What Can You Expect from a Housekeeper?
If you’ve ever looked around your house
in a moment of stress and wondered if you should hire a housekeeper to help, the answer is most likely, YES!
These days, many households have two parents who are both working outside the home. Working full-time jobs and taking care of the cooking and cleaning while also keeping up with your children’s busy schedules can be overwhelming to say the least.
If you have the means to pay for an extra set of hands to help reduce your weekly stress, hiring a housekeeper may be the perfect solution to your problems.
BUT before you start looking,
you’ll need to know exactly what types of duties a housekeeper generally performs. Read below to get the low-down on the most common responsibilities for housekeepers and how to hire the right person for your home.
The complete list of what a housekeeper would be responsible for doing in your home really varies depending on your needs.
Ask yourself if there are specific needs that do not fall on the list below (such as caring for pets) and, if so, make sure to include those in your job listing.
Here are the general duties of a housekeeper:
Light cleaning in the living areas. This includes dusting, vacuuming, sweeping and mopping the floors in all rooms.
Cleaning the bathrooms, including mirrors, toilets, showers and baths.
Cleaning the kitchen, including wiping down appliances, counters, sinks and cabinet doors.
Washing and drying dishes and putting them away.
Changing bed linens and making the beds.
Washing, folding and ironing clothes.
Cleaning interior windows.
Removing garbage and recycling.
Restocking personal items such as toilet paper, tissues, etc.
General tidying up of the rooms. This includes putting away toys, decluttering and light organizing.
Running errands for the family. This can include things like grocery shopping or dropping off dry cleaning and mail. Make sure that you go over this item with your housekeeper and provide her with some method of payment. Not all housekeepers will be willing to perform this duty, so have it in your listing and address it in your interviews.
Preparing meals for the family. If this is something you want your housekeeper to do, make sure to specify this on your listing as some housekeepers may not provide this service. Discuss their level of comfort in the kitchen during your interviews and make sure you get an idea of what kinds of meals they make.
Keeping track of cleaning supplies and letting you know when they are low and need to be replaced