AIBU or is my cleaner?

[Phosphene]

We employed a wonderful cleaner for our 5 five bedroom house for five hours a week. She found a FT job before Christmas with her Economics degree and since then we have a new cleaner.
We paid our old cleaner £10 per hour, we are in Surrey/London border, so not Central London and £10 is maximum cleaners get paid around here. We found a new good cleaner, she charges £12.50 per hour, which is fine but the amount of cleaning products she goes through is ridiculous. It costs me nearly £100 a week now to have her. I talked to her about it but she doesn't want to change it. Do you think she is U or am I?

[Crinkle77]

I think that perhaps you should tell her what jobs you want doing then provide the equipment. If she uses dusters make sure they are cleaned and dried for her next visit so you don't need to buy new. Don't be afraid to tell her tell her that she needs to be sparing. After all you are the employer.

[QuickLookBusy]

I can understand why she uses 2 bottles of bleach and a bottle of viakil with 4 bathrooms. But not the dusters etc.

Just tell her from now on you will buy X amount (which you feel comfortable with) and it has to last her the the week/two weeks.

[Phosphene]

Thanks for all your replies. I guess I need to talk to her. It is very difficult to find a good cleaner in my area, hence why I would like to keep her.

[chickydoo]

We pay ours £8.00 per hour
3 fantastic people come & do an amazing job. 6 hours a fortnight.
So as there are 3 of them they are only here for 2 hrs.
They bring all their own stuff, they think my own brand stuff is crap.
We are Surrey/London boarder

[PatriciaHolm]

Your house sounds a similar size to ours; our cleaner does 8 hours a week (inc. some ironing) and uses nothing like that. You don't need new dusters every week. Her "cleaning" approach seems to be cover everything with spray/bleach/vim etc and call it cleaning! I think you need to have words....

[MousyMouse]

sounds like a ridiculous amount of cleaning stuff.
I would expect my cleaner to use for a house that big:

• a bottle (probably less) all purpose cleaner
  
• a bottle wc cleaner
  
• half a bottle of anti limescale stuff
  

a dozen or so j-cloths (can be washed)

[Icelollycraving]

Are the dusters sprinkling gold fairy dust?

[Yfronts]

I recon you are supplying her cleaning fluid and cloths for the whole week. Do you see the empty bottles and thrown away clothes?

Tell her you want to wash and reuse the clothes. Please put them in the washing pile after.

Tell her you will only spend 5 pounds a week on cleaning items and she can list 5 pounds worth of Salisburys basics items.

Or decanter the amount she can have each clean into a container and refill after she has gone.

[ShesAStar]

Sorry, coating toilets

[ShesAStar]

I run a cleaning company in central London and your cleaner must be toilets, sinks etc. with bleech and leaving them to do the work for her. She should use a tenth of the product and do some actual scrubbing.
It is your house and since you buy the product (we supply our own and if anyone was getting though that much we would have to say either stop or it will come out of your salary)and if you say use less then she must use less.
It's your money!

[GhoulWithADragonTattoo]

£37 quids worth of stuff?

As NaanBread says I would just leave her a bottle of multipurpose cleaner and one bottle of polish and let her ask if she needs anything else.

[Viviennemary]

New dusters every week!! That's madness. So she buys the stuff and you pay. Unless she is some kind of superwoman I'd be looking for somebody else. From what others are saying her hourly rates are expensive but all the cleaning materials on top. No. But it's difficult to know what to do next. But something will have to be done about her.

[Phosphene]

We have five large bedrooms, three reception rooms and four bathrooms plus loo. We have lots of antiques, so get special cleaning products for those too. Just realised that they are quite pricey. Never realised how much it was but just checked on Ocado.

[GirlOutNumbered]

You are being ripped off.
I can't believe she writes a list and you go out and buy it!
New dusters every week. Ridiculous...
Seriously, get a new cleaner.

[Yfronts]

All those awful chemicals! Just buy everything from the basics brand and then it will be much cheaper.

[INeverSaidThat]

I always bulk buy my cleaning products. I would never buy anything 'full' price and if a store has a great deal on something I will buy lots of it. OP should consider doing this as she is spending nearly 2k a year on cleaning products.

TBH I wonder how much we use. Our house is a similar size and my cleaner keeps it lovely and clean. . I think I better check.

[squeakytoy]

Wow, you really are being mugged off!! I work for my friends cleaning company sometimes. She charges around £12 an hour (london/surrey) but that includes all cleaning products too.

[HecateWhoopass]

No you don't need new dusters every week.

Where are the old ones?

Where are the empty containers?

do you see all that?

[OhThisIsJustGrape]

I clean my 5 bed, 4 bathroom house from top to bottom every week and I spend nowhere near that amount on cleaning products.

And I get through a lot of products - bleach (a bottle every time I clean the bathrooms), glass cleaner every fortnight, kitchen cleaner every week, a pack of washing up sponges, flash wipes, bathroom cleaner every fortnight, can of polish per month, bottle of Flash liquid every 2 weeks and copious amounts of kitchen towel.

I still don't spend £35/week

She's taking the piss OP.

[MerryMingeWhingesAgain]

You are being a mug, sorry. I haven't bought dusters for years. And they do go in the washing machine.

But not with the towels, unless you want dingy yellow towels.

[Phosphene]

Hi,
She writes a list every week with dusters (yes we need new dusters every week! ), sponges, glass cleaner, dettol etc.

[schoolchauffeur]

Can't understand this at all- all the cleaning products I own don't cost £35! My cleaner comes once every 2 weeks so the other week I clean myself and I still don't think I would spend £35 a month on cleaning products and thats for a 4 bed, 2 bathroom, plus loo.
Cleaner charges £15 an hour which includes all products ( including specialist Karndean floor cleaner which she buys as several of her clients have Karndean floors).
Time for a "chat" or a new cleaner

[INeverSaidThat]

OP's weekly shopping delivery

[LindaMcCartneySausage]

Please excuse typos and auto correct. Was going to say that our cleaner instigated this system and apart from going through a colossal number of paper towels, I doubt she spends more than £5 a week on average. Sometimes it's £10 worth of bleach and Viakal, other weeks it's just £12 an hour (central London)

[LindaMcCartneySausage]

Does she give you a lust if products that she's bought and the receipts. Our (fabulous) cleaner dies this. She likes to buy her own stuff, which she then leaves behind in our home.