Cleaning before the cleaner arrives

[mirandaspanda]

DH and I have a a long running difference of opinion. It's definitely one with no "right" answer.
DH understands that we need to tidy up the house before the cleaner arrives - beds made, things off the floor, work surfaces clear, toilets clean, cat litter trays changed etc.
I always use the night before to do a mini sort out - items returned to their homes etc.
We have a reasonable size house and despite my repeated and constant attempt to declutter, I never manage to go far enough/am too sentimental, and we have too much stuff to have the house looking photo worthy. Having said that most things have a home but there are some problem areas!
Back on subject, I can't help but clean before the cleaner arrives. The cleaners do the kitchen surfaces, hoover, clean both bathrooms and loos and mop the hard surfaces. This means I do the dusting and any deep cleaning.
However, I like to clean the baths and basins first and the loos are always freshly bleached. I also polish the kitchen surfaces, sweep the hard floors and sometimes hoover. It means that the cleaners in effect are making sure everything is really clean and with the dog a double hoover is required!
DH thinks the cleaner is a luxury and doesn't understand why they need to come when I leave the house near perfect for them! DH also sees it as an issue as I am very busy and stay up late to get things up to standard when I'm really tired. I admit he has a point.
I'd be really interested in what other people do before their cleaner arrives.

I don't do anything before the cleaner arrives. I don't leave a weekends worth of dishes but there is usually breakfast stuff there. As far as I'm concerned she does everything - cleans, tidies and puts the laundry away. I send ironing out as she's no good at it. And no one uses the washing machine except for me. It works well! I'd go nuts if I had to clean before the cleaner total waste of time!

Get the cleaners to do tops of doors/frames, move sofas things, fridge shelves through the dishwasher things like that. I say this as a cleaner, it's lovely being able to be thorough.

Yes, spending time decluttering instead of cleaning would be a win-win!

Sorry, but you are doing way too much. Before my cleaner arrives, I tidy, make sure the loos are skidmark-free, empty any bins with gross stuff in (e.g. used sanpro), and that's it. Definitely no cleaning (unless there is some unusual repulsive mess that I wouldn't expect a cleaner to deal with).

Why are you paying somebody to do a job that doesn't want doing?
i'll be your cleaner OP

I'm a prole and I don't pre-clean before the cleaner arrives. We do a quick tidy if time allows, but she knows that sometimes it doesn't happen, so that if some weeks she has to spend more time tidying, then that just means less cleaning gets done that week, as she'll just do what she can in her usual time.

Cleaning before the cleaner comes smacks of major insecurity to me. or discomfort with having a cleaner.

Don't have a dog and back yourself op

*bark

As a cleaner. Please don’t clean before ur cleaner comes. I have no opinion about people homes and how dirty they are. In fact I prefer to clean a home that needs cleaning. Cleaning a clean home is boring.

You should see my home. It needs a cleaner

I have a cleaner and as I'm recovering from an op I'm home a lot more and generally more messy. I have found myself needing to do more 'tidying' (or shoving things in a drawer) than before but I don't do any of the tasks the cleaner would do before they come. I only do the toilets and skills etc in the kitchen but that's it. Our cleaner has a list of duties and we had to say how frequently we wanted each thing done.