Is Hiring a Housekeeper Worth the Cost?

When you lead a fast-paced life, spending money to save time can be a stress-reducing investment. If you’re struggling to keep up with that weekly house cleaning checklist, you might ask yourself if hiring a housekeeper is worth it. This guide covers the pros and cons of paying for this type of service to help you decide if it feels like a low-priority luxury or an essential amenity.

What Is a Housekeeper?

Housekeepers clean and organize your home on a regular basis—sometimes, they even live in. These trained professionals do common chores like laundry, vacuuming, dusting, mopping, and dishwashing daily, biweekly, or weekly to keep clutter and dirt to a minimum in your home.

Pros of Housekeepers

Not sure if a housekeeper is worth it? Here’s a look at some of the pluses of hiring a pro to keep your house clean.

1. Timesaving

One of the biggest benefits of hiring a housekeeper near you is how much time you can save not having to do the scrubbing, sweeping, and straightening things up yourself. Surveys suggest the average homeowner spends approximately six hours a week cleaning their home. Getting professional help is ideal if you have a busy work life, want to focus on your family, or just hate housework.

2. Controls Clutter

If you’re a hoarder who has a habit of quickly gathering a jumble of junk, a housekeeper can help you get through your weekly decluttering checklist. An organized home can reduce stress levels, increase productivity, and make it easier to keep your spaces clean.

3. Maintain a Hygienic Home

If you’re not a fan of chores or are always short on time, you could do a half-hearted job when cleaning. A professional housekeeper has the right tools, supplies, and skills to do a thorough job of sanitizing. It also saves you from making rookie errors using the wrong product for cleaning your hardwood floors or new kitchen surfaces.

Because housekeepers visit your home regularly, they will keep on top of the cleaning tasks to prevent a buildup of hard-to-remove grime. This can help extend the life span and look of the surfaces in your home.

4. Reduces Household Conflict

Are you frequently fighting with your partner or the teens in your house over who was supposed to wash the dishes? Hiring a housekeeper reduces this common reason for family friction.

5. Aids People With Limited Mobility

Cleaning is a physical job that can be more challenging for people with limited mobility. Hiring a housekeeper can benefit older people, people with disabilities or chronic conditions, and those recovering from surgery.

Cons of Housekeepers

Before you decide, it’s worth being aware of the downsides of hiring a housekeeper.

1. Cost

The convenience of hiring a housekeeper does come at a cost. Professional house cleaning costs an average of $25 to $80 per hour. This won’t be affordable for every household, and when it is, you’ll need to balance the benefits of convenience over cost. If a housekeeper visits biweekly, you might need to budget around $400 to $1,200 per month for the privilege.  

2. Privacy

If you’re a person who values their privacy, hiring a housekeeper might not be worth it. To allow the cleaners to do their job properly, they will need access to most areas of your home—not ideal if you want this to remain a safeguarded family sanctum.

3. Security

While horror stories of cleaners stealing from their clients are rare, the security risk is real. Fortunately, provided you do background checks and hire a reputable, bonded, and insured housekeeper, you can minimize the possibility of pilfering.

4. Personnel Problems

Depending on your level of research and your standards, finding a housekeeper you feel comfortable with can be challenging. Get things wrong, and they might prove unreliable, not do the job properly, or not gel well with you. The key is to do your due diligence, check reviews, study the service agreement, and communicate clearly.

Alternatives to Housekeepers

If your budget doesn’t stretch to a regular housekeeper, or you just don’t want a stranger in your home on a regular basis, you could hire a house cleaner to come less frequently and only tackle specific or one-off tasks. Or consider the following options:

• Hire a move-out cleaning service to reduce stress while tackling this high-pressure, multi-task project.

• Hire a professional organizer to help clear clutter and set up storage solutions around your home.

• Hire a window cleaner to tackle those difficult-to-reach, dirty panes.

Is a Housekeeper Right for You?

Deciding if the cost of a housekeeper is worth it depends on your income, lifestyle, and how much you hate household chores. Most homeowners can handle cleaning, so hiring a professional is typically a stress-reducing convenience rather than a necessity. However, you may realize you don’t need the full service a housekeeper provides and decide to go with a less-expensive house cleaner instead.