How many of you enjoy cleaning your house? I mean really love scrubbing all the dirt and grime that accumulates in places like the bathroom? I know I don’t but it’s something that needs to be done! But these days it’s hard to find the time to really do a super thorough job cleaning the house. What’s a person to do? Hire someone! Do you know there are companies and people out there that make some pretty good money offering their cleaning services to households and companies? They’ll come in and charge you either a set fee per room or an hourly fee to clean up. They can come weekly, monthly, or whenever you think you need an some extra scrubbing.
What’s the point? Why not have the person they hire be you? You can easily build up a small little business for yourself with little start-up costs. For most household jobs you will probably need cleaning supplies
This isn’t a passive income job where you sit at home while you make money. That’s a given. This will take some elbow grease on your part. But you get paid for that elbow grease and you can easily make more than $100 per job depending on the type of work you do. Think about it, one job for a couple of hours or so a weekend can net you $400 more a month.
Start off small by doing some friend’s places. If you do well then there’s a good chance they will hire you again and tell their friends about it. I have a friend who started out working for a cleaning company and now does her own cleaning jobs. She worked on another friend’s place and he was so impressed that he hired her to take clean his mother’s place a few times a month. See, this is the type of job you can easily build up through word of mouth and networking from friends, family, and organizations you may be part of.
Now imagine this: You build up a good number of jobs to do a month. In fact it’s getting tough to keep up with all of them. What’s the next step? Hire someone to help you! Now you are taking something that earned you some extra money and you are turning it into a small business. The sky is the limit as to how far you can take it. Have a friend that lives in an apartment building? Maybe you can talk to the building’s management and do their vacuuming?
Again, this is work. You’ll be scrubbing grimy bathroom tiles and cleaning behind people’s toilets. But you can also make good money doing this. These days people have less time to take care of their homes which leaves you an opportunity to make some extra money!
photo credit: kaiton
{ 24 comments… read them below or add one }
Believe me, I contemplate doing this for extra money all the time. I actually love cleaning.
Thanks for the link.
Too bad you’re not here in NYC! Haha. It can really be an easy way to make some extra bucks.
My wife loves to clean the house (!), and despite us steadily making more money since we first started living together 8 years ago, she refuses to have someone clean for us!
Economically, it makes sense, since each hour we clean is worth around $500. Why not pay someone $15-20/hr instead? She’s a private person and it’s about trust.
Now cleaning someone else’s place, forget about it!
.-= Financial Samurai´s last blog ..Six Figure Incomes & Unemployment – Challenging Reality By Engaging The Community =-.
I hear you. But for many the opportunity cost of doing the cleaning is too great and they would love to hire someone to do their dirty work.
Good tip! There’s actually some decent money in cleaning. My wife and I have contemplated hiring someone to help us out with our cleaning.
Years ago we use to clean offices to help with some supplemental income when I was first trying to build a business.
.-= Jason @ Redeeming Riches´s last blog ..Why You Need a Larger View of Your Money (And So Do I)! =-.
Great to hear other people are doing it! We’ve considered getting someone in to do a big clean once in a while.
Starting a cleaning business is a great idea. I have a few friends that actually started doing this to earn a little pocket cash, but now do it full time. Its great because you can make your own hours for the most part.
There is certainly a market for this if you are willing and able to do the work. It’s all a matter of what your goals and focus are and how valuable your time is to you. It’s not for me though.
.-= Patrick´s last blog ..Best Discount Brokerage Firms =-.
That’s the thing, if you can find out the things that other people don’t want to do then you have a market to build from. Many have a high time premium so it’s worth it to pay someone else to do their cleaning.
I would like if you can get me some customers for star to work clean houses ok, let me know thank you.
I have a friend who recently started cleaning houses. She’s doing so well, she is quitting her full-time job to do this.
She really grew by doing an excellent job and referrals from clients.
There you go! This is certainly something that could prove lucrative.
This is the perfect job for the self-starter. In my town, if you do a half-way decent job at this you can make big money and always have clients.
.-= Phil´s last blog ..A Money Experiment: A Week Without Spending =-.
cleaning houses can be the easiest way to earn money from doing very little, but one thing i’d like to mention is don’t under sell yourself as you’ll be stuck with someone who pays too little and you wont be able to ask to increase to a good level. i find the easiest way is simply go out and knock on doors asking if they need one, worked for me enough that i quickly could hire people to help me out.
Adam, I completely agree with you. Never undercharge. Leave undercharging to other people.
If anything, you should charge fees at the higher end of the scale for your area.
Door knocking is a tough way to build up your business. Congratulations on making that work so well for you.
For those who might find door knocking scary, there are other options for marketing your cleaning business that are easier and can multiply your efforts.
You can make inexpensive door hangers or fliers. Make sure you don’t put theses in mailboxes — those are only for stamped mail. But an attractive flier with an incentive to call you for an appointment can attract many new clients. And you can do door knocking while you’re distributing fliers if you’re not afraid to do so.
Another idea is to do a joint venture (JV) with another (non-competing) business. For example, with JV marketing, all small businesses in your town are potential business partners. Strike up an agreement with the local hardware store that customers who buy at that store get a 5% discount on a specific type of service with you. In exchange, your clients get some sort of a special deal at the hardware store. Sweet! Other people marketing for you, and you’re not there.
I’m a firm believer that even a part-time cleaning business is the answer for many who are now out of work, or who are underemployed (as so many are right now).
People who have homes can be shown that hiring a house cleaner is a smart idea.
This is true if they don’t like to clean and can make money with the time they save by hiring you.
Happy Cleaning!
-Amy
.-= Amy´s last blog ..House Cleaning Cumming Georgia =-.
Besides just making extra money, I have a good friend (and now business partner) who has doubled his business every year and made multiple six figure returns.
Not too shabby for a high school dropout!
Does anyone know if you can just clean houses with out a business license in Illinois.
I can’t say for sure but you should be able to check the state website for what you would need as a small business (my gut tells me you wouldn’t need one but don’t take my word for it).
Hey,
It’s so true that many people think ‘clean houses!?’
I don’t even like cleaning my house.
Well, I did some part-time house cleaning when I was in need of extra income a few years ago. It’s amazing how much easier it is to get out a mop and bucket when you’re getting paid for it.
It’s a dirty job, but someone’s got to get paid for it
.-= Guy G.´s last blog ..Grocery Saving Tips – Tips on Budgeting =-.
This is a great way to make money. I have been doing it for awhile now. I charge $60 a house. Homes take about 3hrs. So that breaks down to $20 an hour. Great for a mom with kids in school.
Still haven’t figured out how to hire someone and make money from it.
Even if I have a helped I would have to work double the amount of houses just to pay them and all the insurance etc.
I have been cleaning a few houses on the side for the last couple of years and have been considering kicking it up a notch and doing some promotion to get more houses. Any recommendations anyone?
katey: whatever you do now to get customers just do more of it and you should get a few more. be prepared to no longer be a cleaner but a business owner if you really want to step it up
This is a great idea! Just one house a week can really help reduce your debt.
Reduce debt, put money towards retirement, build up a side-business into a full-time business…there’s no limit!
{ 3 trackbacks }