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?

• there’s one simple thing …

@Autumntwilights

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.’

Frequently - I'm surprised we haven't had ' And I say this gently' yet.

To everyone who has posted here, thank you. I’ve read the whole thing and it’s helped me find my mojo to declutter (a bit) today.

I think lots of families have pretty tidy homes. Maybe the op is like me and has stuff everywhere that isn’t easy to tidy away? Because it needs to be sorted through/doesn’t have a home etc.

I cleaned our family bathroom yesterday and it was easy - not much clutter in a bathroom. The rest of the house… I’m definitely at a stage where I need help to tidy/organise before I feel it’s fair to find a new cleaner.

I’ve paid an organiser before but found it quite difficult. She was like a whirlwind and I need to take my time with things. (Would be delighted for someone to be a whirlwind in the kitchen and children’s rooms but not the study, my room, sitting room etc where there is much more of a mix of a mash up of important paperwork/sentimental things/other.

But those who have posted long posts about how they have organised/cleaned, thank you. And to those who say a fortnightly/weekly cleaner forces you to tidy, yes! That’s always been my experience. But almost two years of things being a bit closed down had allowed my house to sink under the STUFF! But we will get back to order. Somehow.

I will keep reading if anyone else wants to inspire me/the op!

I’d cut out many many things from our lives before I would get rid of the cleaner

@MoomaidAhoy

To everyone who has posted here, thank you. I’ve read the whole thing and it’s helped me find my mojo to declutter (a bit) today.

I think lots of families have pretty tidy homes. Maybe the op is like me and has stuff everywhere that isn’t easy to tidy away? Because it needs to be sorted through/doesn’t have a home etc.

I cleaned our family bathroom yesterday and it was easy - not much clutter in a bathroom. The rest of the house… I’m definitely at a stage where I need help to tidy/organise before I feel it’s fair to find a new cleaner.

I’ve paid an organiser before but found it quite difficult. She was like a whirlwind and I need to take my time with things. (Would be delighted for someone to be a whirlwind in the kitchen and children’s rooms but not the study, my room, sitting room etc where there is much more of a mix of a mash up of important paperwork/sentimental things/other.

But those who have posted long posts about how they have organised/cleaned, thank you. And to those who say a fortnightly/weekly cleaner forces you to tidy, yes! That’s always been my experience. But almost two years of things being a bit closed down had allowed my house to sink under the STUFF! But we will get back to order. Somehow.

I will keep reading if anyone else wants to inspire me/the op!

I have the same issue. So much STUFF everywhere. Don’t want to throw ir away, not sure where to put it. I envy people with tidy homes. Where do they put stuff??

I’m in a similar space to you. My husband wants to get a cleaner but I’m not sure because:

1. it will be me running around tidying up for the cleaner to come. He sees this as pointless as we’re paying for someone to come and make the house look better.
2. I’ve had mixed experiences in the past. I’ve had an amazing lady who did tidying and cleaning. Her cleaning wasn’t the best tbh but the tidying was amazing.

What we really need is a tidier that does a bit of cleaning rather than a cleaner.

In the past, I also used to get frustrated that the house looked fab for a day and a then got trashed again.

I have the same issue. So much STUFF everywhere. Don’t want to throw ir away, not sure where to put it. I envy people with tidy homes. Where do they put stuff??

They put it in the bin, charity shop, who wants to inherit this stuff?

My DM loved stuff, now Dad is gone too we've a mountain to clear, luckily they were home owners so there isn't a big rush.

Growing up in that home keeps my home in order I hate clutter.
A cluttered home created a cluttered mind for us as DC.

I do a big every year/season.

I've had the opposite problem and found that cleaners mostly prefer to do tidying than hard core cleaning when it's the latter I need most help with, despite making an effort to leave things in order for them.

I have had different cleaners over the past 12 years, I have never experienced any one of them requiring me to tidy up before they come.
I only discovered on MN that tidying up is required before cleaner comes in. We never tidied up surfaces, cleaners just put things away and I usually showed them where things go and they did it after. My DS’s room was always untidy with piles of clothes in different parts of room. They usually folded the clothes and left them on bed and I/he would put it away in drawers after they left. I had one cleaner who was with us for 5 years and after a while she just started putting things in drawers herself - I have never asked.
My cleaners always changed bedding and put the dirty one in washing machine. They didn’t do other laundry but I have to admit I never asked.

If you dont want a cleaner then you need to spend some energy in rounding up your family to help you. Its their house so why are you the one carrying the load.

No idea what idea your kids are but are they old enough to fill their own laundry baskets, do laundry, help with all the family chores.

If your main issue as a whole family is disorganisation and that you're all a bunch of messy pups who drop things at your feet you might want to have a family meeting to discuss how you can get better at improving it. Undoubtedly there's websites devoted to this stuff!
Strongly suspect you know this though.

you don't HAVE to tidy up before a cleaner comes, it just seems more efficient to do so, rather than have a cleaner tidy and do less cleaning.

Any honestly my tidying up consisted of - move items into piles so surfaces could be cleaned. Put clothes away (even if in a heap). so no huge chore but also i know much better where stuff should go than my cleaner (from experience of random stuff put away in the kitchen)

@Monsterpumpkins

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

This comment puzzles me. I've had cleaners for the last 2O years and not one of them has ever suggested this. I never, ever use bleach. I don't have it in the house for the cleaners to use. My toilets stay clean with Vim, scrubbing and sometimes a bit of limescale remover.

My last cleaner worked for us for over 14 years and the current one has been working here for 18 months so my toilets are obviously acceptable without bleach.

It was a polite way of asking make sure your loo is streak free tbh!!

Not envy!!

@Monsterpumpkins

It was a polite way of asking make sure your loo is streak free tbh!! Not envy!!

Thank you @Monsterpumpkins

It bewilders me that people think pouring bleach on a smear of shit will get rid of it. All it will do is take the colour out of it. That's why I don't have bleach in the house. It's too easy to think if it looks white and smells of bleach then it's clean when in fact it's still got crap all over it . I want my toilet properly clean not smeared with traces of invisible excrement.
I use a loo brush (MN no-no), scrub the skid marks off and then flush the residue away. And I do that regardless of whether the cleaner is coming in 6 minutes or 6 days.

@Lotusmonster

Don't fancy yours much.

We would not be without "Treasure".

Three hours, twice a week, ironing subcontracted.

Ad hoc stuff as required, so that, with notice, we can have a dinner party, go up to bed leaving the mess and wake up the next morning to everything washed and back in its place and the tablecloth and napkins taken away for cleaning.

Can rescue almost any saucepan which seems to be completely burned out and find things we thought were lost for ever. Can open any bottle or jar. Fills the fridge ready when we get back from holidays.

I

My cleaner does the dishes, folds laundry and puts it away, changes our bed sheets, tidies the kids toys and cleans the kitchen/bathrooms and dusts and vacuums.

She has made an absolute WORLD of difference to our lives and only comes once a week. Trust me, it will make difference for you.

I use a loo brush (MN no-no), scrub the skid marks off and then flush the residue away. And I do that regardless of whether the cleaner is coming in 6 minutes or 6 days.

Well yes. That’s normal right? Do people live with skid marks

I have a cleaner who tidies and does laundry. Just negotiate what you want.

Where do you get hold of Vim?

I can’t find it anywhere!

@LittleBearPad

I use a loo brush (MN no-no), scrub the skid marks off and then flush the residue away. And I do that regardless of whether the cleaner is coming in 6 minutes or 6 days.

Well yes. That’s normal right? Do people live with skid marks

You would probably be quite shocked at what people will leave in the loo for the cleaner to deal with.

My cleaner comes for two hours a week and cleans the house, does any washing up I haven't got round to, changes the sheets if I leave the clean ones out and when I was working in the office used to hang the washing out (but she only deals with sheets/towels etc.). If she weren't able to come any more I would definitely look for someone who would do any sort of washing.

I do have to make sure the house is tidy enough for her to clean, but actually I like living in a house that isn't a tip. And without accountability a tip is definitely what I end up living in, so that accountability is a good thing. And it never ends up that bad because I have to do it every week: I can't simply ignore it for a month and then have to spend an entire day sorting it out.

I use the OMM and have a cleaner every Friday morning - that way my I start my weekend with a nice clean house instead a mental list of chores I need to squeeze in. It also frees up a couple of lunchtimes

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow

Where do you get hold of Vim?

I can’t find it anywhere!

I buy in bulk on Amazon. A pack of 8 lasts a LONG time.

I’ve recently got a cleaner. It’s made a huge difference. I also keep it cleaner inbetween as I know I want to clear the surfaces of kitchen for example ready for her to clean.

@MoomaidAhoy @modgepodge Having loads of stuff means it's very hard to keep the house tidy and clean, I'd recommend decluttering as it makes cleaning much easier and quicker. There are some threads on Housekeeping. If you are overwhelmed with laundry, trying to do a load every day helps. Systems like Flylady and The Organised Mum Method (not sure why it can't be the Organised Dad Method too) help. Little and often tidying helps, I tidy as I go and it's the only way to counteract the chaos. It's hard keeping on top of the house, life is busy for most people and there is too much to do.