Is A Housecleaning Service Worth It?

Is A Housecleaning Service Worth It?

Savings On House Cleaning Service

Between work, kids, and your personal life, it’s easy to let the cleaning slip in your home.

There is, of course, a hundred more important things to do.

But eventually we all need a clean home.

Not just for sanitary reasons, but to maintain our actual sanity.

A few weeks ago we showed you 3 Ways to Save on a Housecleaning Service in the Westcoast Families blog.

It showed you that hiring housecleaning help isn’t just for the rich and famous.

In case you missed it, here are the 3 tips we highlighted:

1) Reduce the Scope

By reducing the scope you shorten the service time, you can lessening the price of your cleaning while still feeling like you got your money’s worth and savings on house cleaning.

Our suggestion, just have your bathrooms and kitchens cleaned. They’re the hardest areas of your home to clean and just getting those done will be a big weight lifted off your shoulders.

2) Share the Load

Reducing the scope also allows you to show your kids the value of maintaining a home.

Depending on their age you can have them dusting, sweeping, vacuuming, and wiping of counters.

3) Reduce the Frequency

Your situation will dictate what you can get away with, but not everyone needs a frequent weekly service.

Even having some help just once a month can be a huge help, with you just having to do a little maintenance to keep your home respectable.

Is housecleaning for you?

But the big question you may still be wondering is: “Is it really worth it for me to hire a housecleaning service?”

The truth is, it really depends.

If you have just enough money to get by every month, we definitely would not recommend getting a housecleaning service.

Food, housing, and other essentials are obviously more important.

However, if you can comfortably fit it in your budget, a housecleaning service is not just a treat, but something that gives you more time to enjoy the other things you really want to do – and definitely something you should consider.

Maybe Money CAN Buy You Happiness

In fact, according to a recent study spearheaded by UBC and the Harvard Business School, after surveying more than 6000 adults in Europe, Canada, and the US; scientists found that people were happier after spending money on a time-saving service than they were when they spent money on material things.

In essence, it’s suggesting that using money to buy free time is linked to greater life satisfaction.

Says Ashley Whillans, assistant professor at Harvard Business School and the study’s lead author:

“People who hire a housecleaner or pay the kid next door to mow the lawn might feel like they’re being lazy. But our results suggest that buying time has similar benefits for happiness as having more money.”

In other words, spending your money on services like housecleaning and savings on house cleaning services or lawn mowing actually makes you feel happier, as though you’ve improved your quality of life, more than new designer shoes or a brand new car would.

Experiences Are The New Thing

Thanks to a more environmentally conscious population and the rise in popularity of decluttering heroes like Marie Kondo, people are buying fewer material things and choosing to have experiences instead.

Based on the numbers from the US Bureau of Economic Analysis, people are shifting their preferences from material goods to experiences when it comes to where they direct their personal consumption expenditures (aka their money).

Source: McKinsey & Company

That means people are choosing to spend more of their income on experiences (restaurants, travel, & services) rather than material goods (clothes, cars, watches).

Some refer to this as the rise of the “Experience Economy”.

Or as Marie Kondo would say, things that give you that “SPARK.”

Is this growth due to the popularity of Instagram and other social media?

It’s quite possible as the new social currency is in what people see you doing or talking about online more than what you’re wearing or driving.

Housecleaning fits into this category because that feeling of coming home to a perfectly cleaned home like a huge weight is lifted off your shoulders, especially after a long day at work or just as you get back from a vacation.

Add the fact that it takes a chore off your to-do list and frees up your time for other more productive or fun things, and it’s like you’re getting a 2-for-1 on your happiness goals.

About the “Guilt Factor”

What also came up in the money-happiness study?

That people who did have the discretionary income to afford time-saving services still did not take advantage of them.

The reason is still not clear but according to Elizabeth Dunn, UBC psychology professor:

“People may feel like I can do this so I should do this, and so I hope our research helps to break through that perhaps misguided cultural assumption.”

Personally, I think with people’s lives becoming busier than ever, it’s inevitable that time-saving services like housecleaning, food delivery, and grocery shopping become more and more mainstream.

It’s just a smart, strategic move to outsource some of the simple yet time-consuming tasks in order to buy yourself more time for the important things in your life.

Just like how getting into a stranger’s car is now normalized with Uber or how people’s view of online dating has shifted, I think there is a future where we have other people take care of services in and around our homes.

And now that we’re gathering evidence that these time-saving services and things like savings on house cleaning actually make us happier, it’s just a no-brainer.

Some people will adopt early and take advantage before the mainstream catches on, but the future of time-saving services is coming.

If you want to see for yourself how a housecleaning service can change your life, feel free to get in touch.

You can contact us at 1-877-313-4820 or email hi@scrubbi.com and say you’re looking for a quote OR you can get a cleaning quote on our homepage.

You can decide from there if it’s right for you.

With all the things going on in your life, the relief you’ll get from the extra help will feel much more valuable.

We look forward to hearing from you.