To wonder why people have cleaners

[Gingerninj]

I don't mean this in a rude way I'm just curious how much people really benefit from having a cleaner. They seem to do the hovering, cleaning floors, changing beds, dusting, clean windows and so on. Honestly I don't do much of this very often, maybe hover once a week, change beds every other week, clean windows and dust possibly every other week but probably not. The house still looks fairly nice and clean. Fair enough some people don't have time for this, I don't either really but it seems like it would take up more of my time to tidy all the rooms enough that I'd be happy to let someone see them.

I think you can always find time to clean, but I definitely would have a cleaner if I could afford it easily! hoovering can be such a chore...

How much do cleaners get paid and what is expected for that hourly rate?? I'm thinking of getting my pinnie on..

Because I like a clean house and I'd prefer not to spend my free time cleaning.

Limpopobongo £12 here in Surrey.

To be honest I wonder about other things, like how did Brexit happen and how is Donald Trump still president... but hey. I have a cleaner who comes in once a week and I would be in dire straits without her. I work full time, have an autistic little boy and zero time to myself. I come home from work every day, put bags down, cook dinner, feed everyone, bathe son, put son to bed and sit down at 9:45 for an episode of something if I'm still awake, or to do coursework (online course on top of full time job). If I cleaned on top of that I would need an IV drip of coffee and steroids to keep me retaining mildly human characteristics. This is very much a personal choice depending on the lives people lead and unless you're absolutely strapped for cash I would say have the cleaner and live a little bit of the minutes you have free before life totally passes you by. ;)

I’m happy to clean up after myself but suddenly I’m expected to clean up after 6 people. 4 kids and DH who works 7 days a week so can barely fit playing with the kids in let alone housework. I also have a full time job. I will use a small bit of my salary to run our house so we can live and try to live the best life we can. I don’t know why I’m expected to make excuses for not doing all the cleaning for 6 people myself. Other people do it professionally so why not give them work?

*I think I know what you mean, what I need is a housekeeper who will do the housework. Load and unlaod the dish washer, change the bins, put on a wash, hang out the wash.......

that's the stuff cleaners don't do isn't it?*

My cleaner does all the above every week - she deals with all our laundry, makes sure it's ironed and hung up. When we had a housekeeper/helper, she used to do all the above + cook + collect the kids from school and take them to the park, do homework etc. I miss her!

My cleaner does whatever I ask in relation to the house. And I thank the lord every week that I don't have to do any of it. I don't have any problem with cleaning toilets, it's probably the first thing I'm happy to do if I'm cleaning myself, but by fuck I can't stand mopping and we have a big house and a lot of tiles.

In our case, the cleaners clean the house. They empty the bins and put in fresh liners as part of the cleaning. They will change sheets on beds if you leave out clean sheets on top. But that is the extent of more "housework" chores they do.

So hovering, mopping, cleaning toilets and sinks, cleaning kitchen, bins - that's the main role.

Things like emptying dishwashers or hanging laundry or doing ironing are not part of what they do. (Nor laying table for meals, doing washing up, putting things back in correct rooms/places, or more house management jobs like organizing bags for school/activities, filling in the diary and dealing with any conflicts, paying bills, buying food, arranging mending/dry cleaning, arranging travel, purchasing and wrapping cards and presents for social engagements, buying stamps/stationary to deal with bills/correspondence, prepping food for meals.....)

Yeah, I'd love a proper housekeeper to even take half of that away from me.

Not going to happen though. We are far (very far) from the income bracket where such skills are available in modern times. And far from the 1940s/50s when it was still relatively common in certain circles (whether the lady of the house was working outside the home or not).

I would like to hover once a week, can you teach me how please OP? Do you need specialist equipment and does it feel like flying? OMG I'm excited :)

We have a lady who cleans and irons for 6 hours every week. It is wonderful. We have had this for years, which covers periods when I've been on maternity leave and periods when I've been at work (20 hours a week). DH works very very long hours and we can afford it.

I still spend plenty of time doing is spent doing daily tidying, food prep, cooking, cleaning up, dishwasher, laundry (from start to finish), making/changing beds etc, let alone things done less frequently like cleaning windows, fridge etc all take. If you can relieve the load on you or your partner, then why not?

A weekly cleaner doesn't mean that you don't clean in between visits.

I also have a weekly gardener (3 hours) and someone to clean my oven every year. I also have a window cleaner every 6 weeks or so. My house is in no way a show home.

I make no apologies. This is me.