That a cleaner won’t solve any problems?

[Autumntwilights]

We both work full time and keeping on top of stuff is hard.

I can’t see a cleaner solving any issues. It’s more tidying, laundry (dear god the laundry) getting organised for the week.

Am I missing anything?

Why can't the cleaner do the laundry while they clean? And fold it and put it away, even. Are they really that picky if they're getting paid for the extra time? Personally, I'd rather do that than scrub things manually.

@Autumntwilights

I didn’t say the cleaner created more laundry - but they won’t do it, which is where the workload really is: laundry and tidying up. The actual cleaning is so easy in comparison.

Some cleaners will for sure. You just need to ask.

You don’t have to madly tidy the day before, that’s up to you. You could just accept that they won’t be able to do as much if its messy. You can probably manage a ten minute whip round to pile stuff up in each room though.

A cleaner won't solve the problem unless the problem is a dirty house/no time to clean it yourself.

The problem is too much laundry, so get someone who does laundry! That will solve the problem of too much laundry.

Why is there too much laundry to deal with? What’s the specific issue.

Cleaners are ace btw.

I had a cleaner when the DC were small and stopped for the exact reason you say. It was far too stressful having a deadline day when we had to tidy up. Meant if we had a busy evening or DH was away with work it was a nightmare. Much more stressful than the floor not being hoovered or the bathroom cleaned. If we didn't tidy they used to move stuff (obviously though necessity- am not complaining) which was a stress in itself.

I've briefly had one more recently now my DC are old enough be told they have to tidy up on a particular day but she wasn't reliable and sometimes cancelled v last minute - a different sort of stress! When she did come it was great actually but I've never got round to organising another.

Having a cleaner means that i am more disciplined about being on top of things. It’s not the answer to everything but it helps.

Our cleaner does ironing too when she comes, so if I haven’t washed and dried the laundry, I am basically paying her to do nothing, and hen still need to do it myself! So for example I make sure the beds are changed on the day before she comes so that the bedding is ironed on the day she comes. I change the schedule bedding one week and ours the next (bedding is washed every two weeks here).

Some cleaners will change beds, so maybe that would help you? One less job to do. Others will put away an online shop, if you can get it delivered whilst they are there. It’s all up for negotiation between you and your cleaner.

A cleaner can help really free up your time so that you can stay on top of the other things.

Cleaner here..
Happy to do laundry and ironing...
Basic duty for me tbh.

Advertise for a housekeeper say 1 day a week 9-3. Get them to do all the tidying, cleaning and any laundry/bed changing they have time for.

@Autumntwilights

Yes but it doesn’t take long. And I think that frantically tidying up before cleaner would add to, rather than remove, stress.

Or alternatively, knowing the cleaner will be in in a few days will motivate you to tidy as you go rather than letting the place get messy and then having to scramble. It works for me.

The only pre cleaner cleaning that needs done is please throw some bleach down your toilets!!

Don't hire a cleaner. Advertise for someone who will come and do the ironing and tidying.

I have a cleaner like @RavenclawsRoar and she’s worth her weight in gold.

Try finding a local self employed cleaner on recommendation. I have one client I do 2 x 3 hour slots weekly for. I let myself in using a key safe when the family are at work.

I can get 2 loads of washing laundered and tumbled dried while I strip and change the beds, iron, empty bins, dishwasher, and clean the bathrooms on the Monday shift and 2 more loads of laundry on the Thursday plus dusting, hovering and mopping. You can pick and choose what you want done and give your cleaner a routine that suits you?

I charge £12.50 an hour so the cost is £75 per week.

I do housekeeping amongst other things and I have clients who range through:

• I'm not sure why I'm here, it's essentially hoovering a show home but I'm booked for 5 hours?

• one who just yells "BESS I'M SO FUCKING SORRY, JUST DO YOUR BEST IN BETWEEN THE SHITE EVERYWHERE!" When I arrive (I love her and her bonkers family and will often tidy up just to ease her mental load which is huge)

• one where I alternate between ironing and laundry and changing beds/proper detail cleaning depending on how mad the house is that week, as long as the client is aware that detail will be missed if I'm spending time matching 8 million very small socks.

• a lovely family who have moved from London and were unsurprisingly unprepared for the sheer volume of insects and animals that will move into a rural property, I do some cleaning, and an awful lot of pest control!

It's all about managing expectations, I'm just as happy doing traditional housekeeping jobs as I am repatriating errant Ladybirds, and it keeps the work varied!

It’s only on mumsnet where cleaners don’t tidy or do laundry. In the real world the majority do. Depending on the company they may charge extra for things like putting away clothes and changing bed sheets. I tend to go for self employed cleaners than companies (still dbs checked, insured, good ratings etc). They’ll usually charge the same flat rate per hour for anything you want doing unless it’s a particularly hard job like cleaning the oven. One of mine always pointed out that he’d rather spend a couple of hours tidying toys/sorting out the linen closet/doing laundry than he would scrubbing floors and cleaning toilets. You can ask them to do anything.

Yanbu op. The vast majority of general housework and parent work isn't cleaning. Having a cleaner just gives you back an hour or two a week, giving you very slightly less to do/worry about.

We have had cleaners on and off over the years and whilst I am always very appreciative of their efforts, the actual effect of not having one is just (for us) having a slightly grubbier house. We clean but probably not solidly for 3 hours every week - so corners get neglected, bath might be cleaned once a fortnight rather than once a week, children's bedrooms hoovered as and when they can be bothered. That sort of thing - no major or drastic difference.

It's just logic. Cleaning floors, hoovering and properly scrubbing the kitchen obviously takes time. Having a cleaner massively reduces my mental load

@Monsterpumpkins

The only pre cleaner cleaning that needs done is please throw some bleach down your toilets!!

PREACH SISTA!

I just got a lady who does housekeeping tasks. She has a couple of clients mostly older people that she helps with household jobs that already have cleaners. She strips the beds and changes puts the wash on and puts in tumble dryer before she leaves, so all I have to do is take out fold and put away, alternate weeks she does towels, she does tidying, and she does various organising jobs that I don't have time for (tidying cupboards etc) and ironing, then for an hour a week I have a cleaner who comes and does the bathrooms and vacuuming. The first lady could do everything but the cleaner is a single mum and I don't want to let her go, but she'd struggle to do more hours for me at the moment. I could ask for help with the rest of laundry but I haven't felt I need to get.

What helps us with laundry is a giant plastic box on the upstairs landing. We do a load a day and all clean laundry goes in there.

On organised weeks, it gets folded and put away in drawers.

On busy weeks, we just dress out of the box.

We outsource ironing.

Depends on how much money you want to spend out,cleaning company I worked for,we would change beds,do ironing,take away laundry,return it washed and ironed,even offered carpet cleaning.

I wish I had known earlier that there were housekeepers as well as cleaners.

We put off getting a cleaner for years because I knew it would just add stress because we would want to tidy beforehand.

Am now trying to persuade DH we need a housekeeper.

I get up half an hour early the day the cleaner comes to make sure the house is tidy. We tidy as we go anyway, so this is more than enough time. Then he does the hoovering, dusting, cleans the kitchen and bathrooms and empty all the bins, so I never have to do any of these things. It's a godsend!