Who Provides the Cleaning Supplies – Me or the Maid?

The Ask a House Cleaner Show and Podcast with Angela Brown

Who provides the supplies when I hire a maid? Does the maid bring a vacuum or use mine? Does the maid use my mop? Does she bring cleaning chemicals? Who provides the supplies? Am I supposed to have some cleaning detergents and solutions of my own? Who provides the supplies that are non-toxic and environmentally friendly? Is that something I've got to pay more for? Today on Ask a House Cleaner we discuss preferences from a professional house cleaner. What they have to learn in-house cleaners training. Tips about toxic vs. green cleaning. And the reasons why they restock their supplies over using yours.

Who provides the cleaning supplies when I hire a maid? Does the maid bring a vacuum or use mine? Does the maid use my mop and does she bring cleaning chemicals?

Who provides the cleaning supplies? Am I supposed to have some cleaning detergents and solutions of my own?

Who provides the cleaning supplies that are non-toxic and environmentally friendly? Is that something I’ve got to pay more for?

Today on Ask a House Cleaner we discuss preferences from a professional house cleaner.

What they have to learn in-house cleaners training. Tips about toxic vs. green cleaning. And the reasons why they restock their supplies over using yours.

Listen: Who Provides the Cleaning Supplies?

Watch: Who Provides the Cleaning Supplies?

Hey there, I’m Angela Brown, and this is Ask a House Cleaner. This is a show where you get to ask a house cleaning question, and I get to help you find an answer.

Question: Who Provides the Cleaning Supplies?

Today’s question comes from a homeowner. They ask, “I’m going to hire a maid service. But I’m curious, who provides the cleaning supplies? Me or the Maid? And do they use my vacuum or theirs?

Answer: The House Cleaner Provides the Cleaning Supplies

Alright, that is a great question. And it’s a question everyone hiring a house cleaner has.

So, the answer is yes. If you have a vacuum and a mop that you’re willing to keep at your house, let them use that. That would be my recommendation.

This is the reasoning behind this. Say that your house cleaner just came from another house.

That last house had dog hair and cat hair and all kinds of dirt and debris. Even if they’re rolling that vacuum around it’s picking up dust and germs. Now they’re bringing those inside your house. Even if they emptied that vacuum between that house and this house.

Vacuums Are Hard to Sanitize

So, it’s kind of hard to sanitize vacuums unless they’re carrying two or three with them. And they empty those out and pull all the hair out of the bristles and all that stuff every night.

So, if you have your own vacuum, it would be a great idea to let your house cleaner use it.

Do You Have a Good Vacuum?

You might even ask them, “Is there a particular type of a vacuum that you think I should have?” Because if you have an old 15-year-old vacuum, it might not be the best one to use.

Nobody wants to use that old heavy clunky vacuum. So you may want to upgrade and get something that they recommend.

For a couple hundred dollars, you can have a vacuum that you can use between cleanings. And it’s the same vacuum that your professional house cleaner uses when she comes to clean your house. So everyone wins.

Cleaning Supplies Are a Different Story

There are a lot of people that buy all the hype of advertising. And so, as you watch these commercials on TV, you see how amazing some of these cleaning chemicals work. Then you see that they are available on your grocery store shelves.

And if you yourself are doing the cleaning, you can buy whatever cleaning supplies you want.

Who Provides the Cleaning Supplies?

My suggestion would be to let the house cleaner bring the products that they want. They are the professional that you’re going to hire to come into your house. Let them bring with them whatever they prefer to use.

Don’t even bring it up unless you have a specific reason.

Don’t give them stuff and say, “Oh, hey, I heard that this new chemical works well. Can you use it in my house?” Please don’t do that.

Stay Away From Providing Cleaning Supplies

The house cleaners are professionals that have gone through training. They spend all day, every day cleaning. They clean granite, wood, travertine, and Onyx. Also brass, copper, ceramic tile, and fiberglass. And plastic, wood, wicker, and a whole bunch of different surfaces.

They know exactly what chemical they are going to be able to use on your different surfaces in your house. And so, when you come up and you say “oh, well, I found this thing because of an advertisement on TV.”

You’re throwing them a monkey wrench where now they have a new chemical that they haven’t used. And they have no idea how it’s going to respond to your request.

And they might not use it right because they’re not trained in that particular new chemical. Then they damage the furniture or flooring or whatever it is that they are cleaning. And then now somebody has to pay for that repair.

The Truth About Non-Toxic Green Cleaning Solutions

There are many homeowners that say that their house cleaners don’t use “green” products. But they would like them to only use non-toxic products in their homes.

For the most part, professional house cleaners use non-toxic, environmentally friendly, green cleaning products.

Here’s the reason why.

They’re around chemicals all day every day. Day in, day out, month in, month out, year in, year out.

They’re not going to use chemicals that make their eyes water. They don’t want to use products that will make them sneeze, and give them allergies.

So most of them have switched to environmentally friendly, green-cleaning type products.

The Exception to the Rule

The exception to that rule might be if you have a nasty shower that has all kinds of gunk and film and bacteria in it.

They might have to use something toxic to clear that out.

And then once they clear that out they can go back to the non-toxic stuff.

So if you have a toxic environment, they might have to use something toxic. This will counterbalance to clean all the gunk out.

House Cleaners Do an Inventory of Supplies

House Cleaners do inventory every night. Every night they’re going to restock all their supplies.

You as the homeowner might say “Well there’s this much left in a bottle. That’s enough to clean my whole house.” If is not enough, your professional house cleaner comes to your house and they’re out of supplies. They’re not going to be able to do their job.

So the house cleaners are not going to be happy, and you are not going to be happy. So, don’t put yourself in that situation.

It Is a Better Deal to Let Them Bring Their Own

House cleaners might charge you an extra $5 per cleaning for cleaning supplies. Take the deal. It’s a heck of a deal.

Cleaning supplies are expensive at the grocery store. If somebody’s willing to add that to the price of your cleaning, take the deal.

Don’t worry about it. Don’t shop for that stuff. Let your house cleaner bring a full load of supplies every time they come. They know exactly what and how much they need.

Everybody Wins!

And then when they leave, they did their job well. They’re happy, you’re happy, everyone wins!

So do you provide your own supplies? Please don’t. No one wins when you do that.

Alright well, that’s my tip for today. And until we meet again, leave the world a cleaner place then when you found it.

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