How many cleaners have you been through.....

[Eesha]

Hi all,

I was one of those people who was the last to get a cleaner but I seem to have been through quite a few in the last two years. I don’t know whether I’m fussy or expecting too much. I’m not the cleanest or tidiest but can see these obvious missed things

1. Kept cancelling last minute due to family stuff
2. Were expensive and I thought I could get it done cheaper, big regret
3. Girl who did less hours but cleaned round things and wasn’t done fully
4. Recommended au pair looking for more hours but couldn’t cope with the work
5. Duo but item got stolen, went missing
6. Current one lied and said she did things but clearly didn’t

Now just booked in another recommended person.....sigh.

Is this normal?

In Four hours I do, one bed, kitchen, lounge, hall, stairs, two bathrooms, snug...

I am 32 and in pretty good health/fitness but it is also my own business so that may make a difference?

My mother-in-law says you get cleaners who clean (but don't really clean) and then you get real cleaners!!

My old manager used to say some people's idea of cleaning isn't others...

to me if you do a job you may as well do it right!

Oh and its a 5 bed house so you can possibly imagine the size of it.. it's has a games room downstairs then the is the ground floor... then there's up stairs.. these rooms are not small either.

All floors need hoovering and mopping. Bathrooms are both family bathrooms!

None.

Mumsnet is an alternative Universe.

I’ve had two, but been back and forth between the pair of them as they used to work together but then had a difference and split, I ended up leaving the 1st and going back to the 2nd as more reliable. I plan to hang on to her as long as possible!

1. Preferred to spend the time arranging cushions in geometric patterns, not so keen on emptying bins or cleaning the bathroom
2. Was actually ok, but left to clean for someone full time rather than a few hours here and there
3. Was also ok but broke her ankle (not while cleaning for me) and quit
4. Never turned up on the requested day, used to call at the last minute with bizarre medical conditions and eventually got herself in an entirely avoidable but insane mix-up with keys
5. Agency sent substitute when regular cleaner unavailable. Cleaner fell out with agency somehow and got revenge by losing my keys. Agency sacked cleaner and stopped responding to calls asking them to pay for replacement locks and keys.

Haven't dared get number 6, it's exhausting.

I tried an agency first of all and had various people, one who was TERRIFIED Of cats and so never returned, one who made the house reek of cigarette smoke. Then I found one via a local FB group who was brilliant, she cleaned for us for a year before leaving as she had too much work on. Our current one is very nice and friendly but she will tidy everything when I don't want tidying, I want cleaning. She has virtually no English so my efforts to explain to her that if I haven't tidied a space, she doesn't need to bother cleaning it, have gone unheeded. She rearranges all our stuff so we can never find anything, while I've spent quite a long time today dusting all the tops of pictures and removing cobwebs round curtain rails and cleaning window frames, all the sorts of things I wish she would do once in a while rather than reorganising all my stuff. I'd really like to find someone else but no idea how to let her go!

We have three bedrooms, two receptions, two bathrooms and she cleans for 3 hours per fortnight. For that ideally I'd like the bathrooms and kitchen cleaned, the floors all hoovered and mopped as appropriate, and maybe one extra job per visit - our previous cleaner used to clean out one kitchen cupboard per visit, that kind of thing. Or the high up dusting, as mentioned.

My sister and I are also struggling to find a good cleaner.
Can I ask, those of you with a good cleaner does your house smell of your cleaning products? Random I know, but I like the smell of the house smelling clean but the house doesn't with the last two cleaners. It is clean, but I cannot smell any products.
Does anyone have a recommendation in Hayes Kent? Thanks

Agree completely, my house doesn’t smell clean after being cleaned either! That’s exactly what I look for, and frustrates me when not....

Too many. The last one sacked me because my expectations are too much for her. She was ok but very slow and in 3 hours didn’t get that much done so hey ho.

Most frustrating I find is that when they come to meet and quote they always say they’ll do things which they then don’t (like hoover under the sofa, dust skirting etc.) and I end up feeling like I’m nitpicking.

False promises to get the job! A lot of people do this in job interviews.. I wouldn't do it though.. I will say that some people who we clean for do expect you to pick up dirty clothes after them, do the nights before washing up from tea time.. swings and round abouts I think...

One cleaner, so far for fifteen years and ongoing.

Precisely zero.

Also the number I will be able to employ in the future.

We are all living on the same planet, right?

I don't see why people without cleaners are commenting just keep scrolling and keep the sarky comments to yourself. Some people have cleaners and some don't. Jesus

My advice, clean your own stuff and none of this would happen! Wow, I feel enlightened:)

Mine is fantastic!

£25 an hour for 2 hours a week.

Her "official jobs" are the bathroom and the kitchen, but she does so much more!

She will mop around my mop-hating puppy.

She takes the initiative, too. Last week she cleaned my lounge windows, and other jobs I can't see need doing.

That poor woman has had to deal with the aftermath of sleepovers, tummy upsets (TMI) and general kid-and-dh mess. Even my mail gets put in a tidy pile! 😂

I wouldn't be without her now.

On a side note, does anyone get sneered at when you mention you have a cleaner? It's not like we're loaded- but I reason that it's what my PIP is supposed to be for IYSWIM?

Oh...should have menrioned I've had her seven months.

Why some of us actually struggle to clean dor ourselves!!!

Wincher can you use Google translate to write or show her a message saying “I need to explain some things to you, please can you bring/phone a friend who can translate?”.

Or put a thread on here asking someone to translate that initial message for you and someone will probably help.

You want to try my luck!!
1st - absolutely fab but MH issues meant she couldn't travel to the new house when we moved sadly. It was in the same general area but different borough kind of thing.
2nd - absolutely fab too but then started drinking and stole alcohol from me including a full bottle of whisky!
3rd - very very meticulous - would take about 2 hours to do 1 room. this was not an option.
4th - agency - realised after a few month that i was paying for 4 hours (probably was overgenerous due number 3 mentioned above) and they were doing 2 hours (2cleaners used to come for 1hour). i was not impressed. i dont think the cleaners were bad but the agency was a shambles and they couldnt provide me records of what had happened (when it had started...). 1 cleaner was pretty good, the other not so but overall ok. it was just because of the mess up of the hours and lack of transparency that i had to stop.
5- made sure I avoided agencies and got a self employed one. Explained my issues above re agency and re stealing so trust was essential. Then one day I came home to a note from "Suzanne" telling me I was out of some cleaning product. Which was all nice and good, lovely note, but my cleaner was called "Sarah", not " Suzanne". Cleaner admitted she had asked someone to cover over the last few weeks due to some personal issues. But had never informed me!!!
6- tried another agency but the set up was weird and it was very unclear what I was paying for in quite high fees as I had to pay the cleaner direct too. The standards were quite poor too.
7- self employed cleaner again - lovely lady but no more than average unfortunately. When I went on mat leave I said I wouldn't need her and I have not called her back.
8- current - lovely lady and fab work, very hardworking but my God she is all over the place and forgets random things, leaves bin in the room (bin bag full of rubbish, in the living room - that's a problem as my dog likes to get into the bin...), left some of her belonging in a room, does some things v well and some not at all.. And keeps changing when she is coming, often at the last minute and lately has asked to come on the only half day of the week that I said from the beginning wasn't ideal for me... For now I'll keep her... :) I'm just worried she'll leave the door opened on her way out one day..

I'd like to think ive been unlucky rather than v difficult...

We are on our 3rd cleaner in 10 years. 1st was useless, second two (team) were amazing but retired and current is good but not as good as the last two.

We always make sure the house is tidy so our cleaner can properly clean. Don’t want her wasting her time tiding up rather than actually cleaning.

We've had two cleaners in twelve years.

1. cleaned out London flat for 4 years. She was pretty reliable and had a great line in arranging scatter cushions. She was paid for four hours work to clean a small 2 bed flat, so it's no wonder she was never inclined to leave.
2. 6 years in, cleaning our family home. Has stepped up from a 2 hour per week cleaning role to an eight hour housekeeping role. She's super reliable, just gets on with things and is lovely with the children. She's seen us through sick children, dying parents, house renovations. There has been five and take ( so she's had to dash off at the last minute to be in court in Another country and has planned a few last minute holidays) but she's fabulous. I'm terrified she'll leave as I'm certain she's irreplaceable. We pay her very well, I always make sure pay rises are offered before she has to ask.

1. Team of two men who pranced about stealing snogs from each other. They did not much cleaning.
2. Was utterly terrified of the dog and every time he shifted in his bed would run from the room.
3. Absolutely fab and lasted 4 years until she moved.
4. Drank lots of tea and didn't clean much.
5. A strange bitter woman who spent most of her time here complaining to me about everything in her life and then picked a fight with the nanny.

My cleaner was in the house when we brought DS home from the hospital ... and he is about to do his GCSE's!

Is absolutely fab; has a amazing work ethic and VERY high cleaning standards (higher than my own, which I think is always useful, as it means you are permanently pleased!) She comes in twice a week (DH and I both work full time) and we are very dependant on her. We pay her well and never complain/query if she wants to switch around days or hours, which she sometimes does to accommodate a couple of other jobs she has. Interestingly I know that she likes us best of the people she works for as she gets messed around by them periodically - useful for us to be in the position of "favourites"!

She has a bit of a thing for ferociously tidying things away in a slightly random fashion, but she is quite small so as DH notes you only need to look around in the low drawers!

I’ve only ever had one and she’s been with us for 10 years. There have been two occasions in that time that she couldn’t come and she told us upfront. She always works with one other person - some have been better than others over the years - but she makes sure standards are maintained. Is the cleaning “perfect”? No, not always, but reliability and loyalty are worth much more than perfection. Plus she uses Zoflora so my house always smells lovely when she’s done. I am very lucky, she is like one of the family now.