How much to tip a house cleaner, including at Christmas

This is an odd thing for me to write, since I am the one being tipped. So here is the straight version, and nothing in it is a hint.

The usual numbers

If you tip a regular cleaner at every visit, $10 to $20 is what most people give. After a big one-time job, a deep clean or a move-out, 15 to 20 percent of the bill is common, more if the home was a lot of work. Plenty of people never tip per visit and give something once a year instead, and that is just as normal.

At Christmas

The Emily Post Institute's holiday guide puts it at up to the cost of one regular visit for a cleaner you see through the year, or a small gift, and says that if you already tip every time, a smaller thank-you is fine. The last visit before Christmas is the natural time. In Northwest Indiana that is usually the third week of December, when the schedule is at its busiest.

When it is the owner

Old etiquette said you never tip the owner of a business, because the owner sets the price. Most people now treat that as optional either way. When I clean your home myself, a tip is kind and never expected.

How it works with me

When you pay after a visit, the page offers a few tip amounts in dollars, with nothing chosen for you, and skipping it is a plain option in the same row. Whatever you give goes to the person who cleaned your home and is kept separate from the price. When I hire, cleaners will be paid well above the local rate, so what you pay never quietly depends on a tip.

What helps more than money

Honestly, a Google review that says what you liked, or my name passed to a neighbor. For a small business in Valparaiso those do more than any tip.