Hi! Welcome back to Dallas Maids’ of Frisco blog! Have you ever wondered what the difference is between a maid, a housekeeper and a cleaning lady? This question is much more common than you think, especially online!
It’s probably because potential customers do not want to be rude or use a term that is not accurate.
Or, it could be because they want to know the exact description that matches the type of cleaning service they need.
Do you want to learn the difference between each occupation? Keep reading our article!
Before we start, remember to check our main page. Dallas Maids of Frisco offers top-notch cleaning service in Frisco and Dallas. We’d be happy to help you take care of your home!
What is a Maid? Is it Worth Hiring a Maid in Frisco, TX?
Maid is a general term that describes house cleaners. In the past, a maid was often a person that works solely for a single household. Nowadays this is extremely uncommon, except in very wealthy families.
Maids are typically employed by hospitality services such as hotels and inns. They are in charge of every day cleaning and tidying, which usually involves vacuuming and mopping floors, dusting, making beds and sanitizing the bathroom, the kitchen and other common areas.
Some people see maid as an old-fashioned term that resembles “the help” or “helper” which we know is derogatory. However, we cannot deny the fact that the term “maid” is still used frequently and it’s clear there is no negative intentions from their users.
Nowadays, the term is used frequently as a synonym for a housekeeper or house cleaner, or even cleaning lady. As a cleaning company, we often use all terms related to cleaning as frequently as possible (e.g., House Cleaning, Maid, Cleaning Lady, Housekeeper, Cleaning Service…), because we understand that people use many different terms for the same purpose (in our case, finding a professional cleaning service in Frisco).
What is a Housekeeper? Is It Worth Hiring a Housekeeper in Frisco, TX?
A housekeeper is in charge of tidying up a home, which can be much more than just cleaning. They are usually more involved in the daily routine of a household. And their tasks can include some of the following:
- Overall cleaning, wiping and sanitizing surfaces.
- Vacuuming and mopping floors.
- Doing the dishes (washing, drying and putting away).
- Doing laundry (washing, drying, folding and storing back into place).
- Throwing out the garbage.
- Restocking toiletries and other personal care products.
- Making beds and changing bed linens.
- Organizing, decluttering and picking up items off the floor.
- Replacing light bulbs and other light maintenance tasks.
As you can see, housekeepers are so much more than cleaners. They are prepared to help you with everyday tasks and some of them are live-in housekeepers, which can help with even more duties and arrangements. Some of them include caring for children, cooking and running errands.
You’ve probably noticed by now that live-in housekeepers sound similar to the original definition of a “maid”. This is why it’s hard to point out significant differences, as they perform many similar cleaning tasks.
Many people use the term ‘housekeeper’ as an employee that works on a more permanent basis inside a household or business. They are often involved with management and logistics (running errands, grocery shopping, taking kids to school and back, even managing budgets and accepting packages).
If the house is especially large, they might even have staff, which are often called ‘maids’ to differentiate their occupation from housekeepers. Again, this is not a common job description, except for large houses and/or wealthy families.
If you have a big family and you need someone to help you run your house with tasks that are beyond cleaning, you might want to consider a live-in housekeeper.
What is a Cleaning Lady? Is It Worth Hiring a Cleaning Lady in Frisco, TX?
Out of the three terms, this one is one of the hardest to define.
The term ‘cleaning lady’ is used often to describe someone that arrives, cleans the house, and leaves. They do not stay in your home or visit recurringly, but more in a sporadic way. A more neutral term would be “cleaner”.
Most cleaning ladies are independent housekeepers, they work on their own terms, and schedules and they often give you a bill to be paid promptly.
Funny enough, many people think of this term the opposite way around: a permanent household or business staff with recurring cleaning tasks, often receiving instructions from someone in a management position (housekeeper).
Others will agree that a cleaning lady often specializes in cleaning services such as deep-cleaning carpets or windows.
As you can see, this term is broad and could involve many different schedules and cleaning tasks. Hiring a cleaning lady in Frisco, TX is certainly worth it! Just make sure to check their services or contact them first to ensure they are able to deliver whatever you need for your household.
Related: How to Hire House Cleaning Professionals
What Is the Difference Between a Maid, a Housekeeper and a Cleaning Lady?
Now that we’ve talked about the differences between each occupation, you will realize they share a lot in common. Cleaning services are versatile and adapt to your needs as long as they have the knowledge and equipment to do so.
Most people use these three terms loosely, but others do prefer to stick to the original definitions based on the small differences that we commented on above.
If you want to stay “true” to the nature of each term, you can use “maid” for permanent cleaning roles in a single household or business, “housekeeper” for everyday cleaning tasks and “cleaning lady” for specialized cleaning tasks. As you can see, some of the descriptions are in fact, conflicting.
Keep in mind that the term that you have in mind will not necessarily match the term used by a cleaning service, so pay attention closely to their cleaning services to see if they are the right match for you.
For example, they might name themselves a ‘housekeeper’ but perform duties that are more aligned with what you would call a ‘cleaning lady’.
In any case, it’s always a good idea to contact them first or read their FAQ if they have any.
Advice for House Cleaners: Call Yourself What Others Call You
There are many exceptional cleaning services in Frisco. If you are a house cleaner, you need to make sure you are going to reach as many people as possible!
A common mistake from professional cleaners is to use confusing or “sophisticated” titles such as cleaning specialist or domestic services technician. While this is a nice detail to differentiate yourself and your brand, titles can be confusing.
If you use these very specific job titles, people won’t hire you because they won’t even know what you do. Therefore, you need to make sure people know that your job is to clean houses.
Whether you use a website, a phone number, a business card, social media, or even by word of mouth, make sure to call yourself the way other people are calling you.
Nowadays, there are strategies to detect the most common keywords people use to find a concept, a product or a service. If you have noticed the most frequent search term for your job is, for example, “house cleaning service in Frisco” then you need to match that description to gain more customers. You can use Google Trends, Ahrefs and Moz among many others.
If you see that 8 out of 10 people will describe your work as a house cleaner, then use that as your title. The same goes for being called a housekeeper, a maid or a cleaning lady.
As we discussed earlier, you do have small differences between each term. But, in reality, you know that most people will use it interchangeably.
Related: 7 Things Your Housekeeper Wont Tell You
Conclusion
We hope this article helped you learn some of the differences between these terms! If you are still uncertain about which term you should use, keep in mind that either housekeeper or house cleaner are the most neutral and generic terms.
Here’s a final tip: there’s nothing more personal than calling someone by their name! If you hire the same house cleaner on a consistent basis, it is highly likely that, while still remaining professional, you will build a friendly bond with them.
Last but not least, all of the terms we mentioned (house cleaner, housekeeper, maid, cleaning lady) are not inherently disrespectful. There is no need to worry about feeling out of line, as all those terms are respectful as long as you use them in a respectful context and tone. And, when in doubt, always ask first!
As always, we are always happy to invite you to visit our main page in case you need a cleaning service in Frisco, TX.
We will be back with more cleaning articles! In the meantime, don’t forget to check our blog for more cleaning tips.
Until next time!