clean them myself. I rather enjoy it!

[+ bashful]

I currently don’t have someone come in to clean my very small condo, but often think of doing so as I get older. When I lived in a bigger place, she was great. I remember one time I was still there when she arrived (she had a key), and she didn’t look well. I left for work, and when I returned home, it didn’t have that usual just cleaned smell, and the check was still on the table. I called the service, and sent them the money to pay her (sick pay). When she cut back on her hours to take care of her grandkids, she still came to my place. I tipped her $300 every Christmas.

[+ purplekow]

Got a call today from the woman who cleans for me on an infrequent basis. We made arrangements for her to come to my house while I was out. I will have been gone for several hours before she arrives. She will use gloves and a mask that I provide. She will leave several hours before I return home, She has been staying home for the most part except for shopping, so I feel the risk is minimal. The amount of time between out being in the house should be long to allow the dust to settle and the virus, if it is in the house at all, to have become inactive.

In addition, I have a room in my home with a separate entrance from the backyard, This room is rarely used except as a nice guest room. No one has been in the room in weeks, so I will probably stay in that room overnight,

[RM]

My cleaning lady is coming tomorrow. She comes once a month for about four hours. I'll leave a check for her on the kitchen counter. She uses the vacuum cleaner and cleaning supplies here.

[Rudynate]

Our cleaner used to come every two weeks. Some time last year she needed to take time off for a "small" spine surgery and said she would be out of commission for a couple of weeks. Having had two spine surgeries myself, I knew there's no such thing as a small spine surgery. We stayed in touch by text for awhile, but she never returned to work and stopped responding. We started doing our own cleaning, and I found that I sort of enjoy it. We don't do the clean she did. After she'd been there, the entire house looked like a suite in a luxury hotel - everything in perfect order.