Shit, I've only gone and won!

[TheOriginalMrsBagwell]

I've won a car and house clean through a local magazine
I've been a bit slack on the old housework front since lockdown (actually, who am I kidding, since 2010 when DS1 was born). What are they likely to do, hoover and dust, or deep clean with windows and oven etc? (hope so!).
Am now bricking claiming the prize as both are in such a state. Do I now spend a week panicking and cleaning the shit tip that is my house and midden that is the car, or do I brazen it out and let them crack on and see how they get on? Why, Oh why couldn't it have been a holiday?

Congratulations! What a fab prize. I would just bleach the toilets and empty the bins then let them crack on.

Wow!!! Congratulations!! Just lie back with your feet up and enjoy your prize!

Get rid of all the rubbish and personal items out of your car but don't clean it, however bad you think it is they'll have seen worse (own a car valeting business)

House, again just tidy so surfaces are clear, or at the very least put a box in each room that bits and pieces can be put in. Don't clean.

Guaranteed, they will have seen worse, their job is cleaning! So long as they can actually get to everywhere to clean just leave it...I am very envious, I treat myself to a full house clean twice a year and it's amazing!

Will they go in drawers? under beds? (Christ!), I've three DS and they are not great, under the bunk bed probably has it's own ecosystem (I do make them muck it out every few weeks but they are a bit feral).

Congratulations ! I wouldn't worry about cleaning before they come - it's not like you have cleaners regularly so they won't know you and they won't care . They'll just do the job they've been contracted to do. Just relax and let it happen .

Tidy clutter away so they can actually clean.

I'm a cleaner and my clients tidy before I come but I do the actual cleaning. A deep clean (which I assume you have won) would be :

Dust surfaces
Mop floors
Vacuum all rooms and stairs, landing etc
Windows and sills
Dado/picture rails
Picture frames
Skirting boards
Clean kitchen including wiping down doors and front of oven/fridge
Bathrooms - full clean Inc shower screens cleaned and polished

If you have stacks of paperwork or piles of clutter, just get it moved so that the cleaner can get to work.

Could be a nice way to get some stuff sorted if you're that way inclined.

Take the prize and enjoy!

@lanbro I'm not sure you will have. It's full of sand, sausage roll crumbs, mud and the sills are growing vegetation...

@TheOriginalMrsBagwell

Will they go in drawers? under beds? (Christ!), I've three DS and they are not great, under the bunk bed probably has it's own ecosystem (I do make them muck it out every few weeks but they are a bit feral).

No, they absolutely won't go in drawers or under beds or open cupboards.

@GreenHairThingy It's god timing actually as the kids go back on Monday and I was intending a bit of a sort out once they are out of the way.

good lol, though God may have something to do with it.

@TheOriginalMrsBagwell believe me, I've seen worse, including bodily fluids, vomit and used sanpro🤮

Well done! What an amazing prize!!

Haha! Divine intervention

@lanbro, that's made me feel a bit better! I used to clean University accommodation as a student for conference guests to use in the holidays. I once opened drawer of a bedside cabinet to discover it was full of ancient sick! At least we are not that bad!

Congratulations!

Although I read I've won a car and house and got a little prematurely overexcited for you before I got to the word 'clean' but I'd probably concentrate on removal of any rubbish and decluttering, so the cleaners can be as effective as possible at cleaning.

Our house was quite bad having being well overdue a deep clean on a similar time to your 2010 timescale but we had a really good go at dust and grime removal at the start of lockdown last year, and it was nowhere near as hard as I'd feared, so I'm sure you don't need to pre-clean for your cleaners.

There's probably some small print about what the prize actually entails, so have a look at that. The cleaners will probably be quite pleased that their work makes a real difference and they're not just cleaning somewhere that's barely dirty for once.

I love cleaning other people's houses but I have ADHD and struggle to keep my own house to the same standards. Other people's houses are so much easier because I don't get distracted by "oh I should really sort that pile of unopened bills" leading to "I best do a quick budget" leading to "oh I feel a bit overwhelmed" which results in my house in chaos!

I love cleaning so other people's houses give me that chance to enjoy something without the stress I get from having to do my own place.

@BarbaraofSeville that would be an amazing prize, the car is on its last legs (wheels). But I'm happy with a clean!

Aww fab Op you've just made me laugh! I'd bloody love my house to have a good clean and I'd be exactly the same, dying with shame! Will you update us on how it goes?

And just enjoy it! Feet up - or day out and let 'em get on with it!

@TheOriginalMrsBagwell

Congratulations to you on your prizes

I would just empty all the bins,sort out which is for and not recycling etc..

Just open the windows to freshen up windows.

Just check that the professional cleaner have easier access to clean all the rooms,such as sorting out a bit/some of the clutter if there is any of this?

That's it !

As a former professional cleaner in a very popular budget hotel,

(we have seen all sorts, we are not easily shocked an are open minded ,we had to be.

I got to say you made me laugh earlier,
when you said your sons beds /or in their bedroom its like ecosystem of its own there.

Reminded me of watching David Bellamy as a kid in 1980s watching his wildlife /conservation tv shows.

Anyone rember him?
he was well known as eccentric kind of a person,
He got into trouble with BBC for being controversial about his views on the causes of climate change issue

Oops ment to say open up the windows of the rooms before they come to freshen up all the rooms up in your house.

surely that is a holiday - you can't go on a real holiday till after May 17th apparently so it will be fine

@giletrouge sure will, I'm quite excited now.

Congratulations 🎉 Enjoy and don't worry about the mess.

@RB68 Not quite the sun, sea and sangria experience though! I'm thrilled after having thought about it.

Tidy up so they can get to everything. Seriously, every single thing that is on a surface or on the floor, pick it up and put it on a bed. The cleaners then clean. You then sort all the shit out and tidy it back into cleaned cupboards etc, then all you have to do is change your beds and you're done. And you absolutely will do the tidy and sort because otherwise you won't be able to go to bed. Trust me. Game changing.