Tipping cleaners

For those of you that hire cleaners, do you tip them? If so, how much and how often?

Nope - no tipping culture in Australia - mine get a living wage

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If we did hire cleaners I would not tip. Not at the rate cleaners charge around here!! I’m American but really don’t believe in tipping.

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Tipping for what? Doing their job which you pay them for the amount they asked for?

Plus, they come 10 times a week (at least), if at all - they should tip me for the constant work :wink:

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I do my own cleaning at this time but I would tip depending on the situation. For example if I had a check list and a cleaner did all of that to perfection, or said something like “oh by the way I noticed the freezer compartment of the mini fridge needed defrosting so I did that,” I would tip. I’m a perfectionist and if a cleaner met my standard they would deserve a tip. Not only do they deserve it but it puts me in their good graces and moves me up their list of priorities if I need a favor.

I never gave much thought to tipping until I started doing the Airbnb and dog boarding.

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This is exactly my thinking. We have one unit, and we have one cleaner that we love, and a few back-up cleaners that are so-so. The one we love is the only one I trust completely to get the place prepared to my standards. She also happens to charge about 20% less than most of the other cleaners around here. She bills us once a month. Because we value her so much and want her to keep accepting our jobs, we’ve been adding a 10-15% tip when we pay her. I can’t imagine running our airbnb without her at this point, and i want her to know she’s appreciated. Yes, cleaners charge a lot, but they only work a few hours a day and the work is probably not always steady during the slow season. I think we will keep tipping. I was just trying to find out if others tipped.

I sometimes wonder if I could make more money and have more free time if I cleaned houses as my side hustle.

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No doubt actually. Good cleaners, with the OCD tendencies that you have shown, can command top dollar. The trick is to find the “hosts” that value your particular OCD tendencies! But, I bet your canine friends show love more freely.

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Ha! I said that to my husband just the other day but he scoffed at the idea.

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Oh cmon, you can just ADD that to your side hustles…

:slight_smile:

RR

LOL.

I recall at one point I told a friend I was working 6 jobs: teaching at the high school, coaching the HS quiz bowl team, teaching at the community college, working for ETS scoring AP Govt exams, boarding dogs in my home and Airbnb. She said that coaching the quiz bowl team didn’t count because it was at the school where I taught and dogs and Airbnb at home was hardly working either. I guess for it to be a side hustle one has to make a separate trip to a different location?

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I think it’s just that boarding dogs and Airbnb is so easy that you don’t have to do much ( I say VERY sarcastically).

LOL. You know, sometimes it is. I spend a lot of time on my back patio drinking beer and reading this forum on my phone and thinking “I get paid for this?” I just have to make peace with the fact that my part of the house is never clean to my standards.

Also in fairness, when that friend is here, I make it look easy.

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@Arlene_Larsson. I just want to say how nice it is to read about someone appreciating their cleaner! I always wince when I see complaints about cleaning staff on here or other groups. It’s like 19thC attitudes :frowning: If you have a trusted cleaner/housekeeper, they should be treasured - don’t just tip her/him, increase their pay!

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Well thank you!! We’ve never had less than 5 stars for cleanliness, and she is a big part of that. She’s expecting a baby now, and she’s trained her brother-in-law and he is now doing our cleanings. He’s not as good as her, but still better than anyone else we’ve hired. Maybe we’re just unlucky here in Seattle and have really poor cleaners, or maybe I’m just too picky. At any rate, I like to reward people I value.

Having been on both sides of this, as a cleaner/manager, it is clear that dealing with an individual who knows your property and feels valued for their work is going to do a FAR better job than a faceless agency-employed cleaner who is payed minimum wage. I realise that this endorses a 19thC paternalistic attitude… head explodes!! … but it’s true. The fact that she has passed the job on to someone in her family - and trained them - says a lot. Nurture him and be grateful!

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If they’re really good cleaners and always do a great job, I 'll give them a Christmas bonus.

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Hey- that’s one of my side hustles too! :smiley: I work CAASPP math 6-8.

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My brother has a property management company that manages vacation rentals at the ski resort in Vermont. Shortly after acquiring the property management business, he started a separate cleaning service and hired them to clean the units he manages if the owners agree. The owners are free to hire anyone they want, of course.

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Increase pay and give Christmas bonus!

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