Tell me about having a cleaner?

[Branconche]

Have reached a point in my career where I could afford a weekly cleaner. I am tempted to take the plunge, my only opportunity to clean is either post DC bedtime or while I'm on mum duty which isn't always easy.
Sick of smears on the glass doors that I keep meaning to get round to, stains in shower, that sort of thing. I feel like the dishwasher, hoovering and clothes washing are enough to deal with!

Does having a cleaner make you happier? Do you feel you have more free time and less pressure to be on top of everything?

I love getting home after my house has been cleaned. It's like the fairies have been!

It also gives dd a huge incentive to keep her room tidy as I tell her I'm happy to pay to have it cleaned but they're not there to tidy up, so her options are to clear the floor or get out the hoover herself. She has chosen the former for over a year

Made me very unhappy! She never did quite what I asked for, I had to spend every Tuesday night tidying (clothes off the floor that kind of thing) and despite me asking her to only use our products and cloths, I'd come home from work to the house smelling like flowers - she was spraying something on the kitchen worktops to make them shiny.

Made me very anxious. Just as I was trying to work out how to let her go, she resigned to do more hours with an old client.

She was a lovely person and would always want to chat, but I didn't like her cleaning style.

Yes, frees up so much time. We just need to keep on top of the tidying so our cleaner can do her thing. She does the floors, bathrooms, general quick dust, kitchen etc.

We have a large house and our cleaner comes in every other week for 2.5 hours at £15 an hour. Dusts, cleans x3 bathrooms and hoovers and washes all floors downstairs. I LOVE her. I would do without an awful lot before I would give it up. 3 kids under 5 here and one on the way and there is no way I could cope with all the cleaning on top of everything else

I've had a cleaner for decades, I have no issues with employing someone. And it forces you to be tidy so they can do the job that you want.

Well worth the money.

Much happier (and we've ditched the weekly take away to pay for her)

Ours is once a fortnight, I'd love every week.

Motivates us to keep tidy so we spend 20 minutes once a fortnight tidying and changing beds and that's it!

We're having a cleaner weekly while we work full time and it is absolutely brilliant. Yes I am happier not spending much of my free time cleaning. It perhaps helps that I am a complete slattern so anybody else cleaning is an improvement. Realistically if we didn't have a cleaner dh would end up doing most of it, and he'd leave me.

Like a PP I have found that having a cleaner makes my ds much tidier and more organised as well.

It makes us keep the house tidy as that's not what we pay the cleaner for. Realistically I think your own standards are often higher than someone else's so occasionally I'd notice things that have been missed however I'd probably end up sacrificing my hobbies if I had to do my own cleaning so it's definitely worth it to me having a cleaner.

I have had several but gave up. All started off great but then went downhill. Bottom line was not staying for the time I had paid and the standard wasn't what we agreed

I have a cleaner who comes for three hours every week and it’s the best money I spend in terms of my overall mental wellbeing.

Would highly recommend.

Love having a cleaner!

A tip would be to explain clearly what you want them to do/ not do right from the start. So you both have the same expectations. And make sure they have enough time to do the work- our neighbours complained their cleaner didn't do a good enough job cos she didn't clean their 4 bed/ 2 bath to their required standards in the 2 hours they pay for. That is nowhere near long enough to do a proper clean on a house that size!

Love ours! It's two of them who come for an hour a week and they do all the stuff I hate doing and don't get round to, and they rotate so one week they'll do skirting boards, then they'll do doors, kitchen cupboards, etc. as well as all the usual surface cleaning, proper mop of floors, vacuuming, bathroom clean. It's so lovely when they've been and because they come every week we just do normal day to day stuff in between and none of the more annoying jobs!

Really worth the money for us.

Our cleaner is brilliant, couldn't be without her. She comes weekly on a Monday so we all spend 30 mins tidying up on a Sunday evening and I love coming back from work and seeing it all clean.

Absolutely this.
Even better if you find a cleaner who also does laundry and ironing!

If you are not tidy people generally the risk is you have to do a rush tidy up job the night before and you end up with piles / boxes of stuff with no home that you never get round to sorting out.

It does keep the house tidier, but for us it was a fake tidiness because there were boxes of doom lurking in corners.

Ours comes once a week on a Friday. Each Thursday we tidy up and each Friday it's lovely, clean and tidy, nothing to do for the weekend. What's not to love?

It really makes a difference never having more than a weeks worth of 'stuff' lying around too.

I love ours too! Would say it's important to be clear on what you want the cleaner to do & tidy yourself beforehand otherwise they'll spend some of the cleaning time tidying first.

I've yet to find someone who does that - it would be perfect!

I would give up a LOT before giving up our cleaners!

They make us all a lot happier. We keep the house tidy and they keep it clean. I run the robot hoover every morning, sweep kitchen counters with spray every night, and wipe over the loos every few days and that's it.

They also change all our beds which I love so much as it's a job I despise, and empty all bins and put fresh bags in. Worth every penny!