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 Clean out fridge empty out of date things and clean with anti bac spray.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.

What the hell was she doing for 5 hours today?

I honestly do not know what she has really done today other than put toilet duck down every toilet, made the beds for us, and washed and tumble dried the dogs beds.

She's Netflix and chillin'

Right I have read the whole thread .
Your cleaner has to do lot of tidying things that your kids and nanny should be doing . They should not have left the house in the state this morning and when they come you getting angry at them not your cleaner.

Re your cleaner not doing cleaning up to standard of the old one, well I expect your old cleaner had a few tricks of trade so if you can I would ask her how she clean your ( insert any room). What product she used . What she to clean . All these thing make massive difference to look of a cleaned room.

You need to go round every room and say what thing make you think a room has been clean . Ie sparkling tiles ( then say how old cleaner did this)

I second the nanny/Housekeeper role with someone who is more a house keeper. You could nanny as holiday cover babysitting if she does not what that role.

Re the sheet you can buy a roller ironed ( they have them in usa film sometime ) as this what the laundry would use takes a bit of getting use to but you can have your sheets wash and iron for fraction of the cost of the laundry.

I'm thinking she is just totally incompetent because today as like a few other days the kids rooms aren't even tidy so today she hasn't even got the excuse of having to have spent her time (rightly or wrongly) tidying their mess up.

She's taking the piss now surely?!

Our house is 3,000 sq feet, but not all of it gets cleaned. In 6 hours (over 2 days) my cleaner cleans 3 bedrooms, 3 living rooms, 2 stairs, 2 halls, 2 kitchens and 2 bathrooms. She changes, launders and irons one grown up bed and irons about 10 items of clothing. After today's (lack of) performance, I think I'd sack your cleaner. How much mess/dirt is created if most of you are out during the day?

Granted today's performance is not an everyday ocurance but maybe one day out of every five is like this...I'm going to sleep on it have a chat tomorrow and see what her response is.

The press I was talking about is like This

It's a question of the one off investment and the labour as against the cost of the professional laundry.

Out of sheer nosiness OP, what's the linen bill for outsourcing each week? (if you don't mind)

I think you should get rid tomorrow and i used to be a cleaner. I did a large detached, 2 bedrooms, 2 lounges,large kitchen diner, craft room and separate granny flat. Used to do 2 hours twice a week including ironing and inside windows. If my employers wanted anything extra doing they just left a note. I do think you need to get your children to tidy their own rooms especially as you are embarrassed by the state of them. Cleaning does not include picking up after people. Good luck with it.

Lyndsay I think you must be the sweetest MNer ever. You sound lovely.

She sounds awful, get someone else in for 15 hours maximum, give them a daily plan and use some of the great advice you've been given here re running the house slightly differently.

Best of luck, enjoy your drink!

You sound like a fab employer and this woman is taking the piss. For the money she is paid and the hours allocated her job is more than do able!
As far as picking up after other people etc I get that she is there to clean not necessarily tidy up but touches like folding the throws nearly are what you are paying her for (rather than min wage agency cleaner) and she has ample time to do stuff properly.

On another note this really is a glimpse into another world for me!!

Just found the last months invoice £461.80. So £115 a week...
Thinking how important is it for clean sheets once a week but I do like them changed once a week, maybe I could stretch to two weeks!!!!

Unless you live like absolute pigs and she spends the first 10 hours scraping shit off the walls, she is massively taking the piss!

6 beds to change...1 hour a week, absolute MAX

Clean kitchen...5 hours a week...to a sparkling standard

Cleaning/dusting/hovering the two lounges (assuming it's relatively tidy and she's not spending hours picking shit up)...2 hours a week.

I got bored in listing them...but that leaves her 17 hours to clean 4 bathrooms, 3 loos, and 5(?) bedrooms.

More than doable. You should be able to eat your dinner off the bathroom floor.

£115 per week for laundered sheets?

Buy the machine and pay the labour, in no time you'll be quids in!

Hmm on another note though...whilst she sounds rubbish, I do think that generally a cleaner should be there to 'clean' not pick up every aspect of daily life.

Glasses all around the living room, cereal tipped all over the kitchen floor, sofa throws sprawled everywhere...i'm assuming this is from the dc. BUT IMO you or the nanny should be at least making the kids pick up after themselves. Taking their dirty cups to the sink and sweeping up tipped cornflakes is something a three year old 'should' (IMO) be helping with. Not walking away and leaving if they do it. I don't think it does the dc any favours to get them used to leaving a trail of 'stuff' in their wake.

In the kindest possible way OP, you've lived a life where domestic expenditure matters not a jot and now, you're not approaching the real world, you're still on a massive budget, but quid pro quo you need to get a real grip.

Look at the link I gave for ordering in, it's nothing to do with me except I've bought from them and the food's pretty good. Look at expectations and schedules and the delivery of those and stop squandering where you can't afford to.

No one's judging your lifestyle, expenditure or expectations, but you need to sort out the boundaries and cut your cloth accordingly.

Get on top of it all and don't be a mug.

I know I seriously need to address the fact my kids don't help in any aspect with tidying up and get every single thing done for them - I know this can't carry on. I'll never make them do endless chores of course I won't but I am going to try and enforce some sort of 'helping out' and not leaving everything for the people 'mummy pays'. It's just very difficult they all miss their dad terribly and I think I'm trying to make up for him not being here if that makes sense

Poor people might have clean sheets every week but it obviously doesn't cost them £460 pm to get them, that's more than my mortgage.

You could probably buy new sheets for that money but granted they won't be as nice as what the OP probably has.

This thread is, so awfully sad.

Move to a smaller house, for the love of god. And raise your own children.

Nannies/cleaners/dry cleaning sheets/polishing AGA's. What a load of rubbish.

Your kids are going to leave home, and you won't even know them. This is just so, so grim.

I could cry at this, I really could.

It certainly is an upstairs downstairs of a first thread....

It does seem rather far fetched!!

Twentycupsoftea - I'm so glad you said that - I initially thought the OP was joking - 5 his of cleaning a day and mentioning a best lounge and a main lounge - I think I must live in a parallel universe