Little rant & please tell me what does your DH think of your cleaner?

[LoveMyGirls]

I have a little cleaning rant and just need to get this off my chest.......

Before I start, I am a childminder and am working from 7.20am to 6.15ish 5 days a week with 2 of our own children.

This morning my dp said to me I don't know why we have a cleaner because we tidy before she comes anyway.........yes but we don't clean do we because that's what the cleaner does isn't it and if she tidied she wouldn't know where everything went so we'd end up with piles of stuff and I'd be paying extra for her to put our stuff in piles and then we'd still have to put it away.

Honestly, am I wrong?

He then said well we still clean too, yes we do still have to do some cleaning but obviously not as much as we would if we didn't have her.......head brick wall arggh men!

Our cleaner comes on a thu am every other week so the night before we all spend half an hour or so tidying our things away so that she can actually clean the surfaces/ floors she also does things I don't have time to get round to doing like skirting boards, doors, hoovering the stairs, properly cleaning places I don't have time for etc

I love my cleaner, I don't understand why dp doesn't understand that just because we tidy doesn't mean we don't need her?

I am always tidying/ cleaning as I go along so it's heaven that just twice a month I can walk in and the house is immaculate, I know that by the time he gets home from work it's not so immaculate so that's probably why he doesn't get it I suppose. I do try to keep it nice so he gets that ah the house has just been cleaned feel but he walks in at 5.30ish just as I'm feeding 5/6 children and so theres washing up/ food on the floor again.

[mummypig]

My dp doesn't get the tidying before the cleaner comes either. he will leave washing up on Thu am saying 'oh the cleaner can do it' whereas I prefer to have stuff like that done as far as possible so she can spend the time really cleaning. And similarly, he will come in hours after she's left and see stuff all over the floor and think she hasn't done a good job. Whereas she is actually a very good cleaner and similarly to you it's that the kids have messed stuff up/I've been cooking/we've had tea in the meantime.

[ABetaDad]

We used to tidy up before our cleaner came. So she could get on with cleaning as mummypig says. Now we have no cleaner as we both work at home and just do it as we go along and it seems no harder to do so maybe your DP has a bit of a point there LoveMyGirls.

Oddly, we are packing our house up for moving at the moment - even though we have paid a team of men to pack the entire house for us tomorrow. Now that really is silly.

Our only pathetic excuse is we are throwing things out and making the house orderly before the men come to pack so it is easier to unpack when we get to the new one.

[LoveMyGirls]

Well the big tidy is about to commence, I'm exhausted already, been on the go since 6.30am but I know once I've tidied the cleaner can actually clean so I guess I just need to get on with it because tomorrow it will be worth it!

ABetaDad - I do try to tidy and clean up as we go but it's impossible because, today I've had 6 children aged from 16mths to 10yrs and they can make mess much faster than I can tidy it and even if I did it wouldn't be fair on them as I'd then be too busy to sort the next activity/ change nappies/ prepare meals/ take photos/ deal with tantrums etc

I have a couple of times a day when I will try to quickly sort enough of the mess so I can make the next meal/ they don't trip over etc

Heres what's left...

big box of craft stuff on the side that I need to try and cram back in the cupboard.
bits of playdough on the floor.
crayons and bits of paper on the side
a stack of stuff we borrowed from the library on the side
clean washing on the floor by the tumble dryer
shoes on the floor
a bag of stuff I'd emptied out of my car
loads of paperwork/ books/ bills etc by the pc.
dishwasher needs emptying and filling
scales & tins from when we did baking yesterday
other random bits and bobs (balls, pieces to games, camara, hairbrush) which need picking up and putting in their rightful places.

Can you honestly say you could do it all as you went along with 6 dc's in the house? It's not fair on them if all I do is try and clean around them plus there's no point because as I said they can trash it much quicker than I can right it.

I quite like my sanity, I need a clean house to run my business and I'm already working long hours as it is, plus we're getting married in 6 weeks so I do have other stuff to do besides cleaning.

[raindroprhyme]

I think it is amazing you only have your cleaner twice a month. When i worked as a child minding assistant we would spend an hour everyday at the end of the working day cleaning the childminding rooms.
i know my boss uesed to then spend an hour doing all teh household stuff as her husband worked away mon to fri.
She eventually got a cleaner in twice a week to deep clean childminding rooms and help with house stuff. She has 3 children of her own plus 8 mindees everyday.

Kids are messy and tidying so the cleaner can clean seems a small ask.
i would give your DP a swift kick up the ass get him to clean after being at work all day. just because you are at home doesn't mean you are not at work.

[HadMyTwo]

I do the tidying before the cleaners come too. I think the main advantage of cleaners is that they do the bathrooms and the kitchens much more thoroughly (i have them comingin weekly).

[Uriel]

In your position, I'd have the cleaner every week!

Can you pay for her through the business?

[ABetaDad]

LoveMyGirls - ah well having 6 DCSa round rather than 2 (as we do) makes a big difference. Plus a wedding. You need a cleaner every week.

[LoveMyGirls]

Thank you

It's all done I love it when it's all done, especially when I haven't had to find time to do it!!

I've aksed if she can come every week, 2 hrs a week, dp said that's not what you said to begin with etc I said well when I took her on I wasn't doing them amount of hours I'm doing now (currently doing from 7.20am-6.20pm, 5 days) I can't see my hours changing for a while so I think you are all right I do need her more often, she can't fit me in every week yet so we'll see how things are when she can.

I do put the expense of it through the business because without the business I wouldn't need her at all.