Wednesday, September 5, 2012

The One About Disney Animals...

I just spent the last hour perusing random blogs and I noticed two trends:

1) I am a minority blogger. There are rarely any blogs maintained by single males... (prob contributes to my singleness)

2) A significant number of bloggers are mothers and wives sharing valuable household advice

I wondered... Is it possible for these trends to intersect? Could my blog dispense household advice? I highly doubt that my experiences are at all applicable to these busy matriarchs. And then I realized that my ability to pawn off domestic responsibilities could and would surely be helpful to someone. Maybe even you, dear reader. So here it is: my first attempt at sharing a great "homemaking" tip. 

Convert Your Help!

Groupon, Living Social and City Deals frequently offer cleaning services at great prices. I recently purchased a 4-hour cleaning service for $70. Yesterday, two cleaners came by and I worked from home  to let them in and huddle over what I wanted cleaned. Like adorable Disney animals, they mopped floors, scrubbed tiles and dusted every surface quickly and happily as I sang and waved from my work computer. I would occasionally ask them questions: Do you like your boss? Are you treated well by your agency? Is there adequate compensation? I passed them bottles of water and fruit after asking this question... By the end of their cleaning period, I hired them as independent contractors paying $80 for the same two hours of work per cleaner once a month. This was drastically cheaper than the usual $150 fee charged by their agency in which these cleaners earn $10/hour. They now make $20/hour. 

Look, we can argue about the true value of $80/month until we're blue in the face. But I'm more concerned with the opportunity cost --- the great and wonderful things I can do with the time and effort saved from cleaning my own house. I'm sure you can too. Plus, this feeds into my fantasy of living in a hotel and having daily room/maid service...

Let me know if you local SLC peeps are interested in this great deal. But be warned, they're booked every last Saturday morning of each month.