Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

235 replies

Hotmad · 26/02/2014 09:48

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!

OP posts:
HazleNutt · 27/02/2014 09:34

In our household we have a SAHP and just one, easy baby and we still have a cleaner. No, the house was not any dirtier when we both worked full time and didn't have a cleaner - the difference was that then we spent our Saturdays cleaning. Now we spend weekends doing whatever we want. Worth every cent.

TheArticFunky · 27/02/2014 11:29

That's true Hazlenutt pre children we spent Saturdays cleaning and who really wants to do that? Now we have children the house gets messier and we have less time to clean. It's only the lack of finances that is stopping us from employing a cleaner. It makes sense to outsource an onerous time- consuming task if you can afford it.

Alibabaandthe40nappies · 27/02/2014 11:54

It is good for the soul

You may personally find it satisfying, but this kind of 'I'm a better person because I clean my own house' bullshit is just that, bullshit.

Awesome I don't see the correlation between having someone else clean your house and buying junk food. The comparison would be having a housekeeper or a chef/cook to prepare meals for you.

BrennanHasAMangina · 27/02/2014 12:32

Yikes! I didn't say it like that! I may personally find it satisfying, almost meditation-like, but I certainly appreciate that not everyone does. If you hate it and/or have a very busy family life and your budget allows, go for it, I say Smile.

Baileyscoffeeandcampfires · 27/02/2014 13:34

Don't have a regular cleaner but I do buy in certain services as and when needed. I work from home for a couple of hour daily and have 2 dc's in full time school. I do the cleaning stuff that I don't mind and the dc's pocket money is dependant on certain chores that they do to help.

I have a window cleaner do the outside windows every 6 weeks, oven clean man in every 6 months and my mil likes me to save the ironing for her when she come around.

We are currently havering some building work done and will pay for a decorator to paint whole of downstairs when it's done. Quite capable of doing this ourselves, and have done in the past, but this time we can afford to pay someone and can't be arsed. I also plan on having an agency in to do a mega deep clean once all decorating is done.

Bubblegoose · 27/02/2014 13:48

We have a cleaner who comes in twice a week. I love her. Possibly more than I love DH. I haven't cleaned a bathroom in two years. I would give up a lot before I'd let her go.

BeaHive · 27/02/2014 19:28

AwesomeWellie - you make yourself sound like Dobby the House Elf Hmm

JupiterGentlefly · 27/02/2014 19:46

For what its worth.. I am a cleaner... (i may have mentioned this once or twice Wink)
For domestic work I am paid by the hour. What a client wants me to do in those hours is entirely up to them. So I may housekeep or clean. Or both.
I do not care.
Just thought this might help for those who wonder if they can ask their cleaner to tidy. You can, we don't mind just be clear from the outset and be realistic about what you expect them to achieve in those hours.
I am struggling financially due to a historic debt, however my MH has deteriorated so much that I am now due to employ a 'housekeeper' for a month to help me get back on top of things.

MrsDavidBowie · 27/02/2014 19:48

I had one once and she was crap.
I watched her wash the kitchen floor without sweeping it firstShock so I do have issues about standards as I am a "good" cleaner.

My main issue is ...when would she come? I work partly from home, never on set days. I don't want to be in the house when the cleaner is in....and I
Would worry about keys.

I could do with one..my house is quite big, and takes at least 4 hours to do. None of my friends have cleaners interestingly.

needtobediscreet · 27/02/2014 19:51

I don't have a cleaner. I work part time and have one toddler. Me and DH share the housework but I do more which is fine as he works full time.

We had a cleaner for a few months years ago, pre-DC when we both worked full time and had long commutes. I didn't find it as helpful as I thought I would tbh. We're both quite untidy, more so than dirty iyswim, and having to tidy before the cleaner came became a chore itself - lots of belongings in a small city flat!

I have used professional cleaners when moving house more recently and wasn't v impressed with them. I worry that they don't keep cloths separate etc and don't clean to my standards - which is probably unreasonable on my part!

I may reconsider if I have any more children as I think it's definitely a good use of money in the right circumstances.

JupiterGentlefly · 27/02/2014 19:52

Mrs DB I will clean for you! Grin

Naicecuppatea · 27/02/2014 19:53

I work part-time, have two small DC and do the cleaning myself. I wouldn't say my house was pristine, but in the snatched time I get here and there I do manage to do the basic weekly stuff like hoovering, dusting and bathroom cleaning. I have tried cleaners in the past but have always been disappointed and have given up now.

It's the ironing that there's never any time for!

needtobediscreet · 27/02/2014 19:56

littleblue - that rings true for me as we only had a cleaner when we lived in London pre-DC too.
No one in my current circle of mum friends (admits to having?) has a cleaner. My London friends have them though!

Slippydippysoap · 27/02/2014 20:01

I had a cleaner for a bit but she was rubbish. I got rid of her but can't hire anyone else as it's a small village and Offence Will Be Taken.

She was so crap that I hadn't got time to clean for two weeks and the house still looked better than it did right after she had finished.

Madasabox · 27/02/2014 20:08

I don't work. I have had a weekly cleaner in the past when I did work and my DH has recently hired a cleaner again, because he thinks I should not spend my spare(! - I have two small children and am pregnant) time cleaning. We pay about £200 a month for our house to be cleaned once a fortnight, but it is a 400sq m house. In terms of what I do vs the cleaner. I do 2 loads of washing a day, clean the kitchen every day, sweep and mop the kitchen, breakfast room and utility room every day. Hoover the whole house once a week (on the weeks the cleaners are not here), do the toilets every couple of days and of course tidy up every night before DH gets home. The cleaners wipe the skirting boards and window sills, move all the furniture and hoover underneath, polish all the furniture, clean the windows, clean the bathrooms and mirrors properly, dust the blinds, wipe down all the wall tiles, wipe clean all the furniture, wipe the tops of doors, clean the door handles, dust everywhere, dust behind the radiators. All the stuff that needs to be done to have a properly clean house and I could never ever do as it would take me a whole day. I just keep it superficially clean in between. The big advantage is because I know they are coming, I have to keep the house really tidy, which makes me happy as I hate clutter and mess.

Alibabaandthe40nappies · 27/02/2014 21:22

needstobe none of my mum friends on the school run etc know that we have a cleaner - maybe yours do and just don't say! :)

Brennan sorry for getting the wrong end of the stick :)

Philoslothy · 27/02/2014 21:35

We have a cleaner at the moment because my DH is convinced that a previous miscarriage was linked to exhaustion. I can see that right now we need some hell because I am working a 75+ hour a week while heavily pregnant and on the wrong side of 40. She comes every day for an hour to two hours, and just makes up my housework hours - DH is still doing his chores.

Totally illogical but I feel very guilty and as soon as I go on maternity leave I will be glad to go back to running my own house. I certainly would struggle with a cleaner as a SAHM.

tomverlaine · 27/02/2014 22:06

We have lots of them- it's an agency where they work in man hours - so instead of one person for four hours you get for example 4 for one hour. It does make the house very crowded so I don't like being in ( but as I work full time it's very rare). Don't get the angst myself re cleaners - I have had one ever since I realised that I was spending my Saturday mornings cleaning and my then dp was playing sport - as I didn't want to spend weekend in dirty flat and we both worked full time it was the obvious solution.
I love starting a weekend with a spotless house. The kitchen and bathrooms are spotless - and all the beds are changed which I loathe doing.
Round here there is a huge demand - our cleaner has to turn away work- I think it's a great business to get into.

foreverondiet · 27/02/2014 22:37

Most of my friends have but even in NW London most pay £7-£8 and not £12-£15.

needtobediscreet · 27/02/2014 23:42

Alibaba - I did say no-one I known locally has one, or at least doesn't admit if they do. Smile

MortaIWombat · 27/02/2014 23:49

Dobbie the House elf. Grin

Awesome I don't see the correlation between having someone else clean your house and buying junk food. The comparison would be having a housekeeper or a chef/cook to prepare meals for you.

Maybe junk food is the wrong comparison, Alibaba, yes.

I'm not sure a personal chef/cook is a better comparison either, though. That, to me, suggests hiring in the services of someone with a genuine talent, who can do the task better than you can, and who feels they have a talent.
I have to confess that this is the first domestic cleaner thread I've read, but I know I've seen thread titles wondering if people should sack their cleaner for doing a half-hearted job, and certainly several friends have found the cleaners they employed did fast and slapdash rather than painstaking and sparkling work after the honeymoon period.

Maybe buying ready-meals is a closer analogy - it's good enough, but you know you could do it better yourself, you know if you did it would be a better experience for the consumer, and it's ultimately a time-saving exercise.

But as I say, I only judge silently and on mumsnet. Grin

Apatite1 · 28/02/2014 00:35

No cleaner. No kids either though!

justanuthermanicmumsday · 28/02/2014 00:46

my house is too big I need a cleaner, but I'm controlling I don't like the thought of cleaners skipping over areas not doing it properly. Also don't like Idea of them in my bedroom it's my personal space I just couldn't trust them.

Btw I'm stay at home mum I work, to person who said tis height of laziness to have cleaner of you "don't work"I sit my sorry butt down at 9pm most days start at 5am. So no I'm not lazy thank you very much and I'm not twiddling my thumbs . I'm sure most mums arenas sahm or otherwise.

I am seriously considering someone to iron my laundry though. I wash and iron for 7 people including myself, it's becoming too much for me now I can't cope.

chrome100 · 28/02/2014 06:26

I can't afford a cleaner and also don't want to waste my life cleaning so I just do the bare minimum. That too is a valid choice.

ElenorRigby · 28/02/2014 06:56

Sorry OP.

I'm sold.
I work full time. My house always looks like crap. It's depressing, I can never get on top of it Sad

Where can I find a cleaner???