I have a young friend I am trying to help out. I am making her car payments to make sure they get paid on time since I co-signed(never again) then she pays me. $180.00 per month. She is struggling for money as she just had a baby. I want to help help because she has been a life long friend but I am not giving handouts, I want her to learn and earn her way especially now that she has her baby. I have seen much improvement in her arttitude and actions lately. I believe strongly in "I will gladly help you if I see you helping yourself"!!
I have offered to let her work some of the car payment down (not all) by doing some house cleaning for me.
My question is how much should the cleaning be worth in this case? Should she earn by hour or task? I don't want to end up paying 2 hours for a clean bath tub. I want to sit down with her and work out a clean clear cut earning schedule that we are both happy with so that we are in any misunderstandings.
We are in the midwest. Any ideas?
2006-12-09 01:31:28 · 9 answers · asked by Laura G 3 in Social Science ➔ Psychology
It depends on how fast she works. Start her off at minimum wage or near that, maybe 6 dollars an hour. If she works hard and is saving you a LOT of time/effort, raise her pay. Treat it like any other job she might have.
2006-12-09 01:33:21 · answer #1 · answered by AlaskaGirl 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Call a minimum of 3 cleaning services and see what they charge. Pay her the same amount, but keep in mind that a professional cleaning service may charge $30/hr, but you get three people to come clean at the same time, so really each person is worth $10/hr to you.
A better way to do it may be to pay her by the task. This way, there won't be the factor of "well, she's working really slowly" and you won't have to deal with supervising her, which could put added pressure on the friendship. Privately, just estimate how long you think it would take YOU to do each task that you want done, add it up, and then figure $10/hr. Say all the things you want done would take YOU two hours...just give her the list of tasks, and say "I can pay you $20 to do these things, does that work for you?"
On a personal level, you may want to consider having her do these things for you when you're at work. I can imagine that it might be a little uncomfortable for the friendship to have her working cleaning your toilet while you're sitting at the kitchen table having a cup of coffee. On the flip side, if you're there while she's there, you may also feel tempted to help, which defeats the purpose of paying her for her work. While it's important that she be held accountable, try very hard not to turn it into an embarrassing situation if it doesn't have to be. Hopefully, your friendship can survive this and be all the stronger for it.
PS - thank you for helping out a new young mother. Her baby is lucky that his/her mother has a friend like you! :-)
2006-12-09 02:00:51 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
I'm not sure what the pay rates are there in the midwest, but when I hire a cleaning person I am generally giving them $20-25 per hour.
You're right to want to "teach her to fish," rather than just give her handouts -- so don't have any hesitations to "fire" her if the job isn't up to standards. I pay $20-25 per hour because I hate housework and don't have the time, however the standards have to be as good as mine or better (I am not inordinantly fussy).
Who knows? It could possibly be the start of a side business to help her get on her feet. A lot of folks hire cleaning staff these days.
2006-12-09 01:39:34 · answer #3 · answered by Pamela G 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you are the friends you hope you are think this through very carefully because right now you are possibly going to put this friendship to the test. The question you are asking about pay should be discussed between you and your friend. If you take someones advice and price the pay too low you would be saying to the friend that her value as a worker is not very high. To me the best solution is one that the two of you can agree on together. That way each of you knows that you are not trying to take advantage of each other and keep a friendship intact. Money can break up any good relationship so be carefull and good luck.
2006-12-09 01:56:22 · answer #4 · answered by ike11754 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Find the going rate for domestic help in your area. Agree with her the rate is acceptable for her remuneration rate if she does any domestic services for you. Get her to sign a paper outlining chores expected for hours worked and agreeing to your proposal.
You sound like a nice person. I hope you have a signed agreement for the pay back from your friend.
2006-12-09 01:48:54 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think you should pay by task because that way she wont take too long doing one thing like if she spent 3 hours doing one thing then thats not fair to you. So, I would say to pay by task and that way, maybe more stuff will get done.
2006-12-09 01:37:29 · answer #6 · answered by Emmy 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I would call a cleaning service and ask what they charge for certain things and go from there.
2006-12-09 01:41:17 · answer #7 · answered by Faith 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i think u should let her earn by task so she knows how much u want her to work
2006-12-09 01:35:19 · answer #8 · answered by ashley 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
umm.....15dollars/hour
2006-12-09 01:34:32 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋