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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:
Cinnamon2013 · 28/02/2014 07:06

We have one fortnightly (I work full time from home). It means me and DP get on loads better and rarely argue, and more proper time with DS, so from that point of view it feels like a good investment. I know that we are lucky to be able to afford it and that it is a luxury most people (and certainly my mum) never have. Housework makes me pretty resentful as it gets lumped in with childcare when the two are completely different - and agree with others here who say the fact women, not men, are judged for choosing to delegate it is a real significant that

Cinnamon2013 · 28/02/2014 07:06

Real sign of that I meant

Oriunda · 28/02/2014 07:17

Awesome, I hate cleaning and am rubbish at it. Am sure if I lived on my own I'd be a budding Quentin Crisp! So any cleaner, even a bad one, will do a better job than me. That said, my cleaner is great.

HazleNutt · 28/02/2014 07:23

cinnamon, that's so true - I'm the breadwinner, DH is a SAHD, but it's still seen as I'm having the cleaner.

puthyjip43 · 28/02/2014 07:29

I have a cleaner and I'm a mum with a 4 month old baby on a years maternity leave. I pay (Australian) $25 per hour.
I don't go out much, never get get away, don't smoke and rarely drink so I feel this is justified.
I make every meal from scratch as I enjoy cooking so in my eyes it's the same as NOT having a cleaner but getting take away once a week
I have the time but not the inclination - when my baby sleeps I want to try and catch up on zzzz and not worry about cleaning the house

dubaipieeye · 28/02/2014 07:35

I have a full time, live in housekeeper cum nanny. She is off on hols for two months tomorrow, I am bereft.

dubaipieeye · 28/02/2014 07:35

Oh and I work part time, teacher.

Chuckthefucklebrothers · 28/02/2014 07:51

I haven't got a cleaner, I AM a cleaner. And I'm not one of those people who love housework either - I just need the money! Both of the families I work for are lovely & I am very grateful for the income.

Somersetlady · 28/02/2014 11:00

Have reinforced why i have a cleaner today. Guests due to arrive this evening and cleaner is off ill. Have just finished my 4th bathroom!

Thank goodness all the sheets were already clean!

HazleNutt · 28/02/2014 11:41

My cleaner is working as we speak. Will be lovely to get home to a sparkling house.

SlightlyDampWellies · 28/02/2014 11:57

We had a cleaner for years, then had to stop as we were skint, then have just managed to get her in again. We call her 'The Sainted Mary'. We LOVE LOVE her. She has saved my sanity and my marriage. (DH is hoarder and apparently incapable of seeing dirt). We don't go out very often, and it is the best money I spend each month.

rookiemater · 28/02/2014 13:09

I'm very jealous Envy dubaipieeye - we have a cleaner and she is fabulous, but it's all the sodding grunt work like remembering when the beds need changing, buying the food and cleaning stuff.

I work 4 days a week and like slightlydampwellies need a cleaner to maintain my marriage. I've always had a cleaner, even when I was single and living in a 2 bed flat, I had someone come once a fortnight as I simply hate cleaning. Our last cleaner wasn't so good so when we were cutting back on expenses, we decided to experiment and see how it was without one. DH had two sodding jobs to do - clean his bathroom ( I use the en suite) and clean the kitchen floor, not only did he not do them, but he claimed he had and why was I moaning about cleaning all the time.

So now we have a great cleaner who comes 2 hrs a week. It doesn't mean I sit on my bottom all the time eating bon bons - most of the time I'm out at work, and I'm still doing paperwork for DH, washing, cooking, cleaning out and looking after the sodding gerbils that everyone else seems to have forgotten about, but it does mean that all the main jobs are covered at least once a week.

She has been on holiday this week and already the house is looking a little bit shabby.

rookiemater · 28/02/2014 13:14

Too many soddings in my last post, sorry Blush. Can you tell that I really hate cleaning ?

JupiterGentlefly · 28/02/2014 15:03

Ahh somerset lady, did you change cleaners in the end or just iron out the problems?

Skivvywoman · 28/02/2014 15:03

everyone who has/had a cleaner were you brought up with your parents having one too?

WillieWaggledagger · 28/02/2014 15:11

yes skivvywoman we did once my parents could afford it. when cleaners were on holiday we all mucked in and helped

Apatite1 · 28/02/2014 15:51

I was brought up with a fully staffed home: maids, nannies, gardeners and chauffeur. I went the opposite way and do it all myself. I just like my privacy and don't like others hovering around. I quite like ironing....

Bubblegoose · 28/02/2014 16:26

Nope, my mum is firmly against the idea! She tells people quite seriously that I have "servants". Hmm

BlingBubbles · 28/02/2014 16:39

We have had a cleaner for years, even prior to having DD, though then we had one every 2 weeks and after he was born every week.

I hate cleaning and to be honest am not very good at it at all, DH on the other hand is a bit of a neat freak and one of the only thing we ever fought about was the cleaning, so we decided to get a cleaner. Of course we do all the daily things but the cleaner does all the things we don't have time for (and I hate), the deep cleaning of the bathroom, kitchen etc. she doesn't make our bed or anything like that.

DH says I am a crap cleaner as I grew up with a maid.... Wink

BlingBubbles · 28/02/2014 16:40

Oh and forgot to say 99% of all my friends have cleaners.

Bubblegoose · 28/02/2014 16:43

Tell your DH I am also a crap cleaner and I grew up cleaning constantly under my mum's beady dirt-seeking eye, Bling!

SnookyPooky · 28/02/2014 16:43

I have a wonderful cleaner, €30 a week well spent.

bobot · 01/03/2014 17:40

I don't have a cleaner. We've already given up luxuries and struggle to manage on our budget. There's nothing left to sacrifice! I'd get one like a shot if I could afford it. I don't think it's lazy for a sahm to have a cleaner - I'm at home for the children, not to spend all day cleaning, and the fact that we're in a lot more means a lot more mess. Seriously, I do the day to day stuff with the children's help - washing on, washing up several times a day etc, the odd hoover, clean the bathroom once a week - but anything more than that would just be taking time away from them, and I gave off work to be there for my children, not to clean all day. As long as it's hygienic, they'll benefit more from my time than a sparkling home.

vintagesewingmachine · 01/03/2014 18:44

DH and I both work full time Monday to Friday and the last thing we want to do is clean the house on a Saturday morning. We have had to make some economies recently but I would rather go without expensive cosmetics and clothes, give up takeaways and regular meals out than give up our cleaner. When we get home on Friday evening, the house is spotless and we can enjoy the weekend. She is worth every penny.

TattyDevine · 01/03/2014 19:38

I have one. It makes me clean up the piles of post, do the recycling, generally get on top of the housekeeping angle and decluttering/tidying, then they clean, then I can concentrate on the extra stuff like stupid wooden venetian blinds and stuff if I feel like it. There is loads of housekeeping/dishes/cooking etc to do apart from cleaning that even if you are a SAHM like me, you can justify it if you have the cash. If you don't have the cash fair enough. Of course if we fell on hard times it would have to go and probably be one of the first things to go. Its not some terribly decadant thing though, you still have to get the hoover out, spray stuff, clean toilets, wash, dishes, etc in between, its just a weekly all at once thing that feels luxurious and encourages you to do things as you go so it doesn't get out of hand. Some people are better at this than others (or more disciplined) and I am not so it works well.