Cleaning before cleaning woman

[Pipandmum]

Is it unreasonable to spend an hour cleaning before the cleaning woman comes? Maybe it’s more tidying. We are not a tidy family and the weekend definitely is not spent doing much housework, and the kids at home mean things can really slide and therefore when she comes Monday mornings I spend a long time preparing for her - I can’t be the only one that does this!

Nope, I do a clean for the cleaner coming, as you say it's more tidying things away so she can get on and clean.

It’s not usually the cleaners job to come in and tidy, so it’s absolutely right that you should do this. She should be able to come in and get on with the cleaning without navigating her way around loads of mess.

YANBU
The cleaner can't clean around messy stuff.

Yep 👍 dh cannot understand it at all but I want the cleaner to spend time cleaning not tidying our crap away.

Always a good idea to tidy before the cleaner!
They can get far more done then.

I tidy before my cleaner comes. All surfaces are clear, clothes put away, toiletries in the bathroom moved, bins emptied. No point in having a cleaner if there’s crap everywhere.
I don’t clean anything though, apart from the toilets, I just give them a quick once over with bleach spray and brush.

Yup the pre cleaner clean up always happens here! Tidying basically

I am fairly tidy anyway - but always tidy before cleaner

It used to be a standing joke in our house when our kids were living at home. Thursday evening was cleaning up for the cleaner night. It worked well actually to get them to clear their floordrobe.

I wouldn't clean before a cleaner.
However the place does need to be tidy for a cleaner to do their job efficiently. Beds made, washing put away, surfaces and floors cleared etc. They would not be able to do as good a job in the allotted time if they had to clean around things.

I always have a tidy before my cleaner comes, it's not her job to tidy things.

Yanbu

I like to keep the house tidy so that my cleaner spends her time cleaning rather than tidying.

Maybe it’s more tidying

Tidying isn’t cleaning. And yes you do need to tidy your stuff so your cleaner is actually able to clean

It’s probably a good thing you have a cleaner as it’ll force you to tidy up

I'm a cleaner. Some of my customers have immaculate houses and I just reclean clean. Others are totally the opposite - stuff everywhere and lots of grime, loos not flushed and piles of dishes in sink. Most are somewhere in between where some effort has been made to tidy and I just come in and clean. It does help to have things a bit tidy, mostly as I don't know where things are kept so it can be difficult to sort out and less actual cleaning can be done in the time if I'm folding piles of clothes and trying to put things away. However I do actually really enjoy the absolute chaos total filth homes as it looks so amazing when I'm done! It's usually these clients that are so genuinely appreciative too. I find it very satisfying! I wouldn't stress too much, I really dont judge but sorting the basics like putting clothes away, or even just pile them in one place, is a massive help as I can get on and do more in the alloted time. Flushing the loo is my only definite thing I hate not having been done (although appreciate that homes with little DC it can be forgotten once in a while). I have dropped a customer in the past for leaving a loo full of period blood and a used sanitary towel on the side. I'm good at what I do, have customers queuing up and I don't need that level of disrespect!

My house is a bloody tip - my cleaner is some kind of magician and I would love her in if I could.

I try to tidy first for her, and obviously the clean is better when I do, but if I’ve had a hard week she will organise and tidy for us as well.

She even weeded my front garden the other week. She’s just wonderful and I massively appreciate her.

I will be paying her when she’s on holiday and giving her a bonus at Christmas too.

I think the important thing is having a good dialogue - I understand the clean won’t be as thorough the weeks I can’t tidy, but the weeks I do she can go a bit earlier as there’s not as much to do and I have no problem with that at all.

MOVE her in!

Our house is fairly tidy anyway but I do tidy things away so she doesn’t have to clean around them

YANBU, I do the same - clear off all surfaces, pick up any stray dog toys from the floor, make sure the loo is clean.

My DH doesn’t believe this is a thing. We have a large house and I spend about 1hour running around tidying to get it to a bit terrible state. There is definitely a market for a tidyer-cleaner who will happily sort things as they go and won’t be phased by the mess from the chaos that many, many home with small children have.

A “not terrible state” that should say

I would make sure the place is tidy so to make it easier for them to get hoovering done etc and make sure there are no dishes in the sink etc but I wouldn't go doing cleaning as such beforehand. It defeats the object of employing someone to clean else surely.

I always tidy up before my cleaner comes and will give the toilet a quick wipe too. I don't want her to waste time tidying up when she could be cleaning.

I’ve never had a cleaner but I’ve read plenty of people on MN saying they do this. To me, it completely defeats the object of the paid cleaner but I know I also wouldn’t want a stranger walking into a shit tip home either.

Sometimes I don't have time to tidy before my cleaner comes so they don't get as much done and they end up having to pile stuff in neat piles because they don't know where they are supposed to go.

We tidy but we don’t clean. I don’t duplicate work, but might stick a wash on (otherwise the cleaner does it when she arrives).