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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask how much 'Christmas tip' for cleaner - or if at all?

51 replies

BluecasioTG58 · 17/12/2015 10:10

I pay my cleaner £11.00 per hour. I didn't get round buying a present as rushed off my feet right now. She is my first cleaner and has cleaned 3 or 4 time for us so far.

Would £ 10.00 be stingy ( I only have a tenner at home and can't go out before she comes)? We live in London if that makes any difference.
Would it be ok to pop a ten pound note in the envelope with the Christmas card? Sorry, whats the etiquette here please? Blush
tia.

OP posts:
IDismyname · 17/12/2015 18:43

I pay mine the equivalent of a weeks wages.

Has anyone else noticed how many tradesmen rock up on their doorsteps this time of year? I spend weeks trying to get the window cleaners here for 51 weeks of the year, but they ALWAYS turn up the week before Chrismas.

Funny, that....

blatantplacemark · 17/12/2015 18:44

Green handbag - you are completely exploiting your cleaner by paying her what you do. I have my own little cleaning company and I charge between £12-14 an hour. You are paying £6.25 an hour which is a joke no matter how far north you may or may not live

FWIW I prefer not to receive anything from my clients at Christmas.

blatantplacemark · 17/12/2015 18:45

Oh and I'd do more than slope off early if you were paying me that sort of money. Unbelievable

pilpiloni · 17/12/2015 18:46

Week's pay here

HeyMicky · 17/12/2015 18:47

Ours gets £20 a week normally - I'm tipping £10 in a card plus a box of chocs for her m family

SheGotAllDaMoves · 17/12/2015 18:50

I give an extra week's pay. Plus a gift for her and one for her family.

ProfGrammaticus · 17/12/2015 18:56

The minimum wage is more than £6.25 isn't it?

EponasWildDaughter · 17/12/2015 18:58

£6.20 per hour greenhandbag?

No wonder she '' slopes off early''! Shock

Shinyhappypeople9 · 17/12/2015 18:59

I'm not a fan of tips. Why do some jobs deserve a tip and others don't? You don't tip your doctor or dentist do you and they provide a service just like a postman or cleaner. Who decided who gets tipped and who doesn't?

DickDewy · 17/12/2015 19:01

I will give ours £50 but I think any amount would be fine.

minininipie · 17/12/2015 19:17

I think that sounds fine. I've been wondering what to do about mine too. She comes once a week and won't need to come in the last week of December as we're away. So I was just going to pay her for that week as a tip. I feel a bit mean as she won't actually get any extra pay - just a week of paid holiday. But I don't really want to pay her more as she's rubbish (but I feel sorry for her so keep her!). Might just add some chocs as a present and be done with it?!

Dancergirl · 17/12/2015 19:27

Totally agree that £6.20/hour is nothing.

I have a lovely cleaner and pay her £10/hour, worth every penny. She does 4 hours a week (ironing too).

In previous years I've bought her a gift card, do you think cash is better?

CHJR · 17/12/2015 19:28

I give ours a week's equivalent plus a heartfelt card where I write down how much I love her ... because I DO. If I didn't it would be a week's wages tip and no heartfelt handwriting in the card.

CHJR · 17/12/2015 19:29

And I also tip in the summer, btw. But I live in London, so am weird. Grin

LeaLeander · 17/12/2015 19:29

Every holiday tipping guideline I've ever read says at least the equivalent of a day's pay for a cleaner who comes to your home once a week. If she comes in every day, the tip is the equivalent of a week's pay.

Winifredgoose · 17/12/2015 19:32

We give her two weeks pay, which we view as 'holiday pay'. I also buy her some chocolates. She is a fab cleaner, and also helps out with kids.

CHJR · 17/12/2015 19:32

But what I'd really like to know is, what do you tip others, if anything? I mean at Christmas, do you go all American and fret about your:
regular haircutter (and no I don't do anything fancy, just a cut)
bin men (but then why not postman?)
driver of council bus for SEN child
teacher (obvs some of this you may think of as not a "tip" but a "gift" -- I don't call it anything but gift in the card anyway)

There are apparently laws on what you're allowed to give government workers eg postmen but more to the point, what's usual? Here in London it's quite common to tip the bin men or find half the rubbish isn't collected next year...

Jemimapuddleduk · 17/12/2015 19:34

My cleaner won't be coming for 2 weeks over Christmas but I will pay her those 2 weeks as a tip (£44). She also got flowers, wine and chocs. She is amazing and ridiculously generous with my 2 kids (presents at Christmas and birthday even though I tell her not to!). Her husband also does odd jobs for us at mates rates.

CHJR · 17/12/2015 19:36

And is it condescending to tip a teacher, I mean give her a gift? Personally I'd rather be condescended to than not given the money, but there is a school of thought that one doesn't tip the owner of the hair salon, for instance, just employees, ie there is something slightly um condescending about the idea. ?
And is it unfair to other parents who can't afford to give if you do give a state school teacher a gift? Or is it noblesse oblige, ie those of us lucky enough to have a bit of extra should share? And why feel differently with a state school? One of my three DC is private and gifts, often amazingly lavish, are definitely normal there.
Please don't go all weird on me, ladies, I want some actual advice.

GabiSolis · 17/12/2015 19:40

Green handbag - that pay is a disgrace.

A week's extra pay is appropriate but £10 and a bottle of wine is okay too I think.

llhj · 17/12/2015 19:41

I think tipping your cleaner is very far removed from tipping your doctor or your dentist. Your doctor or your dentist is not employed by you, they are not providing a weekly service in the same way that cleaners do. That comparison is spurious to say the least. Apart from the fact that medical professionals like the ones named are in a different pay league entirely.
They would also not be able to accept cash tips.

SanityClause · 17/12/2015 19:41

We give a week's pay, and a present. (This year it's a scarf.) She will bring us something like some chocolates or biscuits from her home country. (But she's more like a friend after all this time, anyway.)

And, handbag, no wonder your cleaner slopes off early, if you're only paying her £50 for a full day's manual work! That's not even NMW!

Jackiebrambles · 17/12/2015 19:42

I'm feeling tight now, I only gave her £10 extra last year for Christmas. Came home today and she's left a lovely card and some chocs for us.

I love my cleaner!

I'm going to up the tip and get her chocs now.

CHJR · 17/12/2015 19:44

Huh? There are people who tip doctors and dentists? I don't think even Americans do that, do they?

But see, teachers are also professionals -- but not as well paid...

AnyoneButSanta · 17/12/2015 19:49

I do a week's extra pay in a card. But I think think the OP would be fine with a tenner for a brand new cleaner.