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!

We have a similar sized property and ask for thorough clean plus ironing, plus on or max two Rota jobs - an hours work.(eg. Things that we dint ask each week but need to be done in rotation : clean inside of windows, one week deep.clean the higher shelves or inside a couple of cupboards or clean silver items, clothing repairs.)
We ask for 6 hrs total and pay £11 per hr. 3 hrs for a 3 bed is not enough.

Fuck ironing.

Get an ironer to do ironing. I don't even understand ironing. I hang my clothes up so they don't wrinkle, thus, have never ironed.

She's there to clean, not iron.

Organise your clothes as you take them off the line/ out of the dryer. Cuts out most of the ironing

My name is Lonicera and I iron my clothes.

I iron because quite frankly my clothes look a mess if I don't. I wear a lot of cotton, and regardless of whether I line dry or tumble dry they always look creased. I look wrinkled enough already and I refuse to look like a scruff bag at work.

Your expectations are ludicrous. Try getting your house clean and all the ironing done within 3 hours yourself. It's not her problem you can't afford more, and I'm amazed she tried for as long as she did, tbh. Maybe you should try buying more clothes made of fabrics that do not tend to crease?

So when she brought other girls with her, you still only paid £10 an hour?

What day does she come?
Maybe on the Day before she comes have a blitz. Put music on. Half an hour of everyone tidying stuff away. If she's able to "get at it" she can clean in a lot less time.
If you can't afford to pay her more maybe look over your ironing with a critical eye and take out all the tee shirts etc. I only every really ironed work shirts in the main.

Ironing is time-consuming, so maybe drop that from what you expect your cleaner to do? Personally, I never just iron - I use the time to catch up on TV that I've recorded. Most ironing doesn't take too much actual attention, so I find I can watch TV and iron at the same time. And since it's recorded I can pause/rewind as required when I'm ferrying stuff upstairs etc.

"I'm envious of people who say they never iron - I just don't know how they can get away with non ironed clothes."
It's all in the forward planning - what you buy, how you launder it. A cotton jersey t-shirt/polo-shirt doesn't need to be ironed, a poplin business shirt does. Also I take stuff out the drier before it's completely dry, give it a good shake and put on a hanger to complete drying. Maybe pull a collar straighter. So - you don't buy stuff that's going to be a PITA, and you don't over-dry what you do buy.

Your hair straighteners can be used to give collors a little straighten if needed. I usually run over them with it before I put them on (They are already heating for my hair)

We have cleaners who iron as well, it can work really well. I think that 3 hours isn't enough time to do the work. Every now and again try cleaning and timing yourself it is very easy to imagine that things take less time when other people are doing them.

We aren't great at picking everything up and we do try the day before the cleaners come and we wipe the kitchen and bathrooms down daily. We also,have a robot Hoover who works non stop during the week.

Mine cleans a 3 bed house no ironing £30 3 hours.

Just let her clean. £10 an hour is cheap!

My cleaner does 3 hours in my 5 bed house. However there are 3 rooms I ask her not to clean, for various reasons. She doesn't get through the work not because it is too much but because she's not very good. Having realised today she hasn't cleaned the kitchen floor again I won't be having her back.

A friend who has a slightly smaller house than me has her cleaner 2 hours per week, and is aghast mine takes 3 hours. However I simply don't think it's possible to do a house this size in 2 hours.

I think your cleaner sounds a bit rude tbh. If there's too much ironing she should say so. I do feel 2 hours is plenty for a 3 bed house so the real issue is how much ironing is there? Are you wanting her to do all clothes for all 3 of you, plus bedlinen etc? If it's a few shirts fine but an entire weeks worth of ironing must take ages.

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.

I iron about 3 times a year. Agree with those who said you buy clothes that don't crease. Also I use a tumble dryer and I also hang a lot of stuff on hangers to dry. My clothes don't look perfect but I find if I do iron something it still ends up creased when I sit down so I'd rather save the effort.

Hoovering

2 hours is plenty for an entire house clean ?! I don't think so. Think Op sounds quite entitled saying she can't afford it, do it yourself then.

I have someone for 2.5 hours for a 5 bed house, but they don't do 2 of the bedrooms, so probably about the same size.

I completely tidy before they come, and we do all the laundry ourselves, empty bins, load & unpack the dishwasher and wipe kitchen surfaces (seemingly several times a day!)

I think expecting the ironing is too much. £10 an hour is a reasonable rate.

I wouldn't be getting this cleaner back given she has been discussing you with your friend. Very unprofessional.

I have similar sized house. Cleaner 2 hours per week. £12.50 per hour. (& for where I live - this sadly is on the low side).

2 week system. So has time to do things well at a steady pace - (I do not want Cleaner run into the ground or just a pub clean/lick & a promise). I want to be a good employer. What she does is highly valued. But I don't have a lot of money. So
Week 1 - The upstairs is done
Week 2 - Downstairs
I sort of prep for her coming in. But only have to prep one zone - not the entire house. Easier for everyone esp me. & term time only - so we both get a break from the unremittingness of it all. & financially nice to have regular breathers. So it's £25 per week - term time only. (plus £25 Holiday Pay 3 times per year - she is really valued). I've had a lot of Cleaners over the years & they vary considerably. I've also found - advertise for Temp one (whilst regular Cleaner out of action - fib). Offer permanent post only when you're as sure as you can be. So not awkward - if you not happy for whatever reason. Check references - simple phone call. My regular household insurance covered a cleaner too. This is what I've learnt from experience.
Ironing service - separate. As well as - do you have anywhere you could leave your ironing board permanently set up - & available to all.

This has made me feel very grateful for our cleaner unhelpful

We pay £30 for 3 hours for a good sized 4 bed house. Not every single thing gets done every week, but she keeps on top of everything so that the house never looks dirty. So one week the internal glazing will get done, the next the skirting boards will get wiped etc. But it has to be tidy before she comes. I spend hours before she gets here making sure surfaces are all clear, toys all away etc. Nothing gets done inbetween her visits except loos kept clear of poo streaks or little boy dribbles and kitchen cleared after meals.

It does sound like you're expecting too much. But that doesn't explain why she says your house is too 'difficult'. Rather than just quit I think it would have been more reasonable for her to tell you she over estimated what could be done in the time and let you know what can be done and ask if you're happy with that.

Three hours is not enough for house of that size with a resident family let alone with ironing on top. Follow the tips here to avoid ironing and focus on the cleaning. We never ironed school uniform; non iron + tumble drier and prompt hanging/folding = me forgetting what an iron looks like.

When you sized the job did you honestly compare it with what you can do in three hours?

It is not your cleaner's fault if you can't afford to pay her for all the work you want done. Either cut down on the ask and do more yourselves or you need to find more money.

Rate depends on locality but in the South East £10 is not generous and a good cleaner can easily get significantly more. I've kept an excellent cleaner for over 20 years but we are mutually realistic in expectations and I keep pay in the upper end of local rates. Its no different to any form of in-demand employment.

Lose the ironing, send it out or do it yourself. My cleaner never irons.

My cleaner doesn't dust (not that I can see), doesn't clean windows or wipe skirting boards. Or dust for cobwebs. We don't have a dishwasher, the kitchen is clear and surfaces clean. She is expected to vacuum the whole house, wash the floors (about half the rooms are wood/tile) and clean 2 bathrooms. Yet she doesn't do even manage that. I'm definitely getting a new cleaner....

It sounds like you don't have realistic expectations. You need to offer more money for more hours, or reduce the amount of work you're expecting her to do.