my cleaner has quit - says my house is difficult to clean! embarrassed

[allaboutthatsass]

So I've had a cleaner for 3 hours pw for the past year. She cleans our 3 bed detached and does our ironing. All agreed when she was hired.

Sometimes she comes alone, sometimes she comes with 2 staff (and they might finish in an hour).

She's now quit, saying my house is just too much for her. She says I have too much ironing to be done in 3 hours and that I'm not doing anything in between her visits.

I work full time as does my husband (in fact he has two jobs, a sunday is the only day I see more than an hour or two of him a day whilst awake). Our DD is 9.

I've never been houseproud, I admit, and I'm crap at ironing BUT my house is not tidy. There is zero clutter. I do my laundry daily, I make the beds, put stuff in the dishwasher, open windows for fresh air, I really try my best with the little time I have.

I'm very embarrassed that she thinks my house is too much work. My mother and sister tell me I'm a lazy shit (they are both a bit aggie and kim) but my friends say my house is a normal family house so I don't know if AIBU or my cleaner is?

I hired her to help me but seemingly my house is that bad she doesn't want the money...

we have a mutual friend and according to this friend if I want her back then she wants more money to do my house due to the amount of work she feels needs done every week. I pay £30 for 3 hours a week. I have recently had a drop in pay so not really keen on paying more.

Can anyone help me with advice on managing housework without a cleaner on such little time?

Oh and in addition to my full time job, I'm also a distance learning uni student as of September, so even less time!

Is your house a bit cramped, nothing worse than hoovering a crowded small house.
Do you change your sheets weekly, do it fortnightly. Don't iron them.
Washing every day for 3 people seems too much.

I would say an easier option (perhaps nearer her home?) has come up and she wants to leave yours.

Some Olymp shirts don't need ironing.

What’s stopping you ironing in the evening when your one child is in bed and watch the telly at the same time?
My dh and I work ft and have two toddlers. Our cleaner comes once a week for 3 hours. If we can fit everything in you can.

Plus, you should be doing the basics when she's not there - a quick go over in the bathroom every other day, kitchen surfaces daily and either hooping/floor sweeping.

In which case I,wouldn’t need a cleaner

Argh! Thanks Annie

It would be so much better if there was a banner saying this thread has been inactive for X amount of time.

3 hours to clean a 3 bedroomed house and do all the ironing???

YABVVU

Ask the cleaner how many hours she’d need per week to do her job - simple? Otherwise, either do the ironing yourself - or pay someone else.

The fact that you can’t/ don’t want to pay her for more hours really isn’t her problem

Unfortunately 3 hours is not enough time to clean a house, and iron.
Could you send the ironing out !
Or how about she cleans the kitchen and bathroom thoroughly, vacs the stairs and lounge.

I clean and iron for a single male in a two bed house and it takes me three hours each week and that is without touching the gym. I am not slow at all and I do an extra hour every six weeks for jobs such as window/oven cleaning. You are wanting too much and paying too little. You have a choice either pay for more hours or do more of it yourself because my experience is that even when people have cleaners they do some upkeep themselves during the week even if they do work full time and have children.

You say BUT my house is not tidy. I think this might be the cause of the problem - cleaning an untidy house is very difficult especially if you don't know where all the things go. I'd suggest 2 things:

1. Tidy up so someone can clean well
2. Get a separate ironing service if you really need it (I hardly iron anything just deal with it as soon as the machine finishes)

Takes me a full 6 hours to do our house, 6 bedrooms and that’s going full pelt. I couldn’t manage three beds in three hours op.

Most people I know with nice houses, are SAHM or work part time. I don't know any full time friends who don't have a cleaner

I work full time and i am out of the house from 6:30am - 8pm Mon - Fri and my 3 bed house (with 2 people) is immaculate. You just have to be organised. We don't iron much, only the musts such as shirts and trousers. The rest is shaken out really well before being hung to dry.

There is no way she should be expected to clean the entire house AND do a family's week load of ironing as well. It's one or the other, I'm afraid.

THIS THREAD IS 10 MONTHS OLD

I imagine OP is either dead and buried under her heap of ironing or has got it sorted by now.

Bloody zombie threads. WHY doesn't the warning stay up??

Why has this zombie thread resurfaced? I started reading and got a strange sense of deja vu!

Who the hell bumps them is a better question . If a thread comes up in active convos how are people to know?

Our cleaner does two hours a week, but we tidy everything, kitchen is wiped down every night, dishes etc done and put away. We have a 3 bed semi but no dogs or kids so two of the rooms are guest rooms, one I also use as a study (so if I have work out in there I ask her not to bother with that room) so need little attention other than a quick dust and hoover. We do our own ironing as we need it, I work away frequently and don't even iron for trips, it's easier to do it once I'm at the hotel with the TV on on the first evening. I agree with the consensus that it's too much to do in that time, drop the ironing.

Ugh I didn't realise it was a zombie thread

Ooh a cleaning Zombie.

If a thread comes up in active convos how are people to know?

I have my Active set up so that there's a 'Started by' column which also gives the date the thread started, but that's on the laptop.

I know who would bump this kind of thread? Who has time to read back through old threads about somebody's cleaner?

I know I'm just keeping it going now 👻

You have to be googling something. It is very odd.

Ironing - waste of time! If you need a crisp white shirt, do it on a 'need to wear' basis, while the kettle is boiling for tea in the morning, If you have secondary school aged kids, they can do the same.

I don't understand why people have an attitude about the fact you want the ironing done? If people don't iron themselves that's their business, but if you want ironing that's generally a service cleaners provide if pre-specified. We have a large 2 bedroom flat and the cleaner comes for 4 hours (12.50 an hour), 2.5 of that time is for cleaning and 1.5 is for ironing. This was all agreed beforehand and I asked how long she would need, and this is what she had said. Your cleaner sounds like her attitude stinks. 3 hours probably isn't enough and you should extend to 4, but there is no reason for her to be so rude/cancelling on you for other clients is unacceptable. Find a different cleaner, explain what you want from the outset and see what she thinks is possible.

My cleaners just put their rates up from £12 and hour to £14 an hour.
I think your problem is the ironing - it takes longer than you think - and she might not like it. Especially business shirts with collars. I've been hiring cleaners for almost 20 years - on average they can do about 4-5 shirts in an hour if you want them done properly. We get our shirts done at the laundry and I mainly leave my cleaners to clean with the odd bit of ironing thrown in.

wow, 30pounds per 3 hours, that's very cheap. I pay 15 per hour. It takes two hours to clean our 1 bedroom (and I always keep it tidy, no ironing for a cleaner). I think that a three bed house with ironing for such a little money and with limited time is a bit too much. Maybe hire a company? They will do a quote that fits your house.