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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to wonder why everyone has cleaners these days!

648 replies

Storm4star · 20/04/2018 21:49

Ok, please don’t take offence, I say this somewhat in jest. But my goodness how many of you have cleaners?? I have been utterly ripping the pee out of a male colleague at work because he and his wife have a cleaner but I hadn’t realised how common it’s become until I joined MN!

I personally struggle to justify spending my hard earned cash on things I could do myself (also do most of my own decorating and DIY). But have I missed something? Is a cleaner now the new must have?

OP posts:
SingingTunelessly · 21/04/2018 07:48

We have a cleaner because we want to. We also have a gardener because we want to. Like lots of other people the world over. As for goading a new colleague it just makes you sound like a fool really.

Frogletmamma · 21/04/2018 07:49

I would have cleaners in...but I'd have to clean first....

Girliefriendlikesflowers · 21/04/2018 07:52

I'd love a cleaner, I don't even mind cleaning but as others have said time is the issue. I'm a single working (nurse) mother and at the end of a working day once I've washed up, cooked dinner, spent a bit of time with dd, made lunches, sorted washing, done a general tidy up I don't really have the energy to clean the bathroom, dust and hoover. In my case I can't afford a cleaner so these jobs just don't get done as often as I would like.

I can understand why some people have a cleaner though, it's not a hard concept to grasp!!

Original poster
Storm4star · 21/04/2018 07:54

I’ve woken up surprised to see this still alive and kicking ! He wasn’t a new colleague, we’ve been colleagues for years and, as i’ve said more than once, we rib each other.

Bottom line for me is, a few years back I knew a couple of women who cleaned houses and heard them laughing over stuff they’d found while rifling through drawers and cupboards (I didn’t approve) and that would put me off more than anything. I don’t have stuff to hide but it’s a total invasion of privacy.

OP posts:
RingtheBells · 21/04/2018 07:54

It depends what you choose to spend your money on, I have always worked varying hours of part time in circa £10 ph jobs so my hourly rate is probably the same as a cleaner. I don’t have a cleaner but if I worked full time then I would but as my job is not the most exciting l work part time and do my own housework

Bloodybridget · 21/04/2018 08:00

@umpireStrikesBack OK thanks for the insight! But I would say you have a housekeeper and cook, not simply a cleaner.

pictish · 21/04/2018 08:02

If you ‘rip the piss’ out of your colleague...or anyone else, over having a cleaner, you’re a numpty. Even if it’s good natured and taken well. You’re still being a numpty.

I don’t have a cleaner but if i was better off I would. In a second.

AuContraireStarfishHair · 21/04/2018 08:02

I wish I could have a cleaner. We have a gardner though and an ironing lady.

Laundry is an effort for me. I’m always hauling washing about. Great blimmin piles of it. I’d sink forever under it if it wasn’t for my lovely ironing lady.

Xenia · 21/04/2018 08:06

It depends on money. Lots of people cannot afford one. We couldn't for a good while but then good and had one and now the children are older I am happy to do it (as I don't like the intrusion into my home). However when we had 5 children and we both worked full time and we could afford it it was worth it as she also did the washing, changed the beds and towels and crucially put away the washing for 7 of us (she came every morning for quite a few years).

However it is not a human right and anyone who is rich enough to pay a cleaner should be aware it is luxury many people cannot afford. it is obviously sometihng you can cut back on if money gets tighter.

Manyfridays · 21/04/2018 08:15

Op honestly - you are immature for 'ripping the piss ' - have zero imagination if you cant understand why adults choose to spend thier money and time differently from you and worse what if him or his wife have an ilness or family issues they choose not to tell you about ?

BlondeB83 · 21/04/2018 08:16

My husband and I both work high stress, long hours jobs but don’t have a cleaner (as soon as I have decluttered my house it will be the first thing I do though! Blush)

My parents have one because they have a large house, my mum is disabled and my dad tries his best but can’t always keep on top of it all.

Teateaandmoretea · 21/04/2018 08:19

Because DH and I both work full time.

It is 'cheaper' than one of us doing the cleaning as our hourly rates are higher. If one of us was part time to take time to do this stuff we'd be worse off. It only costs 20 quid a week anyway, plus we still have to do the day to day stuff/ spring cleaning. It just cleans bathroom, kitchen, dusts and mops floors weekly. Plus it means we have to keep the house tidy Grin

In terms of being 'rich', with us both working FT a weekly clean is one of the very last things I would cut back on personally. I would definitely cut holidays back to camping only first for example.

BothersomeCrow · 21/04/2018 08:20

Cleaning quickly and effectively is certainly a skill! We have a cleaner fortnightly - mother and/or daughter team, daughter does more now to finance her degree. Back when I first had health problems we needed help but turned out she could clean much more effectively in much less time, so incentive to keep her.

Those saying how much mess can you make in a house if a couple are out working/commuting 50+ hours a week may not have these creatures of chaos known as small children...

Helpme1980 · 21/04/2018 08:21

I want a cleaner. Everyone I know pretty much has one. It’s the tidying of mess that takes longer than cleaning I think though with a young family.

NoFuckingRoomOnMyBroom · 21/04/2018 08:21

I only know 2 people who have cleaners, 1 who both she & her DH work long hours & the other who just CBA to clean herself. I've always stipulated that if I was to go back to work full time then a cleaner would be required... Funnily enough DH is happy with my part time hours 🤔

Teateaandmoretea · 21/04/2018 08:22

Those saying how much mess can you make in a house if a couple are out working/commuting 50+ hours a week may not have these creatures of chaos known as small children...

It is generally expected that you wash when you go to work so bathrooms need cleaning. Plus some people spend time wfh anyway as well as DC.

TheGrumpySquirrel · 21/04/2018 08:22

@adaline thanks Grin
I guess we are already doing a lot more than 30 minutes a day just keeping on top of the basics like cooking and tidying (yes sticking laundry on doesn't take long but after a long day at work and everything else that needs to happen in the eve, loading/unloading/putting away laundry as well is an incremental addition to the grind and so my entire evening 7-10 would be domestic tasks). So yes if I can afford a cleaner in that situation I'm gonna do it rather than essentially "work" from 7am-10pm every day without even 5 minutes to sit down.
Then at weekend you still need to do food shop and clean the house properly. So I struggle to see how it isn't much extra.

MyOtherProfile · 21/04/2018 08:22

However it is not a human right and anyone who is rich enough to pay a cleaner should be aware it is luxury many people cannot afford.
In the same way that regular trips to the hairdresser or having a tumble dryer and using it are. We all choose what to spend our money on. I'd forego all sorts in order to scrape together the money for a cleaner if I hit hard times. I really value the job my cleaner does. I could probably skip the luxury of music lessons for my children too and teach them myself but none of us would enjoy that. I expect when they learn to drive we will go for the luxury of a proper instructor rather than me for the same reason.

pictish · 21/04/2018 08:24

I agree manyFridays - it’s immature and small to make fun of someone over this. It shows a distinct lack of imagination if you can’t accept another adult prioritising differently to you without making fun of it.

It’s like those kids at school who take the piss out of ‘nerds’ because they’re too stupid to understand that other kids have different interests and skills to them.

Not the same = must be bad.

MyOtherProfile · 21/04/2018 08:25

I don't see laundry as being an effort? I shove a load on before I leave and then it's ready when I get home

Argh I'm with the grumpy squirrel here. I'd love to pay someone to do the laundry. I can stick it in a machine and switch it on but sadly that's not all there is to it. I have to get it out, dry it, iron it, fold it, and the worst bit put it away. I have spent years training my kids badly in the latter chore. I'd love it to disappear dirty and reappear in their drawers. And there's loads of the stuff. Nobody in my family seems capable of wearing anything more than once.

Middleoftheroad · 21/04/2018 08:27

I would have cleaners in...but I'd have to clean first....

I've fantasised about it, but this is a good point. Do you end up having to clean before?

LittleMissMarker · 21/04/2018 08:27

I have been utterly ripping the pee out of a male colleague at work because he and his wife have a cleaner

have I missed something?

Yes. You were ripping the piss out of your colleague for a domestic decision made by him and his wife. It doesn't matter how much the two of you rip the piss out of each other, ripping the piss out of his wife as well is a bad idea.

PaulDacreRimsGeese · 21/04/2018 08:29

You do realise stopfuckingshouting that in a lot of areas of the country, nurses and social workers are considered to be on pretty decent wages and, thanks to cheaper housing, may well be able to afford a cleaner?

I know this because DH and I are both on similar salaries with similar experience to my social worker cousin in our office jobs (and it took him longer to build up, she was better paid for a while!) and we could afford one. She has a few years experience, granted, but then so do we.

Don't have one as I don't feel the need if you saw the state of my house you would believe me, but a cleaner is usually about £10-£12 an hour outside London. It's true that a lot of people couldn't possibly afford it. But equally, a lot of pretty modestly paid households would have £20 a week disposable income, let alone households with professional income like social workers. My parents are in very low paid occupations (less than bus driver wage...) and they've got £20 a week to fritter. They don't have a cleaner either but again, they could. They just prefer their other luxuries.

This, I think, is why it's becoming more common. It isn't particularly expensive to have a cleaner, whilst also potentially being better paid and more flexible than a lot of unskilled work meaning people are willing to do it. One of the mums at school I'm pally with does it around school runs. She used to be in a call centre but they were total dicks about her hours.

Ohforfoxsakereturns · 21/04/2018 08:33

I’m a WAH single parent with four DCs.

I have a cleaner because I would not be able to cope otherwise.

I would rather never go out, never have a glass of wine, cut back on everything else before letting go of her help.

PoorYorick · 21/04/2018 08:34

I don't care about a cleaner but if I could afford it, I'd have a cook who also washed up. THAT'S where the time is lost for me.

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