House-cleaner recommendations

[mermaidcafe.livejournal.com]

Hello!

I'm looking for someone to clean my very messy apartment. The last person I had stole a lot of random things (she ended up paying me back), so I'm being extra-extra-extra careful about making sure I get recommendations from "actual people" as opposed to whoever she had giving hers.

Here's what I'm looking for:
-honest (see above)
-is not slow
-doesn't freak out over messes
-can work independently and without lots of instructions
-can tell what is obviously trash and what is not (a skill some seem to lack)

I like to be out while the person is working so I'm not in the way. Generally, we'll agree on an hourly rate and a number of hours and I'll leave payment.

This is for at least one major cleaning project with the possibility of "upkeep" kinds of cleaning later.

Feel free to message me if you don't want to put somebody's personal info here.

Comments

[ron_newman]

I've changed the tag from "home repair" to "housecleaning". Some of the old posts may be useful.

Thanks!

[mermaidcafe.livejournal.com]

Yes, I suppose that would make sense.

[justjess.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure if she still does cleaning stuffs, but richips is pretty awesome. I'd check with her.

[magickcat.livejournal.com]

OMG your icon is made of awesome.
I'm sorry, I know that has nothing to do with the post, but it had to be noted! Where did you find that?

[justjess.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I use the one you're using sometimes too. =)

I modified (with permission) a photo from a found_objects post. This was awhile ago, though.

[magickcat.livejournal.com]

Ooh! I didn't know about that community! Very cool! :)

[http://users.livejournal.com/_saint_cecilia_/]

I will totally do this for you!
I'll PM you my info.

[lyonesse.livejournal.com]

my household has been pretty darn pleased with alda guitierrez and her company, smile cleaning. write aldahgutierrez@aol.com if interested. they meet or exceed *our* standards for the above, though i do have to curious about what "messes" one ought not freak out over (they've been fine with dust buffalo and sinks full of unwashed dishes; we haven't presented them with say bathtubs full of butchered sheep remains though :)

[noire.livejournal.com]

I'll second Alda. She's worked for me for years, has always been absolutely honest and does NOT freak out over really bad messes. (I had her clean my tenant's apartment so I could show it--the place was in *horrific* shape. And she's fast and pleasant.

One thing to be aware of--she sometimes puts things away in places you might not expect. Nothing has EVER left the house and 95% of the time it's in the same room, but could be tucked into a drawer or box where you would never have thought to look.

[intuition-ist.livejournal.com]

thirded. she's awesome.

[enochs-fable.livejournal.com]

fourthing Alda. She's great.

[anotherjen.livejournal.com]

Obviously I'm biased, but if you have a lot of clutter, I recommend taking care of that first before hiring a housecleaner. (My professional organizing LJ is at findyourfloor). That way, there will be less stuff around that might be mistaken for trash, and the cleaner will be able to do her job more efficiently/quickly (read "cheaply").

[magickcat.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, Do you mind terribly if I add that LJ to my list?
I am always trying to get organized and maybe reading an organizational LJ would help!?

[anotherjen.livejournal.com]

Why would I mind? I use that LJ to promote my business, silly person.

But I should tell you that I don't post extremely often. I'm working on it.

[magickcat.livejournal.com]

Haha, I don't like adding people without asking. *shrug* I feel stalkerish. I dunno. I asked this craftyperson who has like 2639457205724 friends like 2 months ago if I could add her LJ and I didn't get a reply (she probably didn't even see it, with that many friends) so I didn't add her....but now that you said that.... maybe I should go back and add her because she does use it to promote her stuff...

[anotherjen.livejournal.com]

Seriously, don't worry about it. I have yet to meet someone who gets offended by being friended, especially if you send them a message or leave a comment saying hello at the time.

[ron_newman]

Oh good, I was hoping you'd show up in this thread.

[anotherjen.livejournal.com]

This is going to come across much more snooty than I mean it, but: I hope you don't think I'm a housecleaner. I mean, there are certainly parallels, and I do a little cleaning as part of the organizing, but there's a big difference.

[vibrantabyss.livejournal.com]

I'll second that, as the original problem was stated as "messy" not "filthy". And I can recommend anotherjen as doing good work in that area.

[anotherjen.livejournal.com]

Yay, thank you! When you recommend me, do me a favor and refer to my organizing LJ, findyourfloor?

[lbmango.livejournal.com]

as someone mentioned, our own richips does this sort of thing, but she goes more for the major "AAAAH my house is so bad that I don't want to let a cleaning person see it!" kinds of situations rather than the weekly "dust between the books on the bookshelf" kind of cleaning...

[mermaidcafe.livejournal.com]

Well, my place fits the first description very well, so I should get in touch with her if she still does it. That's a comforting description--this time I won't have to tidy up!

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

I'll vouch for richips as well, but I believe she's on vacation at the moment.

[purgatori84.livejournal.com]

I'll vouch for her too, and she should be back in town around the 12th or so?

[talonvaki.livejournal.com]

She's not doing cleaning anymore...she got an internship and I think is moving...

[mermaidcafe.livejournal.com]

Yep! I had set something up with her and then she wrote to say she'd gotten the internship.

[madrigal.livejournal.com]

richips! I haven't used zir for housecleaning, but ze "housesat" for me for two weeks while I was out of town and is a very loyal friend.

[laryu.livejournal.com]

For those giving referrals, it might be helpful if you could report on whether you've confirmed the tax status of your housecleaners.

I don't know how people can trust cleaning folks.

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

Think about it. It's recession time. You are giving the key to your place to some person who's gonna be there while you are not there. You are not going to do a full inventory of your possessions each time, right? There is plenty of stuff to potentially steal that would take you a long time to realize was stolen. There is information that can be stolen and use later. I could afford one, but I'd rather have my house in a messy state until I get around to cleaning...

Re: I don't know how people can trust cleaning folks.

[anotherjen.livejournal.com]

Well, I think the only way to be comfortable with that is to go by a recommendation - and not for a service, since they can send out different people each time, but a particular human being, who's been working for someone you know for a long time. For instance, I've heard Alda Gutierrez recommended for years, from many people I know, so I'd trust her in my home, if I were in the market for a cleaner.

Also, you can be more comfortable with organizers if they've been a member of NAPO (www.napo.net) for a few years, since any mention of stealing or identity theft would get them booted out right quick, as they say. And it's less of an issue since we almost always work alongside our clients.

Re: I don't know how people can trust cleaning folks.

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

Still, people who come to clean your home are not generally well off. These days, even a highly recommended person may find himself/herself in some financial trouble and be tempted to steal.

Re: I don't know how people can trust cleaning folks.

[anotherjen.livejournal.com]

I guess so.

Re: I don't know how people can trust cleaning folks.

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

I have two friends who recently discovered their long-term, trusted house cleaning person had been stealing stuff from them, lately. This happened in San Francisco, not here. But... It's sad, I know, and it sucks for everybody. But what can you do about it? I prefer not to take that chance right now.

[bobobb.livejournal.com]

Can I recommend Sonia Pereira? She deals with both light cleaning and disaster areas very swiftly and efficiently. She has a key to my place, comes when I'm at work and I've never had a problem. She typically doesn't throw things away unless they are in a trash can, she just tidies things up. Her e-mail is soniapereira at hotmail.com .

Perhaps one could do a few tests and take some precautions...

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

Keep track of a few, relatively valuable things. Leave some cash around, say $177, casually, but make sure you know the exact amount. And check that it does not get slowly depleted. Leave one or more motion activated cams on....