Hiring A House Cleaner or Service

So funny story - My neighbor and I use the same house cleaner. We've both noticed recently that our house were not being fully cleaned. My neighbor had her house "cleaned" yesterday. She came home and the carpets had not been cleaned, nor the kitchen, nor the bathrooms. Needless to say I come home to 1 message from my neighbor saying they fired her, and another from the house cleaner saying she can't clean our house anymore because of injury. I was thinking of lettng her go anyways, so it made an odd situation easier.

Needless to say I am back on the hunt again. Does anyone have tips/experience, private vs. a service, etc.?

My parents had their house cleaned once by a lady who was referred to us by a friend. It seems safer to find someone through referral, especially if you have a lot of valuable things (ie. jewelry) around the house.

i agree with Margaret....referrals would be best.....

we found ours through those val-pak coupon thingees...i "interviewed" 3 different companies before I chose....and then with the one that we picked, it took us a few people to get someone really good!  now if she's sick or on vacation...we just *gasp* clean it ourselves!!

I agree - go with a referral.

I'm am soooooooooo hiring a housekeeper soon! I hate cleaning and FI and I always fight about it. 

js...I LOVE it....best money we could spend!!  and even better...our weekends/evenings are free, because we don't have to scrub the house from top to bottom like our friends do!!

Oh I LOVE cleaning the house!!!! It I look forward to it every week! Do you have a Merry Maids by you? They are very nice and do a good job.

i hate it!  i'd rather go to the dentist!

dude i totally thought about this yesterday.  i was so frustrated at always having to clean that i'm like eff it, we need to hire someone!!  cleaning is a total waste of time...boo.

Sarah - wanna come clean my house??? :)

Ditto ... I hate it.  In fact, FI and I got into a fight about it just last night.  UGH!

Haha I think its so fun because you get to change your room and make it all pretty and sparkly. But that is still MY own home haha.