I suck at cleaning the house. And Dennis has been bothering me about it for a long time. He's still at work and he might be having someone come to our apartment today, so I was feeling the pressure to clean.
Holy Grail of knocks on the door, Team "Philadelphia" knocked on my door- two undergrads raising money so that they can do things like hold Vacation Bible School for children and visit a Narcotics Anonymous in Philadelpia, wanted to know if they could "tidy up" my apartment for money.
I was kind of thrilled, embarrassed, and apologetic at the same time. My apartment isn't that bad. But it was pretty bad. Not quite hazardous but enough that I felt bad.
They did my dishes, cleaned my stove top, took out the trash, and cleaned our toilet. (I swept the floor). I gave them $35.
I couldn't figure out how much to give- they are doing it as charity and they asked. But I felt really bad- I was pulling out leftovers in our fridge that are so old that they were not only growing mold but the girl who did the dishes said "I can't get this mold off, I think I'm going to have to soak it."
They didn't vacuum or clean my shower or mop. So I figure that if I was overly generous, it's kind of okay. Team Philadelphia is going to do some good work over spring break and they did, after all, clean my toilet and stove.
If I was cheap, I can rationalize that I've never paid someone to clean my house before. I don't know the rates for housecleaning! So was I cheap??
(so to add to the list of groups we've helped- Team Philadelphia, Team Nicaragua, Team Florida, and Team Panama.)
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5 comments:
Lucky you! I live right next to a university campus, and we never get college students offering to clean our house!
I can say honestly that if it had been a professional cleaning service, $35 wouldn't have been enough, but I think for the work they did, the fact they aren't professionals and that they did say it was donations only and they offered, the money you gave them was sufficient.
When we were living down there I went through kind of a rough period where I was so depressed I didn't do anything - cook, clean, leave the house...etc. It was bad. To try and cheer me up (and probably motivate me) Deane hired a cleaning service, I think they were called "Clean America" or something like that. They came in, cleaned our two bedroom apt. loaded the dishwasher, dusted, vacuumed, made the beds, threw out trash, put things away - etc...they did an exceptional job and they charged us $60/hr. and were there for about 3 hours (I know...for a 2 bed apt thats a long time, but we're talking a SERIOUS depression here lol) - plus we tipped them.
We had them come three times and after that I was able to get off my a$$ and do my own cleaning. Our place was never super clean, but like yours, it just needed tidying up and I found myself vacuuming A LOT (It's my favorite household chore) - but it was never a disaster area or unsanitary.
Anyway - rambling. Happy weekend!!!
OK - this is off topic - but I saw this article and thought of you...
...for some reason...
To be honest, if they ever come to my house .. I wouldn't know how much I should pay them too! :P
here in spain it goes by the hours they spend at doing anything. Mom pays 12eur x hours done. Our "professional" gets 48 eurs per 4 hours. She vacuums, clean the toilets and takes off the dust. If mom asks her to do the kitchen, she asks for more money.
Judge yourself :)
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