Do you have a cleaner?

We have a cleaner. I started a degree and use some of the student loan. It buys me time which is in very short supply! It also ensured that we all tidy up in prep for the cleaner. The kids won't tidy their rooms if I ask but have to if the cleaner is coming! It stops an enormous amount of resentment building up in our marriage as our cleaning priorities are very different!

I have a cleaner 8 hours per week. Very grateful for that because I need that. We don’t have clutter so she ends up doing a thorough deep clean of everything, change bedding, bathrooms deep cleaned 2x a week, fridge cleared and wiped weekly, entire place mopped 2x weekly, etc. Kitchen, stove sparkling. I could not manage without her.
i grew up in another country where FT help daily was the normal and so the level of cleanliness of homes were very high.

We squabble a lot less as once a week she comes in and it’s done. We still keep the place tidy and do some ourselves. But we both work full time, have a dog we walk a lot…and I like not spending a couple of ours on the weekend cleaning.

Best money you’ll spend, outside of getting a dishwasher!

They are worth it if you can afford it. We stopped ours when we needed to start paying for tutors. I miss my whole house being clean at the same time!

Same!

Goodness I used to have a cleaner and I’d love one now! Totally worth it!

No we don't. Could easily afford one and we had one for a couple of years when DC were preschoolers and at home a lot (with nanny). It got us into excellent tidying up habits but we hate having someone in our house.

We are minimalists and very organised and tidy so keep on top of the cleaning fairly easily. Love my robot hoover though!

Good cleaners are worth their weight in gold. We have one who is excellent but had to take time to find him. Definitely get one

I know my limits and I can’t cope without a cleaner for more than a few weeks. It’s an essential to me. I’m a single parent with a very busy full time job and I already feel I don’t have the time to look after my health. So without a cleaner I’d have even less!

It’s categorically NOT a waste of money.

When we were still in the U.K., DH and I both worked full time - I was pulling about 60 hours a week at one point.
2 primary school aged DC’s and one toddler at the time.
With school runs, nursery, wrap around childcare, work etc, we simply needed help with the bigger jobs.
I’d sweep the kitchen floor after the DCs had dinner, and keep the bathrooms and kitchen surfaces hygienic, and whip the hoover round the living room….but I had a cleaner come in once a week to do a full vacuum of the whole house and a proper kitchen & bathroom clean. Every couple of months she’d also do a deep oven clean for me.
Just to take the pressure off and be able to spend more time with my DCs, I think it was money well spent! (And I wasn’t in London, but prices in my area were more than reasonable!! Especially considering it only took my cleaner about 90 mins to do a great job!)

I'm a single parent and work 50 hours. I had a cleaner for years and she was worth every penny. Then she retired and after a succession of surface cleans, early finishes, don't do toilets, don't do high dusting, that's for a deep clean, cobwebs still in corners; I gave up. I miss her.

Have had a cleaner for over 30 years ( not the same one )
Don’t enjoy cleaning, and my chargeout rate for the work I do means it makes sense for me to spend the time I would spend cleaning working

Yes - actually a combined horse poo picker and cleaner twice a week. For 13 years I've done it all (with the help of volunteers along the way) but I love what I do now so something had to give. Happy to pay well for taking the burden off me.

Yes

Yes, once a week and I also have a twice monthly gardener. Worth every penny!

The only reason we haven't is because I know id end up cleaning before the cleaner came so would be pointless! If I wasn't like that I'd definitely get one and don't think it's a waste of money if you want one.

I don't have a cleaner, personally, as only have a small house that's quite manageable. My sister is a cleaner and loves her job, she does advise people to avoid companies though and go for the local cleaner usually recommended via word of mouth. Companies charge more, you never know who's in your house and they don't get paid enough to care to do a proper job and she hears a lot of horror stories! One of her clients had previously used a company that brought their own hoover, cleaning products etc and she ended up with fleas in her house! Via the hoover as had been used previously in a house with dogs! (And this family didn't have ANY pets!)

A good cleaner is definitely worth it but only time will tell on this one. Our first cleaner was amazing, she did everything thoroughly and the house always felt clean. When she changed jobs we started with a different company. They focused more on folding the end of the toilet paper and having a bowl of hot water and zoflora so it smelt nice. Once a few days had past it was clear the cleaner just hadn’t done the basics like the floors and wiped the paintwork, over a few weeks it looked grim even after she’d been. We got rid of the her after this and just did it ourselves, finances were a bit tight anyway and we just weren’t getting value for money.

Yes. Just once a fortnight but it means we do very little. They do the bathroom and kitchen thoroughly plus all floors and surfaces.

It means we keep on top of mess, have a full tidy the night before she comes and just do little bits and pieces in between visits.

Best £35 I spend per fortnight.

I resisted for years but then I got one - life changing. Do it.

Those with a good cleaner, how did you find one? I have tried to get one a couple of times but they are either fully booked or don't turn up. It is very frustrating!

I'm a single professional woman and I have a male cleaner through a cleaning agency. He's great. It's the first time I've had a clean and tidy house for quite a long time. The bathroom is spotless after he's been as is the kitchen. I hate bathroom cleaning. It's worth that alone.

Yes, I have a wonderful cleaner 4 hours a week, she also changes all the beds. It is worth every penny,

If you can afford it, do it! The house cleanliness is a huge stress, at least for me.