Life

Let The Morning After Maids Clean Up Your Party

by Lily Feinn

There may not be a perfect hangover cure, but two roommates from New Zealand are making the post-party cleanup less of a headache. The Morning After Maids, started by Auckland duo Rebecca Foley and Catherine Ashurst, will put your apartment back together while you guzzle Gatorade in a fetal position. They will even bring you breakfast and puppies. That’s right — puppies. The business is the brainchild of Foley, a financial accountant, who hungover from a night of drinking paid Ashurst to take her turn tidying their apartment. Where most people would accept the head-splitting cleanup as penance for a night of fun and debauchery and part of the cost of entertaining, Foley saw an untapped market. Ashurst, a fire safety consultant, handles all the PR and marketing.

The business may be only a little over a month old, but they have already racked up widespread press coverage and offers to franchise their brilliant idea. They describe themselves on the website as "two simple shore girls that both have a love for animals, cleaning and have been told on many occasions that we are 'special'." They maintain the humble image despite their business going viral and being inundated with calls, telling Mashable Australia, "We are just two girls who just work normal day jobs and go shopping at K-Mart." But I for one would not underestimate the business acumen of these self-proclaimed "domestic goddesses."

Depending on the size of the party, booking fees run from $20 to $80. The cleaning fee is $30 per cleaner, per hour, with additional expenses for distance travelled. Same day booking and garbage removal are additional fees as well. Their pet pooches the "Morning After Mascots" Larry and Patrick come free of charge. According to Mashable's calculations an average party of 50 guests would run approximately $150, which split among a few roommates is totally reasonable.

"It is about making it affordable not just for your average joe, but we wanted uni students to be able to utilize it," Ashurst told Mashable. The ladies will even bring you much needed sustenance and prepare it in your house. The menu on their site describes drool-worthy options ranging from the "clean option" which includes homemade granola or avocado toast on fresh-baked bread at $25 per person, or the "Diiiiiirty option" — bacon, hash browns, and eggs at $20. If you are looking for extra grease to soak up the booze, they will even make a fast food run for you (so you can stay in bed and catch up on some much needed rest).

You may want to make sure you can keep your breakfast sausage down, because cleaning up vomit is an extra $10 charge. This has perhaps acted as a deterrent, as the ladies have yet to mop up any puke since starting the business. "It encourages people to maybe not get so hammered that they are spewing their guts out all over the house," Ashurst said (or perhaps people know to vomit in the toilet, like an adult).

When asked about the worst clean up job to date, the two site an 120 person party hosted by six guys. The cleanup went beyond spilled beer and empty bottles. In true frat fashion there was mud on the floor and walls and cigarette butts strewn about — the deep clean cost a bargain $230 total. While some customers can use the extra time to sleep off last night's shenanigans, this may be the only cleaning service that can restart the party. Ashurst explained to Mashable, "It makes their life easier, it is not just to take the hassle out of cleaning but to make a hungover morning more fun. It turns out to be quite a social event, everyone chimes in and there is good banter going, people play music and everyone starts drinking again."

While some people may be too embarrassed to let strangers to see them in their weakened state, the Morning After Maids are in high demand. Hopefully they will eventually expand to other countries, but probably not in time for your next party.

Images: MorningAfterMaids/Facebook; Pexels