Page 52 - July18LivingSCCLmagazine

Seniors
and House
Cleaners
By Bob Poliquin
When our boys were in high school and my wife and I were busily into our careers and the boys’ sports lives, we had a house cleaner. It was a big decision for us. Neither my wife nor I come from money, so it felt extravagant and lazy to hire someone to do what we could do for ourselves. But we fought through the guilt (no joke intended) and enjoyed the few days a month that the entire house was clean.
Eventually, the boys grew up and went to college, leaving us in an empty nest that, unsurprisingly, stayed much cleaner without the boys and their friends. But then my wife’s parents lived with us for two years after evacuating their home from Hurricane Katrina. Then followed our younger son and his wife as he transitioned from the Marine Corps. The house cleaner provided a welcome respite from the drudgery of dusting blinds, wiping down baseboards, and scrubbing bathrooms.
Finally, we right-sized from that four-story townhouse in Alexandria, VA, to one level in Sun City Carolina Lakes. My wife and I still work, but life is not at the pace we ran before. In Virginia, the house cleaner was a desirable luxury. We certainly don’t need a house cleaner now, but after nearly a decade without one, we decided we want a house cleaner again. And, once again, it feels extravagant and lazy, but it’s nice.
What are the considerations as you contemplate hiring a cleaning service? For us, trust, expense, and services are the main three.
So, do you call the number on the flyer someone dropped in your mail tube or is there a better way?
52 LIVING @ SCCL, July 2018
Think about this: Your house cleaner will have access to your entire home, probably going places your own family never goes. They may even have a house key if they clean on days when you are away, so there has to be an enormous degree of trust. Jewelry, computers, checkbooks, cash, cars, and so on. That’s a big responsibility on everyone’s part. You need to be able to trust the people you are letting into your home, and they need to take reasonable precautions to protect themselves from suspicion.
We are fortunate to have a particularly fussy neighbor (You know who you are.) who has her house cleaned, which means her recommendation carries weight. But getting a house cleaner’s contact information from a satisfied customer can be like asking for directions to someone’s favorite fishing hole; they are understandably hesitant because they don’t want the spot overfished. Your satisfied friend doesn’t want the cleaner to be too busy or in such demand that they can raise the price. Nevertheless, our neighbor acquiesced. To us, because of her recommendation, the cleaner had already passed a major hurdle as far as trust.
What about cost? There is a reason there are so many car washes around. Washing a car is a chore. The same is true for cleaning your home, which is much more valuable than your car and increasing in value as opposed to decreasing. Keeping your home clean protects your health and your asset. If your