spiritual gardener, I really appreciate having the other point of view. I want to have a good relationship with my future cleaner and I don't want to be unknowingly inconsiderate. The beauty of having a fixed schedule means I don't have to leave new lists and notes every cleaning day. I figure if I find I would like something done off the list, I will schedule it with the cleaner as an extra or do it myself. The reason I want to pay hourly is because my house is NOT in shape to clean. I had cleaners for 15 years, moved and didn't have very good luck. I went with one service and after two years I found they never did get around to things like vacuuming the baseboards behind or next to furniture. I had a little more time back then so I learned to speed clean and did it myself for a while until I got too busy with outside work again. The next cleaning service sent young girls who really didn't know how to clean at all and missed so much of the basic jobs that it was just silly to keep them. Since then, I started my own business, took on a sick daddy & had two sons heading for college. My business took tons of time, my daddy got better and off went the boys to school. My dad then became seriously ill and I took care of him until he passed away in April. I've since been taking care of getting his possessions sorted and distributed & getting his place ready to sell. At the same time, I've been trying hard to catch up with my business. Long story short, my house has more years of accumulated clutter than dirt and it has stayed that way. I was hoping by having a cleaner to do the actual cleaning, I could work on the clutter and eventually I'd have a home with clutterfree, clean, presentable rooms! I am also going to have some remodeling done. I figure, it is going to take a cleaner and I a while to get the house to the point of being able to use the schedule to keep it clean. In the meantime, I'd like to be able to pay a cleaner for a set number of hours per week to help me get the house in shape by doing the regular weekly cleaning and then concentrating on one room at a time. The idea is that I would declutter the room first and the cleaner would then be able to deep clean it the following week. I found that when I paid by the cleaning, the cleaner would stay for about 2-3 hours maximum and be gone. It would cost me $80. and I still had to clean behind the cleaner. I'm trying to avoid this. As it stands right now, my house isn't "cleanable". There are too many cluttered rooms to be tidied before they can be cleaned. But, without the help of a cleaner, I'll never be able to get the house back in shape. If there is a better approach, I'm all ears!

Thanks for the replies. It does help me to know that one, I'm not the only one that find this level of "service" unacceptable, and two, that there are indeed people that would rather do the cleaning themselves. I still have much to sort out as to whether I want to continue to try having a cleaning person or would rather do it myself. But in the meantime, we are going on vacation and I already planned to put them on hold for the time we are away and just a bit thereafter. Probably 3 weeks off altogether. That will give me time to access the feeling of NOT having a cleaning service. Assuming I still want to go that route, I plan to call Wilma and explain the situation. Despite everything, she is a very nice woman, and one that I actually trust (to my knowledge, theft is one problem I have not experienced with our current cleaners). To be fair, I have not really said much to convey how unhappy I am (in part because I've barely seen her in recent weeks). I'd like to give her the chance to improve things. I will make a list of the things I want addressed and make very sure that she understands what I'm looking for. After that, if I'm still unhappy at least I'll know I did everything in my power to articulate my expectations, and I'll feel free to move on. I got a few new referrals from some friends last night that I will hold onto. I'll admit, I really do have to fight the feeling of not liking people in my house. In our house, my biggest problem is my own inconsistency. There are times when I enjoy cleaning and it almost feels cathartic. However, there are also times, due to our difficulties with our son, that it becomes nearly impossible to keep up and the house heads south VERY quickly. So until I can maintain some level of consistency on my own, I guess I'll have to continue on with a cleaning service. Perhaps if I spend a little time tweaking things, I'll end up being very happy. Thanks again. :)

I would tip the owner as you see fit and let her dole out to her workers herself. If she is like most small business owners, she will give 100% of the gift to her employees. If she decides not to share it, well, that's literally her business, isn't it? I would word the card, "To Marsha and Staff" or something like that...

I have a good honest woman that sends a crew of 4 to my house. They're honest, fast, punctual, and all work no chat. However, the crew is not consistently the same. Two are and they know my house, but the other two are trainees that sometimes work and apparently sometimes don't work b/c I dont see them again. I find myself repeating things simply b/c the new gals don't know. Besides, it sort of creates a parade of strangers, no diff than if I picked them from the street. I am getting a bit tired of my house being a training center but this inconvenience hasn't outweighed the good qualities--but it's getting close. b4 them, I had a great lady for years that stayed 6 hrs and that was too long. She quit when her kids graduated from college and got jobs. I was fond of her but don't miss her long stays. all this to say that I do prefer a team that gets in and gets out but I'd prefer 1 person / every two hours of work. So if it takes 4 hrs to do your house, two people should do it. A to do list is a must for one or for a crew ETA:. I have a big problem with paying a site for MY valuable input, i.e. Angie's list. There are other sites that don't cost anything. But even then, I wouldn't take the reviews as gospel. Most cleaning services are fabulous the first month and only a few are consistently good for the long haul. You provide feedback early on but can never update it. So you are reading "honeymoon" type feedback. Keep that in mind and talk to references for whom your finalist (s) have worked 6 month or longer that are not their relatives, ha