NC for this as I don't want to be outed.
I am a single parent to one DC, and we live in an old largeish 3 bedroom house. Cheap rent because it is damp and falling apart around the edges and not in particularly good nick.
Over the last few years my health has taken a turn for the worse and I can no longer be as physically active as I used to be, especially in winter. I have joint and mobility problems and can't keep the house as clean and tidy as I would like it and the mess makes me very irritable and depressive. I finally bit the bullet and have hired a cleaner, as I also work full time and feel that it would be a good use of some of my income.
I'm sitting here waiting for her to turn up and starting to get really really nervous - to the point of feeling like cancelling - because I am embarrassed at the state of my house and I don't know what I can reasonably ask her to do or what to expect. I was raised a working class girl with no airs or graces and have been a chambermaid, scrubbed toilets, done a lot of domestic and cleaning work myself over the years and part of me is very uncomfortable delegating those tasks to someone else now (even though a lot of my closest friends and my DP have been gently suggesting it for a while knowing that I struggle with heavy jobs).
I am painfully shy with new people and a bit of a doormat. I've booked her for 5 hours - what can I reasonably expect? Do cleaners wash up? Make beds? Clear surfaces? Generally tidy? Judge you for dried in sauce stains you never even noticed clinging to cupboard doors? Change bins? Should I go out? How do I pay her? Do I make tea? Would that be weird? What if she thinks I'm a slob?
Can people with cleaners advise? I posted on my FB and took it down a few mins later as distant family members who have no idea how unwell I am started weighing in calling me 'lazy' and 'up myself' for getting domestic help. I feel enough of a failure as it is without their sly digs.