Have a cleaner come on the Weds afternoon, and do 2 hours. You'll come home from a week at work and will have a "wow" reaction. Cleaners work really quickly because the stuff isn't theirs, so they don't get sidetracked!! The "finish" they make is amazing too.

Then on a Friday you can do a onceover for the weekend - but it'll be really quick and easy.

Mine is "off" at the moment (sick, but maybe permanently) and we all notice the difference.

Mine was in today and I am a SAHM, I ove Fridays - the house looks reasonable for 1.5 hrs, then ds comes home!

I pay 10 euros per hour, and I'm near Brussels so quite expensive.

god if my hours go up I will be getting a cleaner ASAP (3.5 days, one kid at school)
I HATE cleaning - why on earth wouldn't I pay someone else to do it?

OP, you've got entirely the wrong idea about cleaners.

The whole point is that you walk into your house and it is gleaming like a new pin. They do it when you're not there.

We had cleaners for about 10 years but got so fed up with them not turning up, deciding what they would and wouldnt do we gave up and I do it (although I work from home alot so it is easier).

I would suggest that you tell them exactly what you want done, we made a big mistake at first and the cleaner ended up doing what she wanted. I cannot stand making beds so she did that and I left out the clean bed linen, I also wanted the showers done and the bathroom cleaned although they turned up their nose at doing the shower. This was in the days of THEM interviewing you for the job and we also live in an expensive area where cleaners could pick and choose who they worked for! Now I am doing it myself I find I can do loads and loads in 2 hours so dont be shy about putting a list together and seeing what the cleaner says can be done!

15 euro an hour in dublin - guess that is about the equivalent of 13 or 14 sterling. She is worth every cent though!
Absolutely do get one if possible - I am at home but find it difficult to keep on top of other household tasks, laundry,cooking etc without having to do the basic clean also

def get a cleaner. i work from home as a childminder in a small house and hav children in it from 7am to 6pm five days a week. even though on 4 mornings i have 2.5hrs without anyone here, i have so many other things to do that something had to give!

so now with a cleaner, i am less irritable and more likely to get my paperwork up to date and less likely to scream at husband for breathing on the weekends.

Well I'm sold... I thought a cleaner would be a lot more expensive than £8-£10 per hour. I can imagine the sheer joy of coming home to a sparkling clean house... just do it girl!!!!

Get one. You deserve one.

ok, alice, that's interesting. thing is, it is a large kitchen/ breakfast room and shower is large cubicle with lots of tiles glass so takes a while...