02.21.07
Rules for the Maid
If you’re new – I wrote the How to Hire A Maid like a book. Click Table of Contents for future articles and links to old blogs in a more comprehensible order – or just click here & go to the bottom to read it straight through by scrolling up to each article.
Hopefully your new maid is using a checklist and working on one room at a time when she comes. Kitchen and bathroom are already available; I will be posting more. Once you’ve had her go through each room and confirmed that she understands the checklists, it’s time to start moving towards normal home maintenance.
Before you introduce your maid to the game of speed cleaning – which she probably really already knows, take time to go over your views on general cleaning. If it’s in writing she can get a friend to check her translation to avoid misunderstandings. I found the following useful to go over with my maid.:
-  Laundry found anywhere should go to the floor outside the laundry and cups/dishes to the kitchen, but please tell me about it – the kids are suppose to put their own away.
- Do not worry about vacuuming up or throwing away anything ‘important’. I will check all trash & the vacuum bag before it is tossed. Please therefore do not put coffee grounds or other wet things in with the trash you find around the house – put them in a separate bag.
- Wash all floors with 2 Tablespoons vinegar to each bucket of water. Please change frequently by emptying into toilet.
- Please check all rooms when you are finished:
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- for cleaning supplies left in room
- that pictures are straight
- that carpets & curtains are back to their proper position
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- Be careful to clean all lights when off and cool. The halogen lights can give a bad burn.
- Do not let Windex (TM) (any ammonia solution) and Comet (TM) (any bleach-based scouring power) mix –they will give off chlorine, a poisonous gas that can kill you.
- If you unplug something to plug in the vacuum cleaner, please plug it back in again.
- Shelves must be cleaned 1 at a time & the things on that shelf must go back to that shelf. Do not put things back on the wrong shelf.
- In the pantry multiple items should be stacked from front to back.
One maid created beautiful rows – largest cans in back, smallest in front. Needless to say, I couldn’t get at anything in the back without destroying her work of art. I drew (feeble) pictures.
