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.

Right now I would love to have a cleaner come to my house & sort out EVERY single room. I use to think why need a cleaner except maybe once in a blue moon to clean oven etc. But With 4 boys, one being a baby & a husband who works longs hours, it is impossible to keep on top of things. I feel so much happier when my house is clean. I just keep saying to myself the house will get sorted once baby is older & I should enjoy my time now with my children.

I have a housekeeper three days a week as well. I don't live in the UK and it's not out of the ordinary. She does most things (washing, Ironing, cleaning, tidies cupboards etc). I work full time self employed with two busy DC and I am a single parent. But another factor is that she depends on the salary each month, so even though I have had a lot of changes d in my life, I have sacrificed other things in order to keep her employed with me. I pay her above going rates and I am comfortable with her being in my home and helping with my DC. She has worked here for 8 years. She is amazing. on Friday she sewed my button back on my shirt that fell off as I was leaving the house in a panic so I changed as it was quicker. Love her to bits, she is like family to us.

Because I work full time and have a large house which I don’t want to spend time cleaning at the weekend! Strangely enough I want to spend time with my child 🙄

Hey ging you keep writing about what you do. No mention of your DH. Are you his cleaner?

I would LOVE a cleaner.

I love having a cleaner.
Every two weeks the bathrooms are deep cleaned, all floors are mopped and carpets hoovers thoroughly, furniture pulled out. All surfaces are cleaned. Beds changed. And that’s it!

I work full time. I’ve two kids under 4, and I’m single. Every second weekend I don’t have my kids - but I’ve opted to NOT spend that time cleaning and instead try to have a life :)

I iron one night every few of weeks and do the whole lot. I do all the laundry and obviously hoover/mop etc myself but it’s nice to have that deep clean done.

With little kids you can only do those jobs when they are not around. (ME DO IT! helpers) I’m wrecked when the kids are in bed. Not prepared to spend that last hour cleaning.

How is it so hard to imagine!!!!

Because some people are really good at cleaning! And I'm not. That's it.

I pay someone to clean my oven, bins, carpets. One, I have autoimmune diseases that leave me a bit poorly and two, I really can't be arsed. I've considered a cleaner but I have no young children so my mess is minimal and I don't work. If I did have young kids then yes I'd have a cleaner no questions asked!

We got a cleaner and it was the most stressful experience of my life. It was meant to aid me in recovery after some major surgery but she refused to clean the first time she came because my house was too cluttered. My house is continuously messy with two young children and a multitude of family members traipsing through helping care for me, and the level of tidying needed so the cleaner would bloody clean was too much for me so we let her go ha! I've just accepted the chaos as it is, at least it's clean chaos!

A good cleaner will do everything for you given enough hours at a fair rate. Tidying, cleaning - kitchens, bathrooms, cupboards inside and out, fridge, cooker, showers, toilets, bath etc etc. Vacuuming, windows, laundry, ironing. If you are good to your cleaner she will babysit gratis for brief periods during her working day, let your dog out etc etc. If you both have full time jobs and need to spend spare time on yourself, yourselves or your DC, a good cleaner is invaluable and deserves respect, good pay and good conditions. When you hear people refer to their cleaner as a treasure then almost certainly all the above applies. If you treat your cleaner as a skivvy and pay her as little as you can you will never have a treasure.

Sorry murphys missed you post. QED

Your

I hate cleaning. And work 12.5 hour shifts. So I prefer to spend my days off resting.

I don't have a cleaner but I completely see why others do. When I was working more hours, with a toddler and a very fluffy lovely dog, I tried to convince my husband to hire a cleaner. I hate coming home to a messy house and I also detest starting the weekend with a massive list of jobs. I have a long commute and DH has to sort out our child and dog and drop offs etc while I'm commuting so no time then to clean. I decided to reduce my hours as my husband's pay rise made up the difference. Had this not happened I would have hired someone. Having a clean house and the food shop done on a Friday night makes a huge difference to my emotional wellbeing and ability to enjoy family time at the weekend. This has a knock on effect to my son and husband. I absolutely understand why those who are cash rich but time poor hire cleaners, gardeners etc. It gives people jobs and I genuinely believe aides happy home lives.

Because they don't like cleaning? It's tiring and boring and makes me itchy (allergies) When I go back to work I'm definitely getting one.

I initially got a cleaner because I hate cleaning the bathroom. But I couldn’t have a cleaner just for that one room.

Over the years it’s gone from 2hrs to now 4hrs a week. I now live in a large house with 5 bathrooms. That’s an hour of cleaning just for those.

I change the beds myself (weekly), tidy up daily, do the ironing & perhaps push the vac around between visits, so I don’t do nothing. I have no more time nor inclination to do it myself, & whilst I’m in the fortunate position of being able to afford a cleaner, I’m damn well gonna have one.

We want a cleaner, but we've got to clean and declutter the house first, because otherwise it'd be too embarrassing!

Because I grew up in Africa, where the convention is that if you have enough money to employ someone for the little jobs, then you do just that.

The idea is that you share the money around and your good fortune creates employment for someone else.

Also - I don't like cleaning and neither does my husband

Why don’t you bake your own bread OP? It’s much cheaper and without additives.

Why spend £20 on a dress, OP when you can buy the cloth for a fiver and sew it yourself?

While you’re at it why not weave your own cloth like a good roman matron? If you grow and pick the cotton it will only cost you 20p for the seeds.

Why not wash all your clothes by hand? A washing machine is over £100 and hand washing is free.

Why not live in a tent, OP. An actual house is several hundred pounds a month and a tent is £100 one off. You can gather firewood to keep warm in winter.

In fact why go supermarket shopping when you can grow your own food. Buy a fertilised chicken egg and in a few short weeks you can have a chicken dinner for the cost of an egg!

To answer your original question, the answer is time.

We use money all the time to pay others to do specialised tasks which we could do ourselves, but they are faster and more efficient and effective.

I can come home from a long day at work/looking after children and clean the bathroom and toilet or I can pay someone £10 to do it. With the 30 minutes I’ve saved I can read a book, watch an episode of whatever. I’m now not too tired to make love and I’m not grumpy and snapping at my children.

I don’t smoke, I don’t have a shoe habit. I just use the money I would spend on that on a cleaner.

One word. Bathrooms.

To have one less thing to argue about with dh. Our cleaner does 2 hours a week and I do around an extra 2.5 hours a week on top of that. I have a dog and 2 small children and it’s a constant battle keeping on top of tidying and cleaning. I love my Thursdays when the house looks spotless and tidy.

I'm disabled! That's what part of my PIP is to pay for as I can't downy aspects of cleaning

I've always had a cleaner, even through the many years of house sharing.

It's by far the best money I spend in a week. Nothing better then walking in to a lovely clean home.

I have only recently got a cleaner and I have to say it's brilliant. I have 2 kids, 2 Cats, I work and DH works away so I struggled with getting everything done to the standard I like it. Now I look forward to coming home to a pristine house after she's been. Well, until everyone gets home and messes it all up again!

Well, you pay someone else to make your cheese for you, you could make it yourself.