To want a cleaner when I work part time

[Cleanqueennot]

I am currently on maternity leave and baby is now 6 months old. I am finding that even though I’m not working at the moment I am struggling to keep up with cleaning. Baby is very needy and we have a large 4 bedroom house. Just hoovering alone would take more than 45 mins (when I do it) and knackers me out so badly and baby doesn’t even nap for that long during the day. I am wondering how on earth I will manage when I’m back at work soon. I will be going back to work part time 3 days a week. So if I’m struggling now I’m off work I think I will struggle once I’m back to work.

Also, I used to work 5 days per week before I went on maternity but one reason I’m going part time is because I want to do stuff with my son on those two days. Our library doesn’t open weekends so I’d like to take him to library once a week and just do generally nice things together like go to the beach etc. not spend those 2 valuable days cleaning the house while he’s watching peppa pig all day! Weekends would also take the pressure off my husband and me, and we could spend that time as a family rather than taking shifts to clean the house.

AIBU to want a cleaner every week/fortnight? Money is tight at the moment on statutory mat pay but once I’m back to work we will be about £1000 better off each month than we are now. It’s a lot less than what I used to earn full time but I think still affordable? I probably wouldn’t want the cleaner in our master bedroom or the office/box room so it would be like cleaning a 2 bedroom house house really (well a large 2 bed house with 3 reception rooms!)

As for you thinking your mom woukd say your are being unreasonable, mine told me to run the Hoover around when I got home from work to keep.on top of things 🙄her advice was to do it before I had taken my coat of- confused🤔

Is she going to come and clean your house then?

Even if I only break even by working, I would have a cleaner. I do need to do top up cleans of the kitchen etc during the week but knowing the house will be thoroughly cleaned once a week is a blessing

Do it you think it could help. You can always trial it and see how you feel. I personally found cleaners added to my stress, but maybe I have been unlucky with them. The ones we had were constantly cancelling at the last moment, missing bits and moving things. I would rather spend £3k+ a year on a nice holiday.

We both work part time, we have a cleaner, they also do the bulk of our laundry and ironing. Oh and you can inform your mother that sometimes the cleaner we get is a man, because shock horror men can clean things and press the oh so tricky buttons on the washing machine.

Im a stay at home mum of 4 and have cleaner because all my kids are 7 and under and make so much mess/sticky fingers/crumbs/Miss the toilet that I like to know the house will be deep cleaned once a fortnight and I can just do ad hoc cleaning in between.

If you read the book “168 hours: you have more time than you think” by Laura Vanderkam she strongly advocates outsourcing jobs you don’t like, if you can afford to do so, in order to buy back more time for things you do care about.

We have had cleaners for several years now, when I worked part time and now I work full time
in term time only. Perfectly normal. If your mum has a problem with it, perhaps she’d like to clean for you?

I’m struggling as well, I have one toddler but I really have no time to clean. We’re going through a very difficult sleeping patch, dropped the nap but still needs the nap, can’t go anywhere in the afternoons as a result, so afternoons are spent destroying the house!

I desperately need a cleaner!

She doesn’t get a say. She has said stuff about other people in past that have cleaners and I never really understood her views so I guess that’s one reason I wonder if I am unreasonable

How many hours would you have one for? I understand op, it feels like a total indulgence!
It's something I keep considering though. A couple of hours a week or would once a fortnight do it?

Hoovering my stairs with our Dyson breaks my back as it is. I can’t imagine doing that while baby is in a sling haha

Unfortunately I live 500 miles from my mum otherwise I think she actually would help me clean if I asked her.

You don’t have to justify it to anyone or yourself; if you ban afford it then go for it. We had a fortnightly cleaner throughout my second maternity leave and continued when I went back to work. I consider it a luxury and it meant that I didn’t spend my precious day off with DC cleaning

I think she would definitely offer to help me clean if I didn’t move 500 miles from her haha

When I say we can afford it, it’s not like we are rich so I guess it is more the financial aspect of it that makes me hesitant. If money was no object I’d have a cleaner no question about it. If I had the cleaner 2 hours a week that’s still around £120 which is a noticeable amount of money to go out of our account each month.

I guess every fortnight would make it much more affordable. I don’t know if a cleaner would agree to that though? I get that it’s not a lot of time to sort such a large house but it would be better than what gets done at the moment. I can’t remember the last time I hoovered upstairs since baby was born!

Get a cleaner! Best part of my week is when I come home to a sparkling house 💗

I work part time, have a smaller house than you and my children are older primary age. We have a cleaner with zero regrets. DH and I used to hate cleaning over the weekends.

I'm a cleaner, I work 4 days a week and my god, if I could afford to pay someone else to clean MY house instead of doing it on my day off, I would without question!! Go for it op!

I work part time as well and drive myself round the bend trying to keep up with housework (even with a DH who does a lot at home)

It's the drudgery of doing the same thing EVERY week as well. I bloody hate it but I can't relax if I know it hasn't been done. I'd love to get a cleaner if I could afford it, so I say go for it and enjoy the time with your son!

I'd do it. Definitely 2 hours once a week.

We have 3 hours every fortnight. It's not enough time for a proper deep clean but she gets all the main things done like bathroom, kitchen, hoovering. She just doesn't get to stuff I don't really care about anyway like skirting boards, windows or cleaning the microwave. I think quite a lot of people have a fortnightly cleaner, I'm sure they could fit you in to an existing schedule.

The only time I’ve ever had a cleaner was when I was on maternity leave!

Why even discuss it with her? None of her business, if you want a cleaner get a cleaner.

The only thing that’s grating on me is why you seem to assume the cleaning is your sole responsibility? Why isn’t your partner doing any of it?

I have a cleaner and work part time. DH works insane hours. I already do absolutely everything else so getting a cleaner was to give me a break. My husband happily agrees and pays for the cleaner.

Absolutely do it. I have work 3 days a week and have 2 kids, one is a toddler and have a cleaner. She’s so lovely and it mostly keeps me on the straight and narrow re: the house! I’d be aware you’ll need to do a tidy just before to get the best out of it and that can be a bit stressful at times.