Tragedy!

[bjarvis]

We discovered last night when we returned home that our housekeeping service is likely tossing in the towel. Apparently, Kevin has had a lot of difficulty retaining staff and I think he's tired of dealing with the problem.

With a little luck, he take a break to find the energy to persevere, but there's a strong possibility that we'll need a new housekeeping service. I hate changing this kind of service... it takes a long while for me to build up enough trust to allow someone essentially unrestricted access to our home, yet we can't afford to be there for supervision either. The alternative is simply to vacuum our own floors, scrub our own bathtubs, dust our own stuff, etc.; while the savings of $$$ is appealing, the scrubbing of bathtubs is not.

Oh, my sad life is so full of trauma. Woe is me (esp. since Kent will not scrub bathtubs).

Comments

[guiser1.livejournal.com]

I have a good house cleaning service: Ask Our Clients. If you want the info, lemme know. Very good and trustworthy.

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

I'm going to wait for a while to let Kevin regroup (if he chooses) but I may for contact info. Thanks!

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

Alas, our cleaning service has indeed tossed in the (very clean) towel. *sigh*

You mentioned you liked your cleaning service... I'd love any info at all you might have on them! jarvis at office-assist dot com. Thanks!

Be sure to detail how best you'd like to be rewarded for your good deed. Use diagrams.

[capitalcor.livejournal.com]

They are meant to be scrubbed? That explains alot.....

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

Depends on what branch of biology you're studying... :-)

[book-of-daniel.livejournal.com]

Good help is so hard to find, darling...

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

Indeed. I so need a live-in houseboy right now... *sigh*

[abqdan.livejournal.com]

Good idea - after all, a hard helper is so good to find... :-)

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

And how are those household renovations going anyway? :-)

[urbear]

My ex and I haven't had any housekeeping help in our shared house for two or three years now, and it shows. Neither of us is any good at all at keeping the place clean.

Our last "private" cleaning person had to be fired; she just wasn't doing any kind of job at all, unless you count the rectangular void in the desktop dust where her weekly check used to lie. We tried several "professional" services, but none of them did a decent job for the money.

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

I'd be OK with vacuuming and dusting... lord knows we're never home much anyway so the place never gets particularly messy. And I empty the garbage bins regularly anyway for garbage & recycling collection Tuesday mornings, as well as keep the kitchen counters relatively clear and the office somewhat tidy. My big issue is cleaning the bathrooms: I despise scrubbing porcelein with every fibre of my being, and Kent has allergies to the cleaning chemicals as well as bad knees and a bad back (or so he tells me, anyway).

I guess in reality, we've had a housekeeping service all these years because I'd rather pay significant money to have someone else clean our bathrooms, and it's cheaper than therapy.

At least I can claim that we use a lawn service because we don't want to store/maintain a lawn mower.

better living through modern chemistry

[trawnapanda.livejournal.com]

I despise scrubbing porcelain with every fibre of my being and Kent has allergies to the cleaning chemicals as well as bad knees and a bad back (or so he tells me anyway)

you wanna get the scum out of the bathtub? spray-on oven cleaner.

or alternatively, if you're philosophically opposed to aerosols, apply dishwasher gel (not the powdered detergent, the gel - it will stay put) to the scummy area with a damp sponge. rub enough to ensure that there is 100% coverage, but you're not scrubbing here.

after half an hour, wash off. (it's easier if you have a hand-held shower head, but bailing water onto it will work too). no scrubbing.

The gel is quite corrosive, so wear rubber gloves, and use a plastic/synthetic sponge. If you use a cellulose one (the kind that get very stiff when dry, but expand and become soft 'meejutly when wet), it will disintegrate fairly quickly under this assault.

What you're applying is lye, or strong hydroxide.

Doesn't Kent make his own soap? doesn't he use this stuff himself? if so, HE could do it.

I'm a chemist, trust me on this one.

[bearfuz.livejournal.com]

Scrubbing bathtubs is good for character-building.

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

character-building = tasks so painful/messy/masochistic that no one in their right mind would do it if they had a choice :-)

[abqdan.livejournal.com]

We've thought many times about getting a home help, but we've never really made the effort. And in any case, it would just be more work for me... I'd have to clean every week before they came round - couldn't let them see the place in a mess, could I?

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

I typically do a quick run-through of the house the night before the cleaning crew is due. There are tasks they don't do per our agreement, so I do those myself quickly to ensure they can complete the rest of their list without interference. I also try to tidy up any working papers, bills, etc., so to minimize any complications to dusting. It seems silly to clean up the house before the housekeeping service arrives, but I always do.

[billeyler.livejournal.com]

You're exactly right, dear. I had a housekeeping service every two weeks about 1993...that lasted six months. And yes indeed, I did always tidy up before she came over! :-)

Wouldn't it be nice though? I know we can afford it!

[ciddyguy.livejournal.com]

As far as scrubbing the tub(s), it's pretty easy for me anyway.

That is, I hae a handheld shower and on the day I clean the tub/shower surround, I keep the scrub free or the Mr Bubbles foaming action stuff handy and right after the shower, I then spray everything, scrub quickly with the scratchy side of the sponge doing the tiles first and then get the tub, then it's rinse well and rinse myself off before getting out. If you do it on a fairly regular basis, it never takes more than a couple of minutes or so and the tub is sparkling clean. :-)

The sink/counters take no time at all, same with the toilet.

And lest you get any ideas... No, I'm not coming out there to do your dirty work for you. ;-)

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

And lest you get any ideas... No, I'm not coming out there to do your dirty work for you. ;-)

Damn!

[apparentparadox]

Mark & I have been lucky to have the same guy for the past 19 years. I don't know what we'll do if he ever stops.

Oh, and why is he "Kent" when he won't scrub the bathtub (and I'm betting that he's not physically able to) and kent4str when talking about square dancing stuff?

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

Oh, and why is he "Kent" when he won't scrub the bathtub (and I'm betting that he's not physically able to) and kent4str when talking about square dancing stuff?

I just have a short attention span, I sup-- Ooo, look! A shiny object!

[billeyler.livejournal.com]

"Housekeeping service"??????