to think that a SAHP of school aged children really doesn't need a cleaner.

[leeds79]

I know of a few mums at school who have 2/3 dc who are school aged. Neither work but they they still have a cleaner. Obv know its their choice but it does seem crazy to me.

I live in a two bed flat and have a cleaner for 2 hours a week at £10 per hour, so £20 a week.

DP and I share this cost so £10 a week each.

Now obviously many people do not have £10 spare each week.

But to others, this might be more doable than they think.

I absolutely love my cleaner. I deliberately do a wash two days before her shift so I can come home to miraculous, professionally folded laundry. She even folds my pants and bras! I hate to wear them, I just want to look at their folded loveliness forever :)

Gosh, OP, what business is it of yours how other families keep their houses clean? There is no moral superiority in cleaning your own home. Though there might be moral superiority in employing other people when you can afford to do so.

Do they have to need one? I didn't realise that. I thought wanting one, if you can afford it, is good enough.

Maybe, simply, the cleaner is better at cleaning than they are?

I first got a cleaner when I needed to as my hands didn't work, but when I recovered it was clear that I was never going to be able to do as good a job in that limited time, so figured we might as well keep the cleaner and I could do something I was good at for those hours.

I've written a few CVs and job applications for cleaners, and MrNC and I have fixed rather a lot of laptops for them and other people we know. No-one is ever going to ask me to clean for them!

Why not, if you want and can afford it?

I wouldn't in a million years want one, but I can understand why some people do.

leeds79 I'd interested in how you envisaged this thread panning out.

I am a SAHM with a cleaner.

My kids are not yet at school but I'm day-dreaming about the day they start but when they are I'm pretty sure I'll keep on my cleaner as it is the best money I spend all week! I'll spend the time doing some exercise, doing a course of some kind, hopefully finding some work that fits around school hours, playing on MN ...

SAHM here, 2 kids in school, have a cleaner, a gardener and a security guard. I don't have a live-in maid but most of my friends do.

What's your problem?

I don't think it's carzy. I think it's crazy when people dont have a cleaner. Who would clean if they didn't have to?

Hecate - I think you have overlooked the complex relationship between "want" and "need".

I want a cleaner. And a gardener. And a cook. And a part-time nanny. And someone to follow me around doing all the tedious bits of anything I choose to do.

I can't afford these things and therefore I don't need them.

Should we ever win the lottery and be insanely rich, these things will become entirely necessary to my life and I will need them and will be very cross if anyone suggests they are not a genuine need.

I need a cleaner to stop me shoving a mop up DHs arse and telling him to do some fucking housework. Seriously. It has saved his bum virginity.

kungfu. How true.

YABsoU

I love our cleaner. Can only afford 3 hours a week, but means the bathrooms get done, floors get properly mopped, dusting gets done.

She re makes the beds if they are not done to her standards, hangs up and fold washing, finishes off with a bit of ironing if she has time.

Am SAHM to 2 under 2, but even if they were older I'd still get her here. DH does nothing, I mean NOT ONE single thing around the house, so he pays for her most of the time.

You sound jealous. Just as I am of SIL who has housekeeper who comes for 12 hours a day, and a FT nanny. Though would be happy enough with housekeeper nanny who would take the boys whilst I:
Had a shower, nap, haircut, went shopping, had a grown up lunch,got manicure darn. Could never afford it tho.

I am a SAHM and I'm interviewing a cleaner in an hour's time. If she seems ok then I'm hoping she can start today next week.

So shoot me

I can't afford a cleaner but I could afford to pay someone a £1 a day to unload my dishwasher first thing in the morning. It's my most loathsome household task

If they can afford it and don't like cleaning, then why not?

I didn't really envisage how thread would pan out when I posted. I certainly did not want to offend anyone who SAH and has a cleaner. Sorry if it came across that way. It was just something I was pondering after reading other threads previously which supported the view that there is no need to be a SAH once dc is/are at school. Not something I believe in btw.

No-one needs to have a cleaner if they are at home all day - but I know if there was sufficient cash in the pot for me to stay at home (not that I would, but that's another thread) and money left over I'd have a cleaner. Would be lovely - and you're providing employment, so that's good, no?

Even if I wasn't working I'd still have a cleaner . My RA makes hoovering, scrubbing, reaching stuff too high or too low, carrying stuff, making beds, emptying dishwasher etc etc very difficult even on days when most people would look at me and see nothing wrong. I love my cleaner as otherwise my house above & below waist height would be a pig sty

People who have kitchens don't need to go out for dinner.
People who have cars don't need to pay for a car wash.
People who have children don't need to pay babysitters - they should just stay at home (see point 1 above)
People who want to be fit don't need to go to the gym - they should just run outside instead.

Do you really think I'm at home all day watching my cleaning lady mop the floor? I'm out doing more interesting stuff - at home all day indeed

If I had the money I would get a cleaner (work part time) so I could spend my time doing stuff I am good at instead. I actually cannot see dirt and do not care about it enough to do much about it once I do see it. Some people enjoy cleaning, and really do notice what needs doing, I really do not.
I am more than happy to keep on top of the washing and ironing and cook from scratch every day but I simply do not like cleaning as I am not good at it, despite my mother's best efforts to train me otherwise. Do you think some of us just have the cleaning gene. To answer this OP's question, I don't think it is unreasonable at all to employ a cleaner if you don't like doing it/are rubbish at it. If both my kids were at school I would be sent into a blind panic just looking around me and seeing what needed doing. I would stress about what I should do first and get into a right pickle. The one time I did employ a cleaner (flat clean) she clearly loved the job, was very good at it and enjoyed the challenge of sorting the place out. That's just not what I am good at, although I respect people who are.

does that mean i had better make mine redundant then OP? seeing as it is such as crazy thing to do?

Well, I'm a SAHM with a cleaner. Ds is 16.

I hate housework,especially loos, floors and bathrooms. My cleaner is ace.

Furthermore, if I didn't employ her, her income would drop and she would have less money available for her family.

YABU

Of course they don't need a cleaner but they want one. If they can afford one, what's the problem?

I am fat. I don't need a doughnut but I cannot resist buying a Greggs triple chocolate filled doughnut. Why? Because I want to.

If I had enough money I'd hire a butler too .