We make as much as maids

Tweety, BSN, RN · Jun 7, 2007

ok, mlet me say soemthing here, if one hae student loans to pay d=for and parking and scrubs, that si your choice, no one or a maid made you get into debt, so please stop thisw, are we really talking about salaries for nurses or putting maids down. they desere what tehy ccharge and more, i know i payed one guy 460 for 2 1/2 hours to clean my 3 bathrooms onbly and i have no complains, i make enough as a RN to pay for taht and not have to stress over cleaning, so hurray for hous ekeepers taht make money and do the job good

There are several typos in your post, but please tell me you don't for $460.00 for 2 1/2 work?

(This thread is over two years old)

Tweety, BSN, RN · Jun 7, 2007

Cleaning services here typically pay well by the hour. I paid a housekeeper $35/hour. She came and cleaned for one hour. However, you have to realize they aren't working 40 hours a week nonstop making that money. She brought her own supplies, drove to my house, cleaned and left to her next client. She might have gotten maybe 3 to 4 hours in of paid hours a day, but the driving, gas, supplies cut in on that salary.

A good hardworking housekeeper/cleaner can make some good money working long hard hours. They deserve it for cleaning other peoples toilets.

RNOTODAY, BSN, RN · Jun 8, 2007

Think of it this way. A person can charge $20/hr to clean your house, but shes not going to be there for 8 hours. So, for the most part, its not steady. At least as a nurse, you know you have hours, and can at least count on a shift.

Also, my husband is a mechanic. They work on a flat rate system.. meaning there is a flat price set for any given repair he does. It goes by hours. A brake job, is, lets say 3 hours. So he gets 3 x $29 for that job, even though it takes him about 1.5 hours. Now, conversely, if a job pays 2 hours, and he takes (for whatever reason-- problems, etc) 4 hours, he only gets paid for 2. And, if there is no work, he gets no pay, even though he is physically at work. So in a day he has the potential to make 15 hours(as an example) worth of pay, and only be there for 8, but also the possibility of making 4 hours of pay while putting in 8 hours at work.

So, for me, I would rather take the guaranteed $27 at my reg job, and the $40 at my per diem job!!!!! At least I know I will be paid for the time I am "there".....

SmilingBluEyes · Jun 8, 2007

Gonna HAVE To make a note to discuss this with my spouse. As a cook, chauffeur, maid and personal organizer, wow, am I UNDERPAID rofl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

wincha · Jun 11, 2007

I just have to vent. I have been interviewing for a cleaning woman and would you believe many of them asked for $20/hr!! That's cash by the way! I am so angry that many nurses are making the same hourly salary as a maid and WHY WHY WHY are more nurses not angry about thier pay? I am furious that so many non degreed positions make the same or more than we do. Why haven't nurses stood for their rights??? I am new but I would love to bring nursing salaries to the negotiating tables. I am so angry.

I make 30 plus an hour and yes cleaning people make over $20 an hour or more if you use a professional service. Is it right NO? However, thats the going rate at least where I live.

IShallWearPurple · Jun 11, 2007

As a student nurse, I have worked as a housekeeper for a few clients, and I made 20 dollars per hour cash all the while. Each of these clients had previously employed someone for the same job at a much lower rate, but had been dissatisfied with the service. They heard about me via word-of-mouth and were happy to pay my rate for quality, dependable, friendly, and professional service.

I live in a college-town, and I often see ads for housecleaners that demand the cleaner have their own vehicle, provide high-quality, detail oriented work, and even provide childcare or cooking services along with cleaning. The wages offered in these ads is often between 9 and 12 dollars per hour. I just laugh a little to myself each time I read these, as I have a strong feeling that the people posting such ads will likely get just what they're willing to pay for...substandard, unprofessional work for substandard pay.

Often folks think their own (and their husband's and kids') time is too precious to do housework, so they hire someone to take out the trash, clean the bathrooms, scrub the kitchen floor etc. That's fine, each to their own priorities. Please, please, please, however... if you don't wish to pay the wage requested by the cleaner you are interviewing, just politely decline the service. Becoming angry that a cleaning professional would value their OWN time and quality of work enough to have set a living wage rate is just rude and entitled behavior. I would redirect commentary critical of 20/hr as too high a wage to previous comments regarding taxes, lack of benefits, unpredictable hours, and vehicle/supply costs. Let's harness our anger to pressure our institutions who choose to promote pay scales that are bad for nursing.

I am taking a big pay cut to become a CNA for the remainder of my time in nursing school because frankly, housecleaning makes me INSANE, and I cannot handle the repetition one more day.

I would love to hear about more ways I can get involved with advocating for fair nursing wages. Any good threads on nursing activism about this?

ChristyMNOP · Jun 11, 2007

I made more money waiting tables and bartending in a fine dining restaurant 10 years ago, then I do nursing. I feel like waiting tables and nursing are very much alike now also! HOWEVER, the patients lives weren't in my hands, their drinks were.

I read on another board that I visit that a waiter at a fine dining restaurant in a mid-sized city could make upwards of 5,000 a month. I just think that is sick money, my husband said he would dance on a pole for that kind of money, lol.