'Clean your own house'

I also buy second hand clothes and don't have a cleaner (nor do I know anyone who does).

Having just had my mind blown by the amounts some people are paying to watch TV on another thread, I'd agree that there's a much broader range here than people might think.

Op I don't read the threads you read clearly

All I see is people saying "get a cleaner" as though that was easy and cheap

See I buy all my clothes second hand or from supermarket but don’t know a single person who employs a cleaner!

I guess we run in certain circles in our lives; similar financial circumstances and therefore this is how we think life is. When you get a mixing pot on MN then you can’t necessarily understand the otherwise because you don’t experience it for yourself.

When I told my mum we were getting a cleaner, she was so shocked and appalled she said she would come and clean our house herself.😏

It does doesn't it. Is there a problem with that? The OP said 'everyone she knows has a cleaner' I said 'I don't know anyone who has a cleaner' Was I not allowed to make that comment without several posters jumping down my throat and reading more into the comment than what I said?

Yup, its not valued is it? Not when we do it for free, not when we make careers out of it.

How can that possibly be benefits fraud?

What the hell do you mean by your remark?

@EmilyPlay

No I don't care what you spend your money on. I'm just saying that in my world having a cleaner is not the norm. It's only on MN that I see having a cleaner is the normal thing to do.
I don't know anyone who only buys their clothes second hand or from supermarkets yet on MN it seems half the people do.

Nor do I know anyone who is on UC

It just goes to show MN is not populated by a single demographic

No it means I don't know anyone who has a cleaner.

I would never say clean your own home it's none of my business .
but you can't compare hiring a cleaner to hiring a plumber or plasterer and far from everyone having a cleaner most people I know don't have one they couldn't afford it.

Does this mean it's a horrendous concept that other people do?

I dream about being able to afford a housekeeper for like half a day every day . Not just a cleaner but someone who will do laundry , dishes and tiddies up daily ! So no criticism from me . If you can afford it and makes your life easier have one .

really ? That’s odd

alright for some. Isn't that benefits fraud?

Yes inevitably someone will say do it yourself but not most. I think develop a thicker skin.

Well the cleaner isn’t with us full time you know, day-to-day everyone is still expected to be tidy and put things in the bin, put their toys away etc. We still have to empty the dishwasher, sort laundry and so on - it’s not like the entire domestic load has vanished.

It just lessens the burden.

I’m not failing to teach my children a life lesson by having a cleaner come and help a few hours a week FGS

I would love a cleaner, but it doesn't make sense in our situation.

We live in a smallish end of terrace and have 3 kids under 4.

Things get dirty/messy all the time. The cleaner would literally have to be here all day long.

I have a cleaner because we both work full time and commute and I did not want to spend my weekends or downtime cleaning when I could spend it with my family, my cleaner does more in two hours than I would in six and means if I don't have time to do the floors, vacuum clean the job and do the toilets, I know they have been done at least once a week

Perhaps I frequent different threads but “get a cleaner” is the No1 bit of advice, followed by “Hello Fresh/Gousto twice a week”, meal planning, and batching cooking, for busy parents.

We have a cleaner and it doesn’t save us any time because we weren’t doing any cleaning before . Pros: clean house, tidy house from frantic tidying before she comes. Cons: frantic tidying, cost, also the only day we could get was the day I have off with DS so I can’t bum around at home with him while she’s there, then he undoes all her good work immediately

@RegretMisery

just personally don't understand how you can not want to clean you own home. For me, my home is a point of pride for me.

As mine is a point of pride and pleasure for me, too.

I just feel no inclination to actually do it myself and am confident that our 'Treasure' does a consistently much better job than I ever would. I'm please to have all the benefits of a clean and shining house to come home to without any of the effort required.

Horses for courses.

Bit of a leap @LovelyTheresa. Nobody cares whether you have a cleaner or not.

You sound very defensive OP, why is that? I don’t know anyone who has a cleaner. Not my friends, none of my relatives, none of my DH’s family. I have not spoken to a single person in real life who has one.

That doesn’t mean I look down on those who do, I’d LOVE for someone to come round and deep clean my house from top to bottom but I can’t afford it. I once paid for someone to clean my oven and it was heaven.

But you’re wrong that everyone has a cleaner. Thats not a snobby attitude, it’s the truth. In this country, more people don’t have cleaners than do. You’re very fortunate to have support.

I use a huge amount of my pip for a housekeeper as I have autism and adhd. It’s literally transformed my life but I do get a lot of comments about it . I get no comments at all about having a gardener but that’s because I also have a physical issue and people accept I can’t do gardening due to that but struggle with the concept of me needing a housekeeper

Well, maybe (almost certainly) I also have lower standards than you 😁

I also (and this will sound awful, but hey) think that cleaning up after oneself is a good life lesson. True, right now I'm basically modelling "Mummy cleans up after you and sometimes you help", but I still think that's better than "A lady comes in and does it for us" - especially if that's actually "You classmate's mum comes in and does it for us" (I've known this to happen!).

And yes, we could all argue about why it's OK for other things to be outsourced, but we all draw the line somewhere and have different priorities.

The cleaner does:

• some element of tidying
• deep clean of kitchen and bathrooms
• Hoovering whole house
• Mopping of floors (all downstairs)
• sweeping of back and front garden
• bins
• dusting
• laundry - ironing and folding
• other ad hoc stuff as needed - cleaning fridge, oven etc

I find that quite time consuming on top of working full time + commuting + young family.