I Finally Splurged on a House Cleaner, and It’s the Best Money I’ve Ever Spent

Keeping my house clean is an ongoing battle—there’s always a room that needs to be cleaned, an appliance that needs to be degreased, or vacuuming that needs to be done.

And because I have a full-time job working 9 to 5 Monday to Friday, I was starting to feel like my weekends—or at least one full day every weekend—was always dedicated to cleaning, giving me hardly any time to myself to decompress, spend time with friends, or enjoy my hobbies.

In May, when the weather was finally starting to warm up after a long and difficult winter, I didn’t want to keep spending my weekends cleaning, and finally decided to splurge on a house cleaner—and it’s one of the best things I’ve ever done.

It’s a Big Time-Saver

The biggest benefit of hiring a cleaner is that has ended up saving me so much time. We have our cleaner come and do a deep clean once a month, and the difference it has made is pretty staggering.

While I still do a bit of cleaning on the weekends, or throughout the week if I have time, it’s mostly just upkeep. We do a quick vacuum, make sure the bathroom is clean, and do our regular tidying.

But there are so many chores we don’t have to spend time doing anymore, and we can get everything we need done in about an hour or two every weekend.

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I Don’t Have to Do Chores I Hate Anymore

Some people love to clean, but I am not one of those people. While I admit it brings a certain satisfaction, there are a few chores I really hate doing—and as a result, I put them off for longer than I should.

Some chores I hate include cleaning the sides and back of the toilet, wiping down the fronts of my kitchen cabinets, and cleaning the inside of the microwave.

Instead of letting these things get even more gross (and much more difficult to clean), they’re now cleaned on a regular schedule and I don’t have to think about them.

And because she’s a professional, these things all get cleaned way more thoroughly than if I was to do it anyway.

Things Get Cleaned That I Forget About

And then there are the chores I kind of just forget about until they become an unsightly problem, like dusting the baseboards, cleaning the ceiling fan, or cleaning the bathroom window screen.

I’d only lived in my house for just over a year before we hired our cleaner, but the ceiling fans we installed before we moved in were already pretty covered in dust—but out of the way, so I didn’t really notice them.

I also don’t tend to notice the baseboards, or I do notice them and then forget about them by the time cleaning day rolls around.

One of the most impressive things I noticed after my cleaner had come to visit the first time was that she even cleaned things like the bathroom vanity light, which I hadn’t yet considered cleaning.

I Save Money on Cleaning Supplies

While it obviously costs money to hire a cleaner, it does also save me some money in other areas.

Because I’m not cleaning as often, or as thoroughly, I don’t have to re-stock my cleaning supplies as often, like shower cleaners or wood cleaners or kitchen degreasers.

My cleaner comes to our house with all of her own supplies, vacuum, and mops—everything she needs to clean our house is taken care of.

It Can Be Expensive, But Worth It

Hiring a cleaner might not be for everyone, and it’s not in everyone’s budget. But if you’ve been considering whether a cleaner is right for you, I’m here to tell you it is.

She takes about three hours a month to clean my house from top-to-bottom—an undertaking that would take me way longer, and that I’d have to spread out across multiple weekends.

I also no longer have to carry the mental load of making sure the house cleaning gets done.

Obviously, my house cleaner doesn’t clean everything. She doesn’t do our laundry, change bed sheets, deep-clean rugs or carpets, or clean the windows—these are more specialty jobs. But even without these chores being taken care of, it’s a massive help.

I also really like that I was able to find a local cleaner who runs her own business.

And for just a few hundred dollars a month, it’s been so worth it to get back my time, some brain space, and spend my weekends doing things I actually enjoy.