What jobs do you ask your cleaning lady to do?

amother

Sun, Jan 31 2010, 9:44 am

I'm going to start working as a cleaning lady soon. I have never taken one so I don't know what is standard for cleaning ladies to do.

What types of jobs do you save for your cleaning lady?

From threads on imamother:
Cleaning the toilet
Washing the floor (perhaps on hands and knees?)
Cleaning the oven

What is reserved for your cleaning lady?
Do people ask their cleaning ladies to tidy? If so, how does the cleaning lady know what goes where?

bnm

Sun, Jan 31 2010, 10:00 am

folds laundry and puts away
changes linen-I told her not to do it every week, she was going to.
washes dishes
sweeps floors
mops
puts away stuff-she made her own system and I follow it because its better than mine
every few weeks she washes out the fridge/freezer and organizes them
she washes the stove top every week, I never asked her to do the oven yet, before Pesach I will

she basically comes into my flying house and turns it into a clean place. I'm not organized and have no time to clean. I treat her nicely, offering drinks and snacks. I try to remember to give her lunch in the middle every week. she looks happy when she comes, I can't communicate with her much because she doesn't speak English but she knows how to clean well and gets very happy when I tell her 'mucho gracias' when I pay her. I have to start learning a few other Spanish phrases....

freidasima

Sun, Jan 31 2010, 10:01 am

From what I see from neighbors you will be expected to do everything. And expect to be taken advantage of, as it is rare to find a Jewish cleaning lady these days. Everyone is used to the foreign workers and they are taken advantage of.

You might be asked to:
dust
sweep
vaccum
do trisim
do windows
do sinks
do toilets
do bathtub and shower
change linens
clean under bed
put away toys
clean bathroom surfaces
wash floor
wash tiles in the bathroom
clean stove grates
clean inside of oven
clean inside of fridge
clean baseboards in the kitchen (bottom of cabinets)
clean outside of kitchen cabinets
dust light fixtures
dust pictures
clean mirrors
clean and wash trash cans and garbage pails
wash down outsides of closets
wash down both sides of doors
take down curtains to be washed
put up curtains after they are washed
scrub kitchen sinks and faucets
clean bathroom taps and faucets
clean tops of doors (the part one never cleans...)
dust knick knacks that they may have out.
Do hand laundry.
fold laundry

That's about all I can think of.
What you need is to get a direct list from them, in detail, before you start working and see what they want.
What I listed here, in a three bedroom apartment (ours) is what I do every week except for things like washing the outside of closets and doors which gets done only once a month, or taking down curtains.
If you are fast, you should be able to do all of it in about six hours.
But for that you have to be fast and work very hard.

There are two ways to work here in EY - one is hourly pay and the other is kablanut - to get paid for the "job" no matter how much time it takes. This is good only in cases where there is little work and you are vary fast, otherwise insist on getting paid by the hour.

In places that you do this on a regular basis, you should be getting bituach leumi as well. This can be done without your paying taxes and even without your name. The bituach leumi booklet has a way that the employer can give her teudat zehut number and you get it from her and then when the time comes for you to get your BL payments you give her information and the months.

Hatzlocho!

solo

Sun, Jan 31 2010, 10:04 am

it really depends on the household.
cleaning, tidying, organizing.
as far as how to tidy or organize, so many people I know complain about the cleaning lady putting things away in random places or where they dont belong just to get it out of the way.
I always tell my cleaning lady to ask if shes not sure. especially the first few weeks I think that makes the most sense. u dont need to call ur employer in for every item individually but can ask bout all the thing uve found in the bedooms, kitchen, .. seperately.

also id suggest u bring ur own gloves (I use surgical gloves and dispose after each use) for cleaning areas like the bathroom or kitchen where ur likely to be using strong detergents and icky stuff.
good luck at ur new job.

Marigold

Sun, Jan 31 2010, 10:26 am

Freidasima gave you a great list.
I'm cutting and pasting the stuff I give to my cleaning lady.
She comes in once a week for about 8-9 hrs and does the following.
dust
vaccum-floors and furniture,windows and sometimes shades
wash shades
do windows
do entire toilets including bathtub, shower, tiles
iron linens and put on bed-sometimes her sometimes me/also some light ironing at times
clean under bed
wash floor
clean stove grates-once in 3 months, I try to keep my oven very clean
clean inside of oven -same as above
clean fridge parts in bathtub monthly, otherwise I do it myself weekly
clean baseboards in the kitchen (bottom of cabinets)
clean outside of kitchen cabinets
dust light fixtures
dust pictures
clean mirrors
clean and wash trash cans and garbage pails
wash down halfway outsides of closets
wash down both sides of door
clean tops of doors (the part one never cleans...)weekly
dust knick knacks that I may have out.
I don't give any laundry for her to fold, nor any orginization or putting away things. Counters, sink, dishes are all reserved for me. She does get down on her hands and knees but thats on her own volition. I treat her very nicely, always tip when she does a particularly hard job and give her drinks/lunch/snack at regular intervals.

Good luck and make sure you get treated the way you deserve.

freidasima

Sun, Jan 31 2010, 10:30 am

Three hours is very little time. You shouldn't be expected to do more than dust, sweep or vaccume and do sponja, do bathrooms (toilets, sinks, bathtub, faucets) and to kitchen sink and faucets. Also maybe trisim and windows depending on the size of the apartment. But my guess is that they will want you to do more than that in three hours and then it's going to depend on how fast you work and how hard you want to work.

amother

Sun, Jan 31 2010, 10:37 am

I hire someone for 2 hours a week and all she gets done (which I consider a lot considering many bad experiences) -
- picks up toys and sponjas kitchen and living room
- cleans and sponjas 2 bathrooms.

I have had cleaning ladies try in the past who would not touch bleach (and one that would not even touch a toilet ) but I didn't have them come back as it wasn't worth it to me.

GetReal

Sun, Jan 31 2010, 10:55 am

I have someone 4-5 hours a week. She changes linen on two beds and two cribs, tidies and sweeps the bedrooms and hallways upstairs, thoroughly cleans the bathroom, tidies office. Then downstairs, tidies and washes floors and vacuums, cleans the bathroom, washes dishes, cleans kitchen, does whatever laundry she has time for (wash, dry, fold, put away) and whatever random things she sees need doing or I ask her to do. She is very good about noticing things which I like.

Raisin

Sun, Jan 31 2010, 1:48 pm

if someone has a cleaning lady only 3 hours a week presumably she does all the day to day tidying, washing up, etc. the tidier the house is when you come the more actual cleaning you will be able to do.

Probably she will want you to sweep, vacuam, wash floors. Clean bathrooms, maybe change linens, clean fridge, perhaps fold laundry, perhaps iron.

It really depends on which things your employer doesn't like doing!

heffer569

Sun, Jan 31 2010, 2:01 pm

I used to have some one come 3hrs 2x a week. (now I have a live in) in 3hrs she did all the laundry cleaned 2 bathrooms 3 bedrooms cleaned the whole kitchen swept mopped did dishes the oven cooktop microwave she cleaned all ceining fans windows and doors. she also changed all the linen and washed that also. On days she had extra time she cleaned the silver and cleaned out the fridge and freezer.

Liba

Sun, Jan 31 2010, 2:07 pm

In three hours my cleaning lady does my floors (upstairs and down), three bathrooms, windows and that is about it. She doesn't have time for the fridge, linen, dishes, ironing or polishing. I think part of it is that sponga here takes a lot more time and energy than mopping in the US. She moves all of the furniture, which my cleaning lady didn't do to mop on a weekly basis in the US.

Sherri

Tue, Feb 02 2010, 1:18 pm

heffer569 wrote:

WOW. I think that's a lot of stuff- was she zooming?

sarahd

Tue, Feb 02 2010, 1:56 pm

heffer569 wrote:

All that in just three hours? That's pretty amazing.

sarahd

Tue, Feb 02 2010, 2:01 pm

I have a cleaning woman three hours a week. She does my bathrooms (one full, one half and one just toilet) and the floors upstairs and down (sweep/vacuum and mop.) She also polishes my dining room furniture, although I've told her it doesn't need to be done each week. In addition each week she does something extra from this list:

- clean refrigerator
- polish silver
- polish bedroom furniture
- clean oven
- wash windows
- clean woodwork
- ironing if I have nothing else for her

My kitchen is always a holy mess when the cleaning women come (Thursday) and they are always chalishing to do it, but I don't usually let them, since I will still be doing my Shabbos prep and will have to do it again anyhow (and also, I do a better job than they do.)