Marina has been my housecleaner for years. She and her team of one or two others sweep into my house, clean everything meticulously, and four hours later, my house is ready for me to mess up again!
She does laundry (I am very fussy, and like everything drip-dried, which she does), changes bedding, does all the regular cleaning, wipes down the shelves in the fridge, organizes the cupboards, sweeps the front steps... and even puts away the groceries that I haven't gotten to yet. I travel a lot for business and Marina even often finishes unpacking my suitcase for me.
Marina also cleans the house of two of my friends as well as my mom and sister-in-law. She speaks Spanish, with very little English, which is ideal, because I don't have to worry about her gossiping about what she found under the bed (mine or theirs...). We seem to communicate just fine, between my fractured Spanish and her equally fractured English.
Over all the years, she is the very best housecleaner ever. I have no qualms about her having the key to my house (in fact, she's the only other person who has one), because she has the highest standards of integrity, plus she is a really nice lady, as are the other members of her team (usually comprised of her brother Miguel, sometimes her niece Elizabeth or Maria, sometimes her husband Moses). My mom has had her coming to her house for 16 years now and says Marina is like having Christmas arrive once a week.
My house isn't too big, and I'm not too messy, so I have her come once every two weeks, and pay her $75 for the four hours. My mom has her once a week (her house is much bigger, plus she has a dog who sheds all over the place, along with grandchildren who are always messy). I think my mom pays her $100 every week, which is a bargain given the level of detail and amount of time she and her team spend there.
I love Marina and can't imagine trying to function without her. read more