What's your opinion ?

[LyndsayLoLoSWLondon]

Hi
I currently employ a cleaner for 25 hours a week 5 hours on a Monday- Friday. (especially before and after the weekend!). The trouble is I don't know if I am being unrealistic about what I'm expecting her to do and not giving her enough hours or if she just isn't as good as my last amazing cleaner who sadly retired 4 months ago after working for me for 12 years prior to me having kids (just cleaning my apartment) and the last 10 years with an ever expanding family! So here's the jobs I ask. I pay £12 p/hr so £300 a week.

1. Change my bed and all 4 kids beds once a week on a Friday and nanny's bed. All sheets are sent to the dry cleaners to be washed and pressed every week so all she needs to do is strip he beds and bag up and leave in the utility. All clean sheets are left in airing cupboards. Sometimes there's the guest bedroom to change also. I don't think this is difficult I just don't have the time to do It myself.

1. Clean kitchen 'generally' Hoover and mop tiles, clean skirting boards, wipe over splash backs clean gas hob. Wipe over ovens and dust over the AGA, clean microwave. Empty the dishwasher if finished. Empty bin, Clean the dining table. Clean bi fold doors. I ask all this to be done on a Friday and then again on the Monday because everything marks easily. Clean out fridge empty out of date things and clean with anti bac spray.

1. Clean and dust the best lounge - not much mess in there.

1. Clean and dust the main lounge and Hoover.

1. Dust and Hoover the kids rooms.

1. Dust and Hoover my bedroom and dust and Hoover my office.

1. Clean 4 bathrooms and 3 separate loos.

1. Clean guest bedroom if it's been used and their bathroom.

1. Hoover all stairs and dust banisters.

10. Hoover sofas.

Note: there is never Outside doors or windows to clean. Never and deep thorough clean of ovens as I have someone in every 3 months to clean the ovens professionally.
There is no ironing or washing to put on or hang out, I have someone collect and drop of ironing and nanny puts it away.

What do you think ?

Thanks in advance.

Sprink - if I had to give up wine in order to have my sheets done I think I'd even strip and wash them myself.... Definitely with you on that one !

We have 4 bedrooms, 3 receptions, 2 bathrooms, utility room, kitchen & study. Our cleaners manage the whole house including bathrooms, kitchen etc. In 3 hours - there are 2 of them though.
25 hours a week is far too much to keep a house clean, 3 hours a day is more than enough as not every job is done daily.

Yeah, that can happen so easily. I generally don't have much food waste now as I have the time to meal plan and also the time to catch things before they are out of date and bake with them/cook and freeze etc, but when I was working there was a lot of food bought and thrown out.

£70 in what? One week? In a month that would be nearly £300. That is so much money to just be throwing in the bin.

That food (and money) waste is obscene as I'm sure you're aware.

Between you, the nanny and the fussy DCs, it needs sorting out.

Can you agree a list of meals that they will always eat, that the nanny can cook on a rota? You should then be able to make up a regular shopping list for the online order, to reduce waste and top up trips.

Or agree a couple of local places that she can take them to eat out sometimes - even that will be cheaper than throwing away £70 worth of food.

Blueeyes maybe her ex husband should give up his job to look after his children and then the nanny wouldn't be required?

Yeah £70 in one week. I ocado once a week normally but still end up throwing lots out. I rarely eat at home in the week 2-3 nights I eat out with work colleagues, Friday night is generally an eat out night all of us if I'm away from work at a decent hour. And weekends we all eat out as I can't be bothered to faff with cooking

Haha Sprink

OP you sound a bit like you're, if not exactly panicking, not looking at this in a measured way.

Being a single parent is hard. Being a single working parent is harder and you don't want extra hassle from staff who are supposed to be helping you not doing the jobs properly and costing you a small fortune.

Type out a schedule of the cleaner's jobs and responsibilities.
Include putting away the laundry.
Don't allocate major jobs on the same day and insist essentials are done on the named days e.g. cleaning out the fridge.
I would've thought 3 hours on Mondays and Fridays and 2 Tues, Wed, Thurs would be more than enough.

Take full responsibility for the on line shop. Menu plan beforehand with a choice of only two main meals, it's not fair to ask the Nanny to cook four different dishes. Tell her to give you a list of an items she notes for the list or put them on a kitchen chalk board.
You really need to sort out that food waste and to be aware of what are Use By Dates and what are Best Before Dates. Not everything's out of condition as soon as the printed date passes, but as you realize that amount of waste is beyond profligate.

Speak to your Nanny and ask that she starts home measures regarding better tidiness. Did she work for you before your split? is she too used to things being more lax and flexible regarding the finances?

I do think you have to approach this as you would professional life issues and get better value for money for the services you need. Personally I'd still send the sheets out for laundering. It's a lot of beds and unless you purchase a steam press for home and have someone happy to do all the cleaning and all those linens, you're getting value for money there I'd have thought.

Yes the nanny worked for us prior to the split for 5 years. We've always managed to keep people who have worked for us for a long period of time so I think that must mean we aren't too bad ha ha ? You are right I think the nanny was used to everything being more lax prior to the split and now I am feeling a little guilt for having to tighten the belt a little so to speak - for example nanny was always included on weekends away (which we still do maybe once a month- 6 weeks) and holidays abroad etc and in school holidays and so forth a considerable amount to spend on entertaining the children...so with Easter coming up that will be an expensive time for me.

Bloody hell I live in a different world. £70 of food in the bin each week? £15k a year on cleaning?

Wow. That's not meant to be against you, OP. It just really shocks me.

Thank you again to all the help with replies to my original post regarding the cleaning and hours! I've messaged her and we will be talking tomorrow morning - I've got a rough idea of what I'm going to say and how I'm going to put it to her.

I think you're reasonable to expect the nanny to order the food if she is the one cooking and preparing it. You could allocate her a weekly budget and ask her to prepare a plan (i know you said it doesn't always work like that but at least you could approve what she is giving your children).

I also think the nanny should be helping your children to learn to tidy up in an age approproate way and link this to priveliges. I'd probably aim to ask the cleaner to allocate a specific day to cleaning the children's areas and then encourage the children to have a big tidy up time the previous afternoon/evening to facilitate this.

Would it be too harsh to say that any toys etc not in their right place at the end of tidy up time get confiscated for the week/end??? I may be a dragon!

You're doing loads, and i think that you sound like a really hard working person in a tough situation. Most would be demented. I hope you get sorted.

Have you not reached a financial agreement with your DH? You shouldn't have to pay for all of it yourself and your children's lives should continue as before as much as possible - surely that's what your DH wants for them as well?

Thank you star dusty I like your suggestions, I could definitely implement a few of those ideas especially regarding their bedrooms and having specific days so each of them know the night before it's there room clean the next day. I like that idea.

Yes we have reached a financial agreement, I get a monthly payment towards general costs. He also pays all school fees although he is complaining about this - another story! I also have a substantial mortgage to pay and I have to cut back. Currently in the process of selling our holiday home which was mine in our settlement it just isn't viable to keep it so this will free up some capital but I'm hoping I will be able to pay off my mortgage once I've done so.

Hermione it does seem like a lot but it's all relative, isn't it? I know if we had double the money we do now we'd find new and interesting ways to spend it (and increase the bit we put aside for savings), but it's just basic budgeting on a larger income.

OP, Mrs DeVere was right, pages ago, though clearly you realise this. Thinking hard about what to cut back on and what to keep can be difficult. But it's an excellent opportunity to make positive changes and set new precedents.

Sorry about your divorce by the way bromides the circumstances but it pretty much always sucks.

I agree with giving nanny a budget and letting her do all meal planning and online grocery shopping. That should eliminate a lot of waste and is not unusual responsibility for a nanny.

Bromides?

Let's try "no idea about" instead. Yes, that's better.

Just arrived home to find neither dishwasher has been emptied, overflowing sink of dirty dishes, bin not emptied mess/cereal left all over the floor from this morning, dirty cups and glasses left in the living room, blankets/throws from the sofas sprawled everywhere (why not fold them and put them back on the sofa), piles of wet towels stacked on the island in the kitchen that she has obviously forgotten to or 'ran out of time' to put in the washing machine, and I know nanny left at 7.45 this morning with all 4 and she isn't home yet as she's taken them out to TGI's for dinner so there just simple jobs the cleaner has not done - thank god I'm talking to her tomorrow. This is what annoys me really because how can she not think any of those things need doing as a priority? Or am I living in a different universe?? So I open a nice bottle of Sancerre and forget about it until tomorrow!

Wow i'm tempted to ditch my p/t office job and apply for your soon to be job vacancy. Slightly gutted that I can barely put up with cleaning my own place and would be totally unsuitable!

Saying that reading your last post not as unsuitable as her!!

Absolutely there's a great deal of scope for getting the ship in order and if you put it that everyone's needing to be on board then it needn't be a negative thing at all.

I certainly wasn't trying to suggest you're hard to work for Lyndsay more to the point that expectations and impressions need to change. You've all been used to the very affluent open book lifestyle, now you need to adjust to the still very affluent but more constrained lifestyle. Obviously the additional cost of ExH living separately is an impact, but it's more that you should be looking at your living expenses as a professional budget that has to meet its target. You wouldn't carry staff who don't fulfil their brief, or suffer excess wastage if you were overseeing a commercial project and so that's the way to look at it, but try and get everyone on side.

The savings made should be able to provide sweeteners for the top performers Why don't you lead by making one main weekend meal Family Restaurant Night In and if you don't want to cook, order in.
Try something like COOK where the whole family can choose what they fancy and all you need to do is reheat. That would be a very cost effective saving with no real work attached.

I'll mention to nanny tonight when she gets back about doing the shopping for me and planning a few meals she knows they will all eat. Also going to try to reduce my weekly food bill, I'm too embarrassed to admit how much I spend or more likely waste...onwards and upwards positive changes

Just arrived home to find neither dishwasher has been emptied, overflowing sink of dirty dishes, bin not emptied mess/cereal left all over the floor from this morning, dirty cups and glasses left in the living room, blankets/throws from the sofas sprawled everywhere (why not fold them and put them back on the sofa), piles of wet towels stacked on the island in the kitchen that she has obviously forgotten to or 'ran out of time' to put in the washing machine, and I know nanny left at 7.45 this morning with all 4 and she isn't home yet as she's taken them out to TGI's for dinner so there just simple jobs the cleaner has not done - thank god I'm talking to her tomorrow. This is what annoys me really because how can she not think any of those things need doing as a priority? Or am I living in a different universe?? So I open a nice bottle of Sancerre and forget about it until tomorrow!

I wouldn't bother talking to her-I'd just let her go. She doesn't want the job or doesn't know how to do it. And to be honest, I wouldn't want to leave anyone alone in my house whom I had to reprimand or give out to about work practices - way too close for comfort.

She doesn't want the job or doesn't know how to do it.

That's it right there. She's either ill, incompetent, or trying to get fired.