How much to give a housemate for cleaning?

jennikitten

I'm thinking of getting in a cleaner, and considering offering my (unemployed) housemate/tenant first refusal. She's good at cleaning and she could use the money. I'm getting really stressed out with the amount of stuff in my life right now, so I think this could be a good solution.

It would involve:

- doing the washing up (mainly created by her anyway as I'm at work all day and often out in the evenings)
- cleaning/dusting/tidying our living room, bathroom, kitchen and conservatory.

We live in a terraced house in the Midlands, and I supply all the cleaning stuff. Obviously she would benefit from the clean house as well, so that's something to consider too. At the moment we have a rota (so she does her fair share of the cleaning anyway), but as I'm also doing other things around the house, working a 40 hour week and doing freelance work on the side it's a bit much for me.

How much should I give her (on a monthly basis)?

HappyMJ

If your housemate is claiming benefits then £5 per week. Anything extra would be deducted from benefits pound for pound. I'd get around that by buying food in or paying for other things to do with the house or by asking for less rent.