To please ask…

The idea of paying someone else to come into my house and clean up my mess is just completely weird to me. (Obviously it's different for people who aren't able to do it themselves because of physical or serious time constraints.)

I think, given the size of the average British house, it's ridiculous to have a cleaner if you're able bodied. It also sends a poor message to children "a woman will come into our home to clean up after you."

I can think of lots of better ways to spend the money. And I don't like the thought of someone poking around my home.

I’m put off by the quality of cleaning I’ve seen in other people’s homes and it seems lazy for the size of my property.

We've had cleaners for several years but recently decided that for the quality of the clean they do it was just not worth it anymore. We've used a few different locally recommended cleaners and just not found one who is reliable and works to a good standard.

I'd love to hire an excellent cleaner and if I hear a personal recommendation for one I'd jump at the chance of hiring them.

My hourly rate is less than a cleaner, I can do it myself and I'm also very fussy.

I like my privacy, I used to hate the cleaner coming round when I was a kid.

I have had a cleaner for years, but am about to cut down because I have more time now I WFH and my DC are older. I don't really want to spend money on something I can now fit in myself. I also find it quite intrusive her coming every week. When DH and I both worked full time and commuted and the DC were little , there was a lot I would have given up ahead of the cleaner, but life is different now.

Once my DH based himself at home we stopped having a cleaner. DH hated having someone around and felt it constricted his movements (if he made a coffee he offered her one, if he was making a call he didn't want to be noisy etc.), I told him to not be so sensitive but to no avail.
As it was his choice he now does all the cleaning, which I feel awkward about but it's only fair I think.

I can afford a cleaner but I think why would I pay for a stranger to come into my house and do something I do for nowt.

If you find things overwhelming it took me a long time to realise that just because I didn't have time to do everything doesn't mean I didn't have time to do something so I initially started setting timers for 15-20 minutes to see what I could get done and giving myself permission to stop when the timer went off regardless of where I was in the process.

Once I'd given myself permission to stop it took so much pressure off because instead of thinking "I need an hour to clean the kitchen but I've only got 20 minutes so there's no point even starting" I reframed it to "I have 20 minutes so I'll see what I can get done because that means I have less to do later" then 20 mins later I'd often be surprised at just how much I'd managed to get done.

Sometimes I'd be done before the timer went off because I'd been building up how long something was going to take and actually it was really straightforward once I actually did it; sometimes the timer would go off and I decided to finish off as it was only going to take a few more minutes to complete everything and sometimes I would be nowhere near done but because I allowed myself to drop everything and walk away it gave me the space to go away and do something else before coming back to continue when I was ready to do so.

Tbh you just need to find a system that works for you - A room a day works for me because we have a small, tidy flat with less rooms than there are days in the week, there's only a max of two people living here and DD is old enough to pitch in to keep it clean and tidy so it's not all on me. Also because I've had this system in place for years the daily upkeep is minimal so it really does only take 20 mins a day.

My sister on the other hand has DH and 3 young kids (all with very busy evening/weekend schedules) and pets in a 5 bed three floor townhouse. The room a day system wouldn't work for her as there's more rooms than days in the week and the kids are too young to really help so she has a different system so the kitchen/bathroom are kept clean and the laundry is done on a schedule but all of the other rooms just get cleaned/tidied as and when she or her DH has spare time/feel like it.

Because there are 4 people living in this house and everyone pitches in. So it doesn't take long at all.

This is my situation as well except I only ever had one bathroom

I've always had a cleaner. I cut mine down to fortnightly as I clean as I go along and realised there wasn't enough for her to do weekly. I'm considering letting her go tbh as she always leaves early (from my ring doorbell as she cleans when I'm at work).

Some of my friends have their cleaners iron for them, but I prefer to do my own laundry and ironing. My house is very uncluttered so relatively easy to clean.

I can afford one but I’m perfectly capable of keeping my house clean myself, and there’s plenty of things I’d rather spend the money on 🤷🏻‍♀️

I know I would clean before a cleaner arrived so it would just make it a regular chore for me when at the moment, I do the housework sporadically during the week. I would like to have a cleaner do a deep clean for me a couple of times a year, to do the stuff I don’t do regularly (cleaning windows / moving furniture to vacuum behind it / woodwork throughout the house etc)

My husband and I can afford a cleaner, but unless we needed one because of physical disability, we'd never have one. We both enjoy keeping our house clean, and neither of us want someone we don't know in our home unless necessary.

Because I don't need a cleaner. Cleaning is easy and a relatively small task. I need a professional tidier, but that's not a job so.... 😅

We used to. We found that the charge was increasing whilst the quality of the clean decreased. We used a local company, supposed to be the same cleaner each time - it wasn't. They were due to start at 12, would rock up at 11:30 and be gone by 1, still charging for 2 hours though. I do a better job of it so cleaner is no more. I clean when I feel like it and can either do a quick whip around or a deeper clean....

I enjoy the process of tidying before our cleaner comes on Friday morning. It means there's never more than a weeks worth of 'stuff' lying about and my two boys always knew that they had to tidy up on Thursday evenings.

Someone saying it costs them much less than they earn per hour - that’s a consideration for me too. For me I’d probably be paying someone the same as I earn per hour and that’s when I wonder is it worth it.

We don’t have one because I only work part time and it would feel a bit ridiculous to have one even though I am not interested in cleaning whatsoever.

Also because we are so messy that having to tidy for the cleaner would be traumatic.

We have a lovely lady who's been with us for years, I'd sell a kidney before letting her go. She is brilliant and we treat her like family. Our house is fairly tidy but I do run round making sure she can clean. She's our house fairy and we love her!

I have had a cleaner. I loved my cleaner, who turned up when I was at work, so I came home to a lovely house, but since hybrid working, I hate being home when the cleaner is here.

I have replaced her with an IRobot mop and vacuum, and reduced the number of bathrooms