Am I the only one who doesn't have a cleaner??

[Hotmad]

At my mum & baby group the other day consisting of new mums only, I found out they all had hired cleaners!! I don't have one as I can't afford to have one. I just said, I live in a pig sty at present :)
I looked up cleaners costs and locally (london) they charge about £12-£15 per hour, Is this a lot do you think? I might pay myself £10 per hour and do it myself!

We dont either. Both work FT and have a 2.2yo. Mind, with another baby on the way we may alter it when Im bacl at work after #2.

I have a couple (as in actually a couple, not a dismissive couple!) who come once a fortnight for an hour. I love them and my only regret is that I can't afford for them to come once a week. I'm a SAHM on a budget. Hate cleaning with a passion and find it very hard to do around toddler DD. It's all I can do to keep the place vaguely tidy.

I'd rather have the £1500 a year (preferably in a lump sum to be spent only on clothes, shoes and bags)

I don't see why people get sniffy about cleaners, or feel like they have to justify it. The takeaway example is great. I could cook a lovely meal, from scratch, for little money but a few hours of my time. Or I could pay someone to deliver it to me, all done and ready to eat. As long as cleaners are being paid a fair wage, where is the issue?

Indeed - in theory I shouldn't feel guilty, I totally agree that logically it's just another one of those tasks that you're paying somebody else to do. I can't believe there is a person in the developed world that doesn't pay for somebody or for something to do something they theoretically could have done themselves. Cleaning is something I really hate doing, same with DH, and I cheerfully pay other people/other things to do things I don't mind doing on occasion, so what's the issue with paying somebody else to do a task I loathe?

I think with cleaners though, it's so much more personal. They're in your home, picking up your things. With a takeaway you don't see them cook it, they just deliver it and the interaction is minimal. A dishwasher is an inanimate object you don't feel bad for it "slaving away" making your dishes shiny. Whereas a cleaner is a real human being in your home, and even if they're being paid a decent amount, it's still unnerving seeing tasks you know you could have done and are really your job, being done by another person. Especially as most people have it drilled into us by our parents to clean more - there's a lot of repressed guilt there I think!

I admit I have to be out the house, I feel terribly guilty about it even though right now I physically can't (36 weeks with DC4, with bad SPD, DH working long hours and too exhausted to clean too) I usually try and be in when they arrive and have a friendly five minute small talk exchange so it doesn't feel too impersonal, and I always give a couple of quid extra. But my conscience is still screaming blue murder at me so I need to get out - DH feels the same!!

So so so so glad we have them now though. As I mentioned before, it's made a huge difference to our lives, I'm not so sure we could have got as good value for money out of anything else in terms of life improvement. It's really helped with my depression, and DH's grumpiness levels and as a result improved our relationship. We're extremely lucky that we're finally in a position where we can (just about!) afford it. I need to get over my guilt!

No cleaner here...I am a sahm and see cleaning as part of my job...I quite like cleaning (I'm a loser!)

I'd rather spend spare cash on make up, clothes, nights out.

I have a cleaner and two preschoolers and it's definitely not a waste. I think you have to be very specific about what you want them to do otherwise they do the things that you end up redoing an hour later.

Totally get what people say about feeling a bit uncomfortable paying someone to clean up after them. I grew up on a council estate where you'd be much more likely to be a cleaner than to have one. It is a luxury but all about where you spend your money. I buy clothes on ebay, pretty much never have coffee out, don't smoke/ drink so I kind of feel like I deserve that treat. Family budge permitting of course.

I work FT and would love a cleaner for £10 an hour.
How would I find one? I don't know anyone to recommend one (West London)

do you give them keys?

YANBU.

BeCool yes, I do give mine keys - she's with an agency who have insurance, and anyway I know her now and doubt she'd steal from us not that we have anything worth stealing

becool you can use an agency which may be a bit more expensive as they have overheads, but will be insured and will have cover for holidays

i live in a village so i asked in the village shop when we moved here, and there was a lady who lives round the corner from me who cleans for several other people in the village and she had availability. if you didn't want to use an agency is there a local shop or maybe church or other community place (nursery?) where you could ask about? it's better to get a recommendation if you're not going to go for an agency because otherwise they could be anybody and you're giving them access to your home

if you're going to be out when they are in then you need to give them keys. it's handy having someone living in the village who has a key to our house too

thanks - I'll start to keep my eyes out, maybe ask round the school Mums if they can recommend anyone.

I have a cleaner costs £18 for two hours including agency fees. Best thing I ever did.

Mine has keys. Been cleaning for me since I was pg with DS and she cleans for neighbours and several other people I know. It's great when we've been away to come back to a clean house.

We have a cleaner. I don't feel at all strange about it, but then we always had a cleaner and gardener when I was little too so maybe I'm just used to having people in and out. She comes for 3 hours a week and cleans very well, plus takes home additional ironing work. I'm happy to be giving someone a job. We respect our cleaners, become friendly with them etc, and tend to lose them because we encourage them to follow their dreams and do a college course or get a higher paid job. Our cleaners have generally also been saving in order to give their children a better chance in life. I'm glad to be part of this.

Look at it economically - if you have a high salary, you also tend to have high responsibilities, travel, evening working etc. Therefore less time and energy to clean. What makes more sense economically - you working fewer hours and so earning less (or otherwise decreasing your promotion potential) to do your own cleaning, so that you save £30 a week?

Personally we have a cleaner partly because of the above and partly because I have health issues - I could clean, but I'd be bloody useless for anything for the next few days.

I don't judge anyone spending money on a cleaner. I spend money on all sorts of unnecessary things. I haemorrhage money on drinking, smoking, eating out, hair, eyebrows, nails etc. But it's my money so meh.

I know one person in real life that has a cleaner, they both work away a lot.

Lots on MN seem to have them, mainly SAHP which never ceases to amaze me given they are home all day and have no income so the working partner picks up the cost of that as well.

I wouldnt like one as i like things tidy and clean all the time not just once a week. It takes 30 minutes a day to fly around the house and a little extra to iron one night.

Why shouldn't a sahp have a cleaner if they can afford it? Surely the point of being a sahp is to parent? Not clean.

I have absolutely no desire to spend any of my free time cleaning hence we have a cleaner. Lucky for us we can afford it, for now. Having a small home helps!

I don't have a cleaner.

Who says SAHP have no income? I rent out my flat (bought before I met DH). Rental from that provides me with an income which covers day to day expenses for DS and myself plus household bills. Aside from that, DH also transfers money to my account which I consider my 'salary'. SAHP don't sit at home all day doing nothing, looking after a child is a full time job. I have a longer day now than I did when I worked in the City.

DH and I keep having the cleaner discussion and he keeps saying no. The trouble is that he doesn't see dirt, just untidiness, whereas I see the untidiness but the dirt bothers me more and it drives me demented that he will tidy a room and then say look, it's spotless, even when the carpet is covered in dog hair, crumbs, muddy footprints and god knows what else. In return, he thinks that I spend far too long doing one room and can't comprehend what I'm doing for all of that time.

We both work full time and have a 2 yo and a dog. I'm 19 weeks pg and SPD is starting up again so I can't hoover. Hanging out laundry also makes my pelvis ache with all the bending and straightening.

I long for a cleaner who would come and do the bathrooms and kitchen floor and hoover. That's all, but it would make such a massive difference. When the dog is no longer with us I want to spend at least some of the £120-odd we spend a month on a dogwalker (plus £20 per month on pet insurance) on a cleaner. Dog is about 10...could be waiting some time! Liking the robot hoover idea, though.

Ooooh DonnaDishwater
You'd hate me then. We had a cleaner when I was a sahm and my children were over 5 and at school all day! Fancy that!? .

I'm the only one without a cleaner in one group of friends I have.

I'd love one but the money goes elsewhere, it was a toss up between gym or cleaner and the gym won. I'm a SAHM, I'm lazy when it comes to housework, I hate it.