When my kids were young, we needed more money, period. I had an infant, a three year old, and a five year old. Their father was away two weeks and home two weeks. I tried to think of something I could do to bring some money in.
With his schedule, and their demands, I was coming up blank. One day, I decided to put an add in the paper for ironing. Why, I have no idea, because I hate ironing, but I thought if other people did too, they could leave their clothes off, and pick them up fresh and starched and ready to go.
A woman called, and said she didn’t need any ironing, but did I know how to clean houses? Yes, I did, my own, but everybody always told me I was a clean freak, so I guess I qualified. We made an appointment to meet at her office, we did, we liked each other, and I had a date to clean her huge Victorian home. She was willing to work with cleaning it every two weeks to work with my schedule. I was excellent at what I did, and I loved it. It was hard manual, tiring labor, but the instant gratification was uplifting to my spirit and self esteem.
She told others about me, and before you knew it, I had a few customers. All worked within my schedule. It was good to get away from the house and kids for a while, especially since I was with them for two weeks straight.
If anyone is looking for a way to make some extra money, and you know how to clean well, you, too, can make some extra money. The key is to do a thorough job, even if it takes you longer. All wood is to be polished. All glass is to be cleaned. Of course, bathrooms, bedrooms dusted and then all the floors either vacuumed to washed. Microwaves get cleaned out, and refrigerators get the once over, and the toaster, and by the time you’re done, you should have a nice clean house behind you.
If you’re ambitious, you can fit in another house in the afternoon. Many people will work with your schedule, some even letting you come at night. I always charged by the hour, ten dollars at the time, and anything over four hours is extra, but I would try to keep it to four hours for my body. There’s a lot of bending and twisting and fitting behind the toilets, vacuuming, mopping, and reaching to get cobwebs that can create your body to ache.
There is a certain amount of money you are allowed to make, and you can look into that. I didn't make enough money to declare it, but i made enough to help out around the house for a while when we needed it.
I had a great time having my few customers, and being a part of their homes looking beautiful. And they loved me, because they got to live in beauty and cleanliness, without having had to do anything, but write the check. They appreciated what I did for them, and that made me feel good about myself.
The biggest thing is to be trustworthy. Many women get these cleaning jobs and steal and get caught, or sometimes, they’re long gone before the person notices something’s gone. That is so disgusting to me. These people are trusting you with everything they own, and my people were never home when I was there.
But I was trustworthy, and they knew it. I had the combinations to their alarms, and, as a matter of fact, they didn’t change them when I had to give up housecleaning to a bout of Crohn’s, and a couple years of sickness and depression. I would leave change from the washer or dryer on top of them.
I was there to clean, and that I did. It’s a good way of making money if you have little kids still. And if you don’t, it’s even better because you have no responsibilities, but usually by that time, you’re too tired to clean! I have a hard enough time keeping up with my house now. Word of mouth gets around fast when someone has a good cleaning person, I had a few customers, all friends with my first customer, and all on good terms with me.
For some odd reason, I love shiny glass, and dusted furniture, clean bathrooms, spotless kitchens, beautiful bedrooms, and emptied dishwashers. I guess it’s not too odd, these people were paying me to do just that. So, if you think you’d like to do something like that, you can put out fliers and adds at the food stores, and chances are, you’ll get calls. Then, you just do your work well, clean until it is spotless, be trustworthy, and you can have your own business, too. It wasn't enough to declare, but it helped when i needed it, and you can make your business as big as you'd like. |
