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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to NOT want a cleaner?

529 replies

OrkaLiely · 01/03/2012 19:30

it seems to be very common on MN; paying another person to clean your house. Why can't the adults in the house do it between them? And once the kids are old enough to hold a duste,r teach them to help out as well.

I'd hate someone else in our house cleaning up our mess. It sends a bad message to children too. And no-one in this age of dishwashers, washing machines, vacuum cleaners is too busy to do it themselves.

OP posts:
marriedinwhite · 03/03/2012 20:51

Well if English girls would do it, she wouldn't have the job, her family would have less food and she couldn't fund her exams. You said that OP as though I had dragged her personally from Poland to deprive her of being with her child.

Glittertwins · 03/03/2012 20:52

Oh I forgot, we have pensions, we have savings, we overpay the mortgage. Will the cleaner approval committee allow my application?

breatheslowly · 03/03/2012 20:52

A Polish girl lives in poverty in Poland due to 12% unemployment in Poland. Is that better? A Polish girl works in a food processing plant in the UK and sends money home so that you can eat the odd ready meal. A Polish girl works in the hospitality industry in the UK and might serve you a meal or hand over your room key in a hotel in the UK. Are these ok?

No one has force her to come to the UK to clean and domestic cleaning is not the only place that you find migrant workers who are sending money home.

Chubfuddler · 03/03/2012 20:53

Because it's wife work bamboo and we should damn well do it ourselves.

HazleNutt · 03/03/2012 20:53

I spend money on a lot of things I do not desperately need to survive. Like this lovely Gewürztraminer that I'm drinking right now. All this money, in principle, could be saved. Again, why is it the cleaner expense that should go?

Glittertwins · 03/03/2012 20:53

My cleaner is English, no children.

theinets · 03/03/2012 20:54

You should take pride in your home and clean it yourself -people are admitting that cleaner don't do as good a job as they could do themselves. Its a point of personal pride.

PattiMayor · 03/03/2012 20:55

DamnBamboo - the OP only responds to posts that suit her agenda. Yours doesn't, sorry. Now if you'd talked about your cleaner who'd moved at gunpoint from France, leaving behind some terribly sad guinea pigs in order to clean your house, then I expect you would.

You need more drama

DamnBamboo · 03/03/2012 20:56

Chub haven't read the thread since around p6, is this where it's now going, womens work...

Glittertwins · 03/03/2012 20:56

By your definition I am not house proud then? You don't know me.

AnnieLobeseder · 03/03/2012 20:56

Yup, Orka, marriedinwhite went to Poland, dragged her cleaner back to the UK by her hair and forces her to work against her will. If it wasn't for marriedinwhite, the cleaner would be living a life of wealth and luxury in Poland.

The sheer horror of it all!!

I honestly have been more baffled by this thread and the frankly weird anti-cleaner sentiment than I have been by any other MN thread for a very long time. Why on earth do you care whether anyone else cleans their own house or pays someone else to do it any more than you care what brand of toothpaste they buy?

BlastOff · 03/03/2012 20:56

People are defensive, op, because you are being rather dogmatic and judging them.

If I choose to spend my money on having a cleaner, I fail to see why I shouldn't have one, just because you deem it unnecessary.

Dp and I still have to spend half an hour each evening tidying, cleaning the kitchen etc. and there is laundry etc of course too. My cleaner makes sure all my floors are washed weekly, that the sofas are moved, the oven and fridge is cleaned etc. and if I need to help from her to get those things done I don't feel it's a failing on my behalf. I accept that with two small children for me it's hard to get all those jobs done. So rather than flagellate myself for not doing them, I pay someone to do so.

Seriously. Go and find something else to worry about.

CreepyWeeBrackets · 03/03/2012 20:57

I probably could do a better job theinets but that is just one reason.

Can't say I waste money though. No car, new clothes for three years (Mum Uniform) small television, still waiting for free goat never go out as nobody will have DS, no holidays as he won't travel and be away from his familiar things.

I don't really know what else people spend or waste money on to be honest. Sky packages, gym membership, magazines and Starbucks are always mentioned in articles and I wouldn't spend on them if I had Samantha Cameron's bank balance. Some people do, fine, just not me I hasten to add.

I do use the internet connection we have for the DC and have the odd glass of wine though.

Will drink to my seal of approval Wine

blushingcrow · 03/03/2012 20:57

I don't recall anyone on this thread saying it's womans work Confused

HazleNutt · 03/03/2012 20:57

no, my cleaner does a far better job than I would. I'm taking a pride in my home and have it professionally cleaned. I don't make my own clothes either even though I take pride in my appearance.

Chubfuddler · 03/03/2012 20:58

My cleaner is much much better at housework than me and I take personal pride in earning the money to pay her.

DamnBamboo · 03/03/2012 20:58

No such drama here for me I'm afraid.

I just want some help cleaning my house and am prepared to pay to do it.

trixymalixy · 03/03/2012 20:59

Breatheslowly, we are the same. Having a cleaner makes us tidy at least once a week. We're not naturally tidy people.

When I was made redundant, the cleaner was the luxury we were most loathe to get rid of because the house would end up a complete pit otherwise and also we were very aware that it is the cleaner's livelihood.

marriedinwhite · 03/03/2012 21:00

My cleaner does every bit as good a job as I can do. Personal pride has nothing to do with it; it's about personal preference and deciding what matters most to the person making choices. Further up the thread there was a list of services some of us buy:

Car cleaning
Car repairs
decorating
oven cleaning
hairdressing
gardening
carpentry
ironing
personal trainer
personal tutors

It's a matter of choice and the OP has not yet explained to me why I should do my own cleaning. I don't have to, I don't want to and it frankly is not something I should have the justify but many of us have tried to explain why and those explanations have not been accepted.

Alibabaandthe40nappies · 03/03/2012 21:01

My cleaner does a much better job than I do, and I take pride in my home, that is why I employ her.

There is nothing about cleaning your own home that makes you a better person, nothing.

AnnieLobeseder · 03/03/2012 21:01

theinets Sat 03-Mar-12 20:54:04
You should take pride in your home and clean it yourself -people are admitting that cleaner don't do as good a job as they could do themselves. Its a point of personal pride.

But WHY? Why on earth is being 'houseproud' important and why do I need to do it myself? As long as my bog is clean enough that we don't contract a horrible infection from it I'm happy. And if people who come to my house are so shallow that they judge me as a person based on how spotless my house is, frankly they can piss right off and my life will be better without them!!

PattiMayor · 03/03/2012 21:02

It was me who brought up the fact that cleaning is wifework. I can't think of any other reason why outsourcing cleaning is worse than outsourcing any other task.

breatheslowly · 03/03/2012 21:03

I'm with Hazle. I am not sure about the concept of pride in your home anyway. I want my home to be clean as otherwise we would get mice and catch things and people wouldn't want to come in. I don't think that I would describe that as having "pride in my home". I am proud of my DD, my DH and the rest of my family as they are all lovely and add something wonderful to my life. My house is just bricks and carpets and stuff, it is comfortable to live in, but pride sounds a bit odd to me.

Chubfuddler · 03/03/2012 21:03

The quote of theinet's re personal pride sounds suspiciously like advocating wife work to me.

CreepyWeeBrackets · 03/03/2012 21:03

When I was younger and able to work I used to think it was mad that the women who had cleaners would panic about having to go home and tidy up before the cleaner came but it's perfectly sensible. If it's tidy - more cleaning gets done.

We have four sets of bedding and DS often messes them. I sometimes fret that the same set is back on as was on the week before and she'll think I haven't changed them so have been known to change day-old bedding Blush