Household chores are one of those tasks that never seem to be completed and for many reasons, it is very important to have a home that is clean and hygienic that you can enjoy to the full. If your busy schedule is keeping you from achieving the goal of a clean house, it may be time to evaluate whether you have the available budget to hire a professional cleaning service.
This step-by-step guide will provide you with instructions to create a monthly budget in order to determine whether there is room to provide for the cost to have your home expertly cleaned on a regular basis.
Step 1 – Your Household Budget Spreadsheet
You can either download a printable budget for household expenses, use an Excel budgeting template or you can start from scratch and design your own unique chart that suits your budgeting requirements. Create columns for a description, income, expenditure and subtotals. You may want to categorize your description column further by creating subheadings for different types of expenses. Complete the fields by filling in the specific fixed and non-fixed amounts dedicated to different types of expenditures from your bank statements, receipts and other bills or statements.
Step 2 – Irregular Expenses
Remember to include any expenses that are not monthly on your budget statement. For example, a quarterly insurance premium or annual fees for a subscription or membership can affect how much you can dedicate to household cleaning in the long run. You don’t need to add the full amount but can divide it by how often you need to pay in order to calculate how it will affect you on a monthly basis. Annual payments can be divided by 12, biannual by 6 and quarterly payments by 4. Also keep in mind any incidental expenses such as your car requiring a service. Also include a row for entertainment and include amounts for lunch or your daily stop at your favorite coffee shop as well as any other meals and activities that you may be paying for on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.
Step 3 – Plan Ahead
Make sure that you have some savings set aside for emergencies like a pet illness or your car breaking down. Also plan ahead for expenses such as a vacation that may be coming up in the future. Set goals for saving up for these expenses and add the amount you plan to put away every month to your budget.
Step 4 – Be Flexible
Don’t budget so rigidly that you don’t have any wiggle room to enjoy a night out for friends or take the kids out for ice-cream. Leave some room in your budget to simply enjoy your hard earned money. Keep in mind that the aim of your budget is to determine whether a professional cleaning service is affordable and not to account for every penny that you earn.
Step 5 – Get Quotes
Once your budget is complete, you should be able to accurately determine how much income you have free to spend on a cleaning service. It is recommended to get quotes from at least 3 local residential cleaning service providers in your area to get a better idea of what you are likely to pay. Remember that you can opt to have your home professionally cleaned as often as your budget allows. So if you can’t afford a service every day of the week, opt for every second day or even once a week. Don’t simply go for the lowest quote and compare services as well as cost. Quality and reputation should also be compared when getting quotes.
If your budget simply doesn’t allow for a cleaning service, consider cutting back on some unnecessary expenses if a professional service is a priority. Alternatively, you can make affording a housekeeping service a budgetary or savings goal.
Spotless Cleaning Services has the professionals you need. Talk to our experts today, give us a call!
