To ask: if you are a cleaner, what are the things in the house that would make you judge someone?

Out of interest, do corporate cleaners get paid more?

You can guarantee that the managing director isn't going to go around cleaning any skid remnants off the office toilets before the cleaners come; or the cafe owner.

I'm absolutely not saying that you should leave it meefing with clear skiddage visible - as you wouldn't want to live with that between cleaner visits anyway; but surely it's part of the general job - the same as people who work in early years childcare know that changing pooey nappies is a standard duty?

If my car needed new spark plugs or a new exhaust, I wouldn't dream of cleaning up the old ones first to make it a less messy job for the mechanics.

I wonder if there's still an instinctive sense of 'shame' for some people with cleaners, as they see it as 'their job' and feel guilty for not doing it themselves; whereas with a mechanic or boiler service person, you wouldn't dream of doing it yourself - thus you happily hand the entire job over to the professional without a second thought?

Maybe (or not) there's also something in the fact that mechanics and boiler engineers are mostly men; whereas cleaners are mostly women?

Leaving dirty boxers on the floor so you have to put them on the washing bin. Disrespectful. Even more grim when they have skids in them, combined with toilets in a similar state 🤢. Repulsive that grown adults are so gross.

TRIGGER WARNING

I run my own cleaning business part time along with an office job. I see all sorts and in all honestly nothing phases me. Some people clean up a little before I go, others don't but I know all of my clients really well and know what sort of stresses and strains they face.

The one thing I cannot abide, which I have had from previous clients is when they don't clean up after someone has vomited. Years ago, a client asked me to go over an area where her daughter had vomited, I politely refused. More recently I went into a family bathroom, and someone has vomited in the loo, but pretty much missed most of it! I gloved up and cleaned it but completely refuse to do it since. It's a basic thing, you clean it up.
Other than that, I've found dirty knickers, sex toys, and signs of a normal life everywhere but I don't really bat an eyelid. I just put the dirties in the wash and leave the toys where they are.

Overall, you really don't need to clean beforehand, but tidying is a must if you want a clean house. If I have 2 hours, I don't want to spend an hour tidying things away. I used to do a house where they had 3 kids, so that's 3 bedrooms, 2 playrooms and a lounge full of toys, after id picked up loom bands and Hamma beads it didn't leave much time to clean.

Spread beds
Give toilets quick clean

I put stuff away, clear floors and surfaces of paperwork and junk, then she can clean

i wouldn’t leave a giant skid of shit in the loo, but I’m not cleaning it as such.

She empties bins, changes bed, hoovers, dust, mop, windows, ironing.

I love her.

We tidy so she can clean, otherwise she wouldn't have time to do what we most want her to take care of! She has been cleaning for us for 6.5 years and we have an 8 year old and a 6 year old! She knows sometimes it's messier than others 🤷‍♀️.

We tidy so she can clean, otherwise she wouldn't have time to do what we most want her to take care of! She has been cleaning for us for 6.5 years and we have an 8 year old and a 6 year old! She knows sometimes it's messier than others 🤷‍♀️.

Yeah, I don't get this either. Thinking about judging, I retract my comment. My friends never clean the toilet except before they host a party. I do judge. The rest of the house is chaotic and I am OK with that. They are a lovely family and the house has always been a safe harbour for people over the years. It has character and the chaos adds to that but why wouldn't they clean the toilet after going?! I haven't a clue.

When I cleaned a few years ago I remember a few houses for the following reasons (and yes I did judge) :

One left a turkey in their oven from Christmas for me to sort out in January.

One had a downstairs loo that was always absolutely gross. She had small children but was a SAHM.

One was so terrible I just couldn't face going there after 2 visits. She WFH some of the week and he was in the military. Their kitchen was awful, just awful and the most memorable part was the overflowing cat litter trays by the front door

The whole house stank and yet it was a relatively new house.

What do you mean? Are you saying you just use a skiddy toilet all week and leave it for your cleaner to deal with, rather than just clean your own skidmarks as and when they appear? If so, that’s thoroughly disgusting!

Surely skid marks are something you take care of when you use the loo so it’s fit for the next person and not stinking out the house?

Once kids are using the toilet unaccompanied they need to be cleaning up after themselves. And if a dh isn’t housebroken he can use the garden.

This is why I have an anonymous cleaning company with different cleaners. I world hate to have a personal relationship with my cleaner been there done that - disastrous

I am terrible for this, but my cleaner is neighbour and would hate her to gossip with other neighbours.
I tidy, change beds (more so that everything is clean), wipe sinks and toilets, bleach loo I even run the hoover around.

Pre cleaner prep for me is strip beds and leave them clean bedding to put
on / check loos clean / ensure floors clear/ get mugs and bins out of teen rooms. Bring little bins down. Takes about 30-40
mins to do all this.

I used to be a cleaner - yes the toilet thing!

But my main bugbear was washing up - I had one client and when I went in she would always say leave the washing up and all the baby bottles,,,, how am I supposed to clean the kitchen when the sink and half the worktops are covered in washing up? And they had a dishwasher, i normally emptied the dishwasher filled with pots and washed the remaining. I didn't mind going to clients and there was the morning pots in the sink but when the sink is full of dirty water and pots yesterday its a no, I sliced my finger open at one clients because there were massive knives in the cold dirty water.

I had another client she paid me for 2 hours to clean her kitchen and front room each week, she had 5 kids and there were toys, washing, clutter all over the place, you couldn't see the floor but there would be a weeks worth of washing up on the side. I only went for 3 weeks and then on the 4th week she must have had a party because it was off the scale. I went in, started clearing up and thought sod it. I locked up, posted the key and messaged her to tell her I could not go back it was that bad.

Or, conversely, I see many threads here where people say their cleaner is their best friend / one of the family, which I think is equally weird

My cleaner does a good job, I respect her hard work and treat her well eg paying throughout Covid, when she's on holiday etc

But she's not my friend. It's a professional relationship

I really need a cleaner as work full time and have primary kids that I ferry to clubs 5 days from 7 including weekends. I spend all my spare time tidying but I never get it clean and I have a house needing renovation so even if it's clean it doesn't look it but I always worry a cleaner would judge me too much so never got one. This thread sort of helps as maybe I am worrying too much. The main remaining issue is clutter as we have too much stuff in too small a space. Maybe if I do a big sort (with what time?) then I might go for a cleaner.

Only thing I would judge is not being paid promptly.

I work hard - you pay me.

not here to judge your home.

Minging.

I do practically nothing to prepare (but not in the habit of having a skiddy loo/random sex toys strewn around anyway). My cleaner is a total hero, she cleans once per fortnight but comes twice a week and helps with other chores like folding laundry, hanging washing, tidying the (little) kids' rooms, doing ad hoc stuff like cleaning the extractor fans and washing the patio door windows. I hope she doesn't judge us - maybe she does, I don't care as long as she doesn't leave because I'm not sure how we would survive without her!!

@MounjaroUser

of course it's not. I don't need to clean the toilet 'before the cleaner comes' because it's always clean.

(& I don't have a cleaner)

Honestly some of the people I have worked for had no respect, skids in toilets along with accompanying smells, pubes on the toilet seat, sex toys strewn around, a used condom on the bedside table, dirty washing on the floor, food waste spilling onto the floor, dog pee left for me to clear up with a chair over it and dog poo walked in throughout the house by their child. I leave it just to make a point, no one should be disrespecting a cleaner they are there to clean not to be a slave, hence why I changed companies regularly then started my own business as I was sick of being treated like less of person for being a cleaner.

I've trained my family that we all tidy up on Sunday night because the cleaners are coming the next day. This is apparently a better reason than "because it's your mess and you should tidy it". But it only takes 15 minutes now because they've learnt it's quicker to tidy if everything has a place where it lives.

I want my cleaners to spend their whole time cleaning, not putting my teenagers' clothes away for them.