Tell me about your cleaner please

[champagneplanet]

Going to be working an extra day in the week next year as I did reduced hours after Mat Leave. Will have some spare cash and thinking of treating myself to a cleaner to do the jobs that won't get done now i'm essentially losing a day at home.

I do have a few questions though as i've never had one before....

What hours does your cleaner do?
How much do you pay?
What do they actually do for you?
Do you clean/tidy before they come?
Are they an individual or come from a cleaning company?

TIA

Highly recommend getting a cleaner! Lifesaver at times for my mental health and marriage!!

Only once per fortnight as the agency is quite expensive but we prefer havjng an agency. They work in pairs and charge for the job, not the time spent. 18 months in and this has worked well as everything is done to good standard. Reckon they stay for around 1.5 to 2 hours.

Clean large kitchen, utility, downstairs loo, three receptions, four bedrooms, hall, landing and stairs.

We tidy the night before so they can get on with cleaning efficiently. I make sure loos are 'mark free' and sinks have no food in them as I don't think cleaners should hav3 to deal with that! They keep us on the straight and narrow and I appreciate their hard work a lot.

For us benefit of a company is insurance, reliable, systematic, professional and good standard of clean. You have someone to contact if there are any issues. Expensive at £60 though. Am willing to pay more as they seem more ethical than some and pay decent rates to staff, have holiday and sickness pay which is important to me.

Hth.

We have two who come at the same time for an hour a week so two hours. £25.

They do whatever I need - general clean or depp clean kitchen or ironing etc. They're ace.

What hours does your cleaner do? 3.5 hours
How much do you pay? £12/hr
What do they actually do for you?
Change sheets, Hoover everywhere. Clean bathrooms, tidy everything, do all ironing, clean windows, skirting boards, sterilise kitchen within an inch of its life

Do you clean/tidy before they come? Nope
Are they an individual or come from a cleaning company? Individual. Recommendation.

She’s bloody amazing.

She also puts washing on and hangs it up when it’s done. Everything.

Mine will do whatever I ask for - usually just the basics as our family seem to be able to create a gigantic mess almost immediately they've left. She & helper come twice a week and do the whole house once in that time with the exception of a couple of rooms that aren't used much.

Kitchen - clean / tidy / stack or unload dishwasher depending how far I've got before she comes.

Sweep / hoover floors.

Bathrooms - clean loos / basins / showers

Make beds - change beds if I ask

Tidy as much as poss in kids rooms although DS1 and DD are fond if the floordrobe and leave a mix of clean and dirty clothes which I have told cleaners not to do as I'm fed up with kids being disgusting & taking no responsibility for bringing clothes to laundry or putting away.

Clean available clutter free surfaces.

Put load in washing machine if necessary.

It's expensive but with five people there's a lot to do so it's worth it or I could spend all day every day on this stuff and still never get to the end of it all.

Sorry in total we have 8 hours - 2 hrs twice a week between 2 people. Four beds/ four baths / downstairs loo/ kitchen / playroom/ sitting room / hall. Family of 5 and 2 dogs.

Love our cleaners :).
We have about 4 hours every 2 weeks- local company. We pay £50 a visit.

We make sure the house is tidy for them, but if it's not they tidy (pile things up!) first. They clean/ vacuum all floors, dust and clean surfaces, proper clean of kitchen and bathrooms. They also make the house look good by dressing beds, sofas etc and replacing all ornaments etc properly. This is the only part DH ever notices!

Thank you all for your replies. I'm going to seriously look into this. When I was FT pre DC2 I had more time to clean and kind of enjoyed it, but now I don't seem to get a minute or the motivation! I also don't want to spend my evenings/weekends cleaning if I can help it. It'll be a bit of a luxury but worth it I think.

How much do you pay? - £13/hour, and she does 2 hrs weekly
What do they actually do for you? - Changes bedding (one bed each week); bathroom; kitchen; hoovers and dusts; extra jobs if time such as skirting.
Do you clean/tidy before they come? Yes! Didn't use to with previous cleaner but was more of a waste as she would spend time doing things like washing up!
Are they an individual or come from a cleaning company? An agency, who take £4 an hour - she gets £9