December is a “high season” for entertaining family, friends and colleagues. It involves a lot of cooking, cleaning and tidying; having help at home greatly eases the task.
Here are 7 Tips to help you get the help you need for a smooth and as stress free as possible holiday season:
TIP # 1 –> November is the right time to hire your housekeeper. Look for an experienced professional who can give you at least two clients references. Ask him/her to come to your place for your holiday gatherings or the day after.
TIP # 2 –> When you hire the housekeeper, make a copy of her health insurance card to ensure that you have it on file in case something happens. It’s also a good way to discourage robberies.
TIP # 3 –> For the overall cleaning of the house, do it yourself in one setting to see how much time it takes you. A professional housekeeper should be able to do it in the same amount of time or less. Negotiate the salary based on these hours.
TIP # 4 –> When you hire her, don’t forget to ask if she brings her own cleaning products and tools. Otherwise, provide cleaning gloves that fit her as well as cleaning products and rags.
TIP # 5 –> Before she arrives, tidy up the house, putting things back where they belong such as putting clothes and toys in the closets. She needs to be able to do her job.
TIP # 6 –> Go over the cleaning plan, pointing out the priorities and showing her where to begin and where to end as well as any special requests (stove, microwave oven, fridge, etc.).
TIP # 7 –> After the first cleaning session, inspect the place with her to give her feedback so she knows where to focus her attention next time, based on YOUR preferences.
We hope you have found these 7 tips helpful, please do add any other ones you can think of in our comment section.