Why is my new house keeper not cleaning things good & having issues with cleaning?

My new housekeeper does a decent job, or she did at first, but now she is slacking off big time & complaining about having to clean my house.

I tip her well. Her flat rate is $50 but I pay her $70 each time.

She usually arrives half an hour late too although she lives close by me. It’s very frustrating!!!

I think that there us something wrong with her or she’s just lazy as she left my husbands bathroom dirty. I told her that the toilet us still dirty & to please clean it.

She claimed that she couldn’t get the ring off which wasn’t true as she was able to remove it.

She made excuses instead of apologizing to me & claimed that she was out of cleaning supplies. She brings her owm stuff.

If I could find someone else who charges around the same price, I’d replace her.

She leaves the floors so wet that I almost tripped & fell 3 times in the kitchen!!! I told her to dry the floor as I almost fell & she said she dried the floor, but she left a few wet spots on the floor.

Unbelievable! No apology for that either! She didn’t sweep the corner in the living room. I had to ask her to do it.

I had to ask her to clean the inside & outside of the microwave too. I checked everything as I don’t trust her now.

I was nice about things & said could you please clwan this area, etc…

She then went from talkative to being almost silent like she was upset with me. It was weird & childish tbh.

I am not paying her to leave my house dirty still. I’m not picky, but she literally didn’t clean certain place.

Thank goodness that I checked everything. Why would she have that attitude? I wasn’t thanked for the money either. Wth?

Rude! Did she expect me to say nothing & be happy with a half a@@ed job?

Has anyone ever had this issue with house keepers before? I’m nice to her & she disrespects me by showing up late, taking forever to return calls & texts? So rude!

Not to mention that she’s usually late by half an hour & she never tells me that she’s running late too.

Most house keepers tend to have similar attitudes too I noticed. Especially the cheaper ones. They shouldn’t clean houses if they don’t like cleaning other peoples homes.

It’s like they just want to do light house cleaning only.

Did I do anything wrong? I watched my tone & I was ven told her to forget about vaccuming under the couch cushions after she was here for 2 hours.

She complained about it being a lot of work. Wth? Ugh!!!

How can I talk to her to not get her upset next time? I didn’t do anything wrong. She’s obviously extremely sensitive to any feedback.

The first housekeeping service was through a "chain," so we'd get different cleaners each time. The first few were amazing, but then they got progressively worse.

The girl we have now is wonderful, but her English isn't good. There was an issue with the kitchen floor being wet, so now my wife leaves out a few bath towels for her to dry the floor with.

My computer is flaking out, but I want to suggest that you tell her what you'd like her to clean next time when she leaves. That way it's not a surprise. And then text a reminder to her the day before to ensure that she brings the supplies.

You posted almost exactly this same thing in July. Same housekeeper?

$50? How many hours does she spend cleaning? It’s awfully low rate. You described so many tasks. No way one would do all of that for $50. Not in 2024. These are 1990s rates

Sorry to hear that. Why do you think that they het worse? The idea about leaving out towels is good. Thanks

It’s good that you found a good one. A lot of them don’t speak much English. Thankfully this lady speaks it well.

OK, will do. I usually have her clean the same room & the same things.

No, she’s a new lady. The other one left my bathroom dirty after i told her to please clean it I unfortunately didn’t check it again before she left

Her daughter who translated everything on text claimed tgat she couldn’t get the stains out. That was a lie as everyone ekse could get the stains out.

She didn’t evrn bother to vacuum the bedroom. I was nice & I tipped her well too

She didn’t charge much either. Either she’s lazy ir she deliberately left things dirty do I wouldn’t call her back.

The kid & her wete very rude & she said she never had to work so hard to clean anyone else’s house before

That was rude & unprofessional. They shouldn’t clean houses if they don’t want to actually do any cleaning

She spent more time organizing stuff I never asked her to organize .

It seems like you constantly need to check on things & watch them or they won’t do much of anything

Didn't you just say you pay half aꟊꟊ money for the half aꟊꟊ job? Looks balanced.

She was here for 2 hours. Regardless of price, I’m still paying for a service.

It’s not OK for her to leave my house dirty still Wgen zu say dirty, she didn’t even clean the toilet or the floor in the living room

It was like she was hoping that I wouldn’t notice or say anything which is rude

Hiw would you tell her to clean things if she meft things dirty?

Why would she get upset at me? I wasn’t rude & I tipped her $10 extra too.

Also, it’s rude & unprofessional to show up half an hour late with no text.

I let that go though. It’s almost impossible to find a good house ckeaner

Most of them seem to do whatever they feel like, ugh.

It’s not possible to clean all that in two hours. I mean you could if you don’t do a good job. No way anyone could do all that thoroughly in two hours. But she likely doesn’t want to stay longer because she’s being paid peanuts

The agency would send the best maids to a new client. But then those maids would get reassigned to newer clients, and the mediocre maids would take their place. And so on down the line.

As well, I think the owner wasn't good at hiring good people, so the talent pool would decline through attrition. The last maid was pregnant, surly and uncooperative.

Excuse me, but are you telling me that since I’m not paying them much that I deserve to have a half a$$ed job done?

First of all, I tipped both ladies way over the usual amount, They set the low prices, not me.

I hope that I misunderstood you.

She is fast. She set the flat rate, so she can stay to clean here as long as it takes. It was HER decision to want to leave after 2 hours.

I guess that she was tired? She set her own rate. I paid her well. I paid her $70 instead of $50.

II don’t deserve to get a half a$$ed job. I’m paying for a service. If someone came over to your house & still left it dirty, wouldn’t you be upset too?

I nicely asked her to clean what was still very dirty & untouched.

All she cleaned was 2 small bathrooms, made the ned & vaccumed only in our bedroom, cleaned the counters, microwave & sink & floors only in the kitchen & the floor in the hallway & living room too & a coffee table. That’s it,

I agree that you should expect good service if the housekeeper set her own rate, @jesyka.

But I also think it's a lot to clean for such little pay. Perhaps this was her first job and she wasn't aware that she should be charging more. If so, she should find a way to discontinue the work.

For $130, our girl does the bathroom (full tub and two basins), vacuum and dust LR and MBR, including the hallway in between, clean kitchen (stove top, sink, counters and table) scoot downstairs to vacuum the stairs and landing and finally mop the floor. No windows or cat litter scooping.

Occasionally I'll notice spider webs in corners or crumbs on the counters behind the appliances. Sometimes the Swiffer will snag on something and remain behind. But overall, she does a good job and does special requests with pleasant demeanor. My wife and I really like her, and we gift her generously at Christmas.

And all of this was back when we had three cats and a huge black lab. The job's a lot easier now that we're down to just two cats.

Sorry to hear that. Good help is hard to find.

Thanks. This lady is probably 55 years old at least. Idk why her prices are so low. Maybe it’s to attract more clients?

Yes, that is exactly what I have said. When you buy cheap grocery, do you expect top quality? Or if you buy cheap beef, do you expect to get marbled beef?

Why do you think people work in a different way? If you hire someone for pennies, expect the same output. Your attitude seems too much of a common manager. No, people are not interchangeable. And if they are not US citizens or are poorer than you - that does not mean they are worse than you.

Excuse me, but why do you think that I have an attitude just for expecting a clean house?

I’m not being unreasonable. When you buy ‘hamburger’, don’t you at least expect it to be fresh?

Your logic is flawed as I have paid for ‘better’ service that wasn’t the best service there is.

I never said that I was better than them. You are WAY off base with your strange assumptions.

It looks like you should give her a prioritized list (verbal or written). Put what is most important at the top, and the least important at the bottom. She will get to all she is able to within her 2 hour time working from most important to least important.

If you want the microwave wiped down inside and out, or parts of the couch vacuumed, she may not have time to clean a bathroom. You're leaving it up to her to decide what she will do with the list of chores you have asked her to do within her time span.
If you are giving her a list that would take more than 2 hours and expect her to do them all in 2 hours, that is inconsiderate on your part. You can't just keep adding more chores to be done within a 2 hour time frame and then be upset that some of the cleaning is shoddy, as she has had to work quickly and not thoroughly.

Nor can you keep adding chores and expect her to stay longer without any extra pay. If you want her to stay for 3 hours, you pay her $75.00 plus her tip. $25/hour is a good price. If you take advantage of her low price, she'll turf you. You may think you've got the upper hand, but you don't. Treat her well.

You will find people are fair to you, when you are fair to them. Appreciation goes both ways.

I already did tell her exactly what needs to be done from the get go. I only added one small thing once like just clean the refrigerator shelves on one side only. I moved all the food myself.

She works at a set rate. So she can clean the house at her pace. There is NO time limit.

If she works fast or slow, she will still get paid the same amount. I’m generous & I give her a $20 tip for a flat rate of $50 each time. That’s way over a 20% tip.

And I don’t make much money either. I appreciate her hard work. I’m not expecting miracles, but she seriously left my husbands toilet filthy.

And when I nicely asked her to please clean it, she got quiet & offended it seemed like. Wth? Did she really expect me to be OK with her leaving things dirty?

Also, what really bothers me is that I almost slipped and fell 3 seperate times in the kitchen because she left the floor wet. The first time it was very wet. .

I could’ve fell & broke me neck! I told her that too & to please dry the floor. I even offered her towels..
She didn’t do anything until the third time & she made zero apologies for anything! Wth? She finally dried the floors the 3rd time but she left a few wet spots on the floor.

It’s a safety hazard. She also didn’t clean the microwave until I asked her to clean it.

I don’t understand her. She kind of half cleans stuff. She shouldn’t get so upset & shut down whenever I politely ask her to clean stuff!!!

If she wasn’t so inexpensive, I would’ve hired a better and maybe more expensive cleaning service.

I don’t understand her. She’s weird tbh. She’s way to sensitive.

Jesyka several people told you that your list of chores is unreasonable. Yea it could be done but not spotless. If you want her to leave it spotless, she’d need to be there longer than 2 hours but who would do that for 50 bucks. You said she is fast but you keep adding tasks so she isn’t going to do them perfectly because it’s too much

Your expectations are unreasonable. Even the most experienced cleaner and a clean freak would leave “some wet spots”. Floor being wet after mopping isn’t unusual. Do not go in the kitchen after she mopped. What’s the emergency?

Now of course you can fire her but you’ll not find anyone to do a massive clean up you require for $50. The most you could get is some surface cleaning or just some parts of the house. And that’s what she is doing.

Thanks. She cleans almost the same stuff everytime. I’ll fo that next time if I need something extra.

I don’t understand why people keep saying that she only has 2 hours to clean everything.

I already mentioned that since her is a flat rate, she still gets paid the same no matter how long everything takes her.

So she can be here for 3 hours if necessary. I only need 2 small bathrooms cleaned, the bed made, the floor vacuumed, the kitchen cleaned & the floors mopped,

Occasionally I need the shelves cleaned in the fridge too. I remove the food for her & put everything back.

If she’s only making $50, expecting over two hours of work is unreasonable. You are asking too much for such a small fee. If you want more done, double her pay because honestly, you are asking for over $100 in cleaning services.

For $50, mopping the floors, dusting, vacuuming, and bathrooms once over is the most to expect. When you start adding in detailing like cleaning the microwave, cleaning the refrigerator inside, cleaning shelves, cleaning under furniture cushions, etc., you need to pay her more.

Additionally, get out of her way. Most people I know get out of the house for a few hours while their house is being cleaned so they aren’t in the way. Don’t hover. Stay out of the areas that are mopped until the floors dry, etc. The more you hover, the more likely you are getting in her nerves and the less likely that she will feel comfortable. Honestly, I am surprised she comes back. You are paying very little and expecting more than the rate is worth. She should charge more. That’s on her, but she probably needs everything she can and is afraid of losing income. Unfortunately that means she’s in a position of being a bit taken advantage of here.

Pay more or expect a bit less. Be a bit more reasonable.

Think of it this way. At $50, if she works two hours, she’s making $25/hour. If it takes her three hours, she’s only making a bit over $16.50/hour. You are expecting her to work longer and do more for almost $10/hour less? Would you do that? That makes no sense. Don’t say you too her x amount. Tip is above and beyond her rate. Even if you do, she STILL isn’t making $25/hour if she works that extra hour, and now she has no tip really. That’s what is obvious to us but you don’t seem to understand.

Yes she can theoretically stay 3 hours. But not for $50. You either have to pay more or lower the demands.

Like not only you want floors moped, you demand them being dry with no spots left wet. That is all additional and time consuming. Being upset she didn’t clean microwave. It takes time to clean it in and out. It can’t be included in your $50 fee. It has to be additional task paid accordingly. When you add additional tasks, pay extra.

It sounds that she is an immigrant working under the table and is afraid to speak up.

And I agree with previous poster that you need to stop following her around. You observe her not being friendly or what not because she’s probably uncomfortable. I cleaned houses when I was getting college degrees being single mom. I never ever had owners following me around the house. They typically weren’t home or stayed in one room and didn’t walk around at all. It’s way too stressful for a cleaner.

The woman is clearly desperate for money. But you got to change your ways.