What does a cleaner do?

[Journobourno]

Hello, going back to work soon after maternity leave and we have decided to get a cleaner as we work long hours. But I’m wondering what cleaners do exactly? I spoke to one who said they do everything except the oven and the outside of the windows. But do they do all this automatically? Or do you usually request stuff, eg dust the shelves or clean the fridge?

What does your cleaner do if you don’t leave instructions? And do you usually leave instructions?

Mine dusts throughout, vacuums throughout, mops hard floors, cleans bathroom and kitchen including any dishes that are left. That takes 2 hours. I'll occasionally ask her to clean the microwave or fridge but she doesnt do it as standard. She would do more but would take longer so cost me more.

If I forget to leave instructions mine will wipe the kitchen surfaces, do a general dust / polish (thought not particularly thorough imo), give the bathroom a basic clean, hoover the house and mop the ground floor. I tend to leave instructions though. I do a general clean my house every morning and that already covers the things they will do if I haven't left instructions, so I don't see the point in paying them for that. Instead I get them to do deep clean sort of tasks so I don't have to - scrub all the bathroom tiles, clean the inside of the windows, clean the fridge or oven (mine don't mind doing the oven), move furniture out and hoover underneath, clean the blinds etc.

Mine hoovers, tidies round,cleans under sofa cushions loads dishwasher, hangs up washing, changes a bed or two, cleans bathrooms and kitchen, sweeps and mops floor and generally keeps me from the edge of insanity.

She comes once a week for 3 hours. Every now and again she cleans windows, ovens or fridge..

I'm so grateful for her. She takes everything in her stride and she's worth every penny (and no you can't have her she's mine)

I don't leave instructions.

She vacuums, mops floors, cleans one bathroom, wipes surfaces in kitchen & loads/unloads dishwasher, tidies up (I have two toddlers, there's always toys/stuff everywhere when she arrives), changes sheets on 3 beds, puts wash on, folds all the washing I've accumulated on the couch for the week & puts it away and then generally does one other thing e.g. last week she cleaned out cupboards in kitchen, week before was stove.

She's there for 3 hours.

It completely saves my sanity.

Different cleaners will do different things. My cleaners normal routine is all kitchen surfaces/cooker/sink/kitchen floor, mop all through downstairs, dust round, downstairs loo, stairs and landing, hoover bedrooms, clean main bathroom, clean en suite. She usually has 30 minutes left and then does something on a rota like inside of windows, skirting boards, high dusting and so on.

Currently we have another 3 hours a week which she does mainly tidying/organisation and deep cleaning things - so the fridge, oven, kitchen cupboards get done at intervals. She changes the beds, puts a load onto wash and if we have guests coming then she'll sort out the spare rooms too. She's an absolute star, and has been with us for 9 years now

Thanks all. This is really helpful!