I am a single mom and I tried this past year to take up a hobby that would be just for me when my daughter spent the night at her dad's house. I took up a little bit of marimba and loved it. The problem is that I can't afford it right now. I am working lots of hours including that one night a week and I can't seem to stay afloat. The group lesson costs $12 a week + renting the instrument is $40/month. I told the instructor I would need to take a hiatus and he was cool with it. I said I was hoping to come back late winter or spring when I, hopefully, will have more time and money. He did mention that he is open to bartering and one thing he could use was housecleaning (i.e., clean the floors and kitchen). I said I could do that. The question I have is: How much is housecleaning time worth compared to the $12/group lesson and $40/monthly rental? How many hours would be reasonable to work in exchange for lessons? I am a hard worker and willing to do anything as long as I have time. I had originally offered to do some sewing or cooking, but he said he didn't need that right now.
Just be very careful that this guy is not trying to be a creepo and get you in his house for something else! If you feel comfortable with him and don't think he a creep go ahead. BUT BE CAREFUL!!
I would trade two hours of housecleaning a week for the lessons and the rental. But that's in my area, house cleaners in your area might charge more per hour, and you also have to take into consideration the type of work he wants done. Floors? Dusting? Dishes? Laundry?
I work 1 1/2 hours in exchange for a 1 hour lesson that is $12.50 per hour. So, I average $8.33 per hour. It isn't really equitable for you to do an hour for an hour. He is doing you the favor, he should come out ahead.
Any hours I work that are over the amount of class charges the kids have is applied to the store in the studio where I do my work for clothing credit, that adds up where I can get costumes and other things like shoes for less than full price and sometimes a trade off.
Many people do this and it is always in good taste to let the person who is offering their services/talents for trade to come out ahead, way ahead. They are losing money for giving this slot to someone who is not paying them. It is nice to have a clean house or to have some other nice thing but they need to pay the bills too.
What a great opportunity! I would keep things equal and assume your housekeeping would cost $12/hr. Would you be going to clean once a week? If so, I'd tell him you can clean for 1 1/2 hours a week. That should be about equal with the rental fee and all.
I have 2 friends that are house cleaners, and they charge $25/hr, with a $50 minimum cos it's not worth their time to go anywhere for less than 2 hrs. Saying that, they bring all their own supplies and have been doing it professionally for several years. I would say that $15/hr might be more fair for this exchange, so why not suggest that, and see if he thinks that's fair too. If you need to equal $52 a month, that's 3.5 hrs of cleaning per month. (3.5 x 15 is $52.50). Consider that if is expecting you to do it for less, $10 or $12 an hr, you're going to need to find up to 5 hrs a month plus travel time, and you probably don't have a lot of free time, so at some point, it won't work for you, so you can point this out to him. I think it was nice of him to offer you a way to continue your lessons, he must appreciate you as a student. Many teachers would have said, fine, come back when you can afford it. Just remember that your time has value too, and he's going to get a clean house!
Also how much do marimba's cost? Perhaps you could let any friends/ relatives who usually give Xmas and birthday gifts know how much you are enjoying your hobby, but that the monthly rent is expensive and you are trying to save up to buy your own. If I was your relative, I'd certainly love to contribute to such a worthwhile gift.
I'd figure about $15/hour for the housecleaning. So if you go to weekly lessons the total for that is $48 a month plus the $40 equipment rental. That's about $90 per month. That would equal out to about six hours of housecleaning a month. Perhaps you do cleaning twice a month for three hours each time?
I'd take another angle & look into maybe taking some lessons at a college w/ a good college student. When I was in school (granted I was a voice major) they had instruments on hand for the students to practice on, you probably wouldn't be able to be there without the student/teacher but you could probably get lessons much cheaper! & not have to rent an instrument!!! AND probably 1 on 1 lessons to boot! I'd check out the bulletin boards around the music dept of a school near you or post something on facebook/craigslist, or you can call the percussion staff for names of students willing/able to teach Good Luck!!!
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