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?

The relative effort involved in housekeeping is a simple ratio between the number of mess makers (people and animals) in a house vs the number of people who manage the mess. If you have children and pets then the ratio is already stacked against you. If your partner doesn’t pull their weight then it gets even worse.

Aim to get the mess makers to reduce the mess they make: tidy up after themselves (which requires everything to have a designated home) and produce less laundry. Then hiring a cleaner is the single most effective thing you can do on the other side of the ratio.

If this isn’t working, then you need to be really honest with yourself about why. I would bet that you have too much stuff and nowhere to put it away. Until you sort that, you will never have a harmonious home.

@RavenclawsRoar I need your cleaner!!!! I actually do! Any chance you’d pm me your location just on the OFF chance you’re close?!

A practical suggestion in relation to laundry which completely changed my life:

Buy a triple of quadruple laundry sorter. One bag for whites, one for light colours, one for darks and one for delicates/reds. Everyone puts their laundry in the right bag. And then you only put a wash on when that bag is full. Bedding and towels just get done when it works for you - I do towels once a week (barring stains etc), and bedding once a fortnight. That works for us.

It stops me doing at least one small wash every day.

In the laundry room, I have three stackable baskets - one for ironing, one for things that are ready to be taken upstairs and one empty for things that are between the washing machine and washing line or washing machine and tumble dryer.

This is the sorter I have here

I agree op

It depends on the setup of your house , and also how much mess you create during the week. Some people just leave things around more than others, I know, I'm one of them.
In my experience having a cleaner means they take care of the cleaning bit so free you up for other things. Having to at least get floors and surfaces clear the night before, so they have a clear run, means you do that regularly too.

If other stuff is getting away from you, can you re organise your storage, laundry/drying, or anything else to make it run a bit more smoothly?

My cleaner tidies child's room and changes child's bedding every week. Tidies lounge as well as cleaning. A great help.

[quote doodledeedum]@YesitsBess what is your official title? How do you advertise yourself or find jobs when you look? Really interested in what you do because it's right up my alley! [/quote]
It used to be a "Girl Friday" but nobody really says that anymore. I generally go with all-rounder as that's what Greycoat Lumleys and the like have switched to (it also suits me because I help with gardens amd dog training too). But I agree it's a tricky one to categorise.

Poppinsing. Perhaps

I just chuck random objects in a basket before my cleaner comes. It's so nice to come home to sparkling surfaces that you don't mind emptying the basket, putting away the stuff you want and binning what's left :)

OP - is your post genuine? Serious question. People have taken their time to give thoughtful replies about how you can negotiate duties with a cleaner or organise things in a way to make things easier but all you have done is remark how things would be too expensive or stressful. It doesn't sound like you WANT to consider anything.

Anyway here goes with my old set up (live abroad now and no cleaners nearby) Cleaner would come once a week 2 and a half hours, she would strip the three beds, put one one wash on for 60 minutes. Get on with do the upstairs making the beds, hovering, bathroom floor (rest of bathroom never too bad). When that was finished, she would hang the first load of bedding, put second load of bedding in. Sometimes it would take longer than her hours but I would hang when I came home from work. The kitchen surfaces we keep clean, no washing up or unloading the dishwasher. Just mopping the kitchen floor, hoovering, dusting downstairs. I didn't go through an agency, she was recommended by a school mum and the cleaner was looking for more clients. We discussed it by email before hand. The beds washing, hoovering the bedrooms were a priority to me as I kept on top of the other stuff. DH had to wear shirts for work. Local dry cleaners had a shirt service. I think it was 5 shirts washed and pressed on a hanger for £15. DH would drop the bag off and pick them on his way home. Of course there was still laundry, but less and doable.

Two and half hours of an excellent cleaner and a shirt service had a massive impact on our downtime and stopped a good deal of weekend bickering, worth every penny.

Good luck OP

@Catflapkitkat if you think I am trolling, aside from the fact I would be the most boring troll ever, report it.

It isn’t exactly rocket science or a post requiring lots of detailed and thoughtful advice. People have said yes, a cleaner helped them: others have said (as I suspect would be the case for us) it didn’t help them.

You have said the laundry is the biggest problem but assumed cleaners won’t do it. Lots have people have said their cleaners do do laundry. So it might help.

Regarding the tidying up, is the issue the amount you have to tidy away (so the number of things you own) or more the frequency you have to tidy it away (e.g. people in your household making a mess and not clearing up after themselves)?

If it's the former and you don't have time to do a thorough declutter and then organise places for everything left, there are companies who will come in and do this for you.

I did a thorough declutter, every place in the house and garage you could imagine, got rid of nearly 2000 items, mainly toys books and clothes. It took me a whole weekend though to do the declutter plus a week or so afterwards sorting out places for everything to live. It has genuinely been a game changer for me, tidying up is much quicker because there's less to tidy and I know where everything belongs. I am now at the stage where I'm contemplating getting a cleaner.

If I hadn't had the time to do it myself I absolutely would have got someone in to do it for me.

Plus honestly I feel so much calmer and happier at home, added bonus it looks great too.

Autumntwilights You're right it isn't rocket science - so why try to bend it that way.

Anyway, you are welcome. Have a good weekend

It might but would also be more expensive - plus sorting and putting away.

I’m not being in any way ungrateful- I was wondering what I was missing with ‘get a cleaner’ but others have said the same.

Having a cleaner only saves time if you were spending the time cleaning anyway.

My cleaner has not been around for last 2 weeks and I can't say i then started cleaning myself. I am just waiting for her return.

So really depends on your standards!

Our house was always untidy until we got a cleaner, and there was also piles of laundry everywhere.

I was really fed up with it, so we found a cleaner but before she started had a big tidy up and clearout and made sure everything had a home. I also had a think about sensible places to put stuff e.g. ironing board now lives in my wardrobe so if one of us is ironing things can get put away immediately.

The night before our cleaner comes everyone has to do their bit to make sure everything is put away, surfaces cleared etc. On the mornings she comes all towels go in the washing machine drum so there aren't lots of towels cluttering up the bathroom. Because we come home to a tidy and clean house once a week it is now much easier than it ever was before to keep on top of it the rest of the week, and the 'night before tidy' takes 30-60 mins tops. As for DC - if they don't tidy their rooms, then the cleaner is asked not to clean them, so they have to do it themselves. It's a good motivator.

I'm also pretty ruthless now with the washing. I put a load on most days and as soon as a load is dry it's sorted into iron/non iron, with non iron piles handed out to be put away. Once the 'iron' tub is full DH or I will iron while the other does dinner. It's not a big tub so there's never a huge pile to iron at once.

Because the house is mostly clean and tidy now, we're better at getting round to the other occasional chores and small diy jobs etc. Everything just feels a bit more organised and under control. Worth every penny.

@burnoutbabe

Having a cleaner only saves time if you were spending the time cleaning anyway.

My cleaner has not been around for last 2 weeks and I can't say i then started cleaning myself. I am just waiting for her return.

So really depends on your standards!

Same

@Autumntwilights

It might but would also be more expensive - plus sorting and putting away.

I’m not being in any way ungrateful- I was wondering what I was missing with ‘get a cleaner’ but others have said the same.

I’m sorry you but you are being rather eeyore-ish.

You’re right OP nothing can make anything better.

Not at all. I’m smiling and quite happy.

I honestly wonder sometimes what it is with MN - life is always going to be busy with young children and demanding jobs.

No one least of all me expects or wants a magical solution.

Sometimes, solidarity is all it takes.

Omg. @hotmeatymilk ..... your user name 🤣 that thread was hilarious with all the hot meaty milk

I have a cleaner on a Friday and she saves me a good few hours of work. I like the routine as I make sure everything is tidy before she comes and then it's all nice for the weekend. I can't see how actually cleaning 'doesn't take that long'. She washes all the floors, hoovers/dusts the whole house including skirtings and cleans the downstairs loo, main bathroom and ensuite. Before she started, just doing the loo's and bathrooms took me about three hours.

I agree a cleaner prob wouldn't help me as I don't do any cleaning anyway!

What really helps is the ironing being done, as it forces me to wash it and secondly once it comes back folded it's easier to put away

@turnabouttime

I don't think *@Andwander* was being rude at all. In fact OP, your reaction to their comment makes me wonder if they have hit the nail on the head. Meant kindly.

How often is 'meant kindly' trotted out when offering intrusive advice that the OP hadn't asked for?

There have been a few ‘meant kindlys’ on this thread.

It rarely is IME.

It’s ‘I’m going to be an arsehole but don’t want to be deleted.’

@Autumntwilights that’s n simple thing that I found genuinely life changing with laundry was getting everyone to do their own.

From when the kids were 5/6 yrs old, got everyone their own laundry basket plus one for the bathroom, and designated everyone a day of the week to do their own laundry from start to finish.

The nicest thing was that the kids were so proud of themselves for it. We had to put a sticker on the washing machine so they could see which setting to use. And we list a couple of jumpers through being put on the wrong setting, but completely worth it.