To want a cleaner that will pick my clothes up off the floor?

[Zamphina]

Dp and I work very long hours during the week. We’re out of the house 9-10 minimum. We eat dinner in the office. When we get home we’re exhausted and just want to sleep. So often the kitchen has our breakfast stuff. We’ve left clothes on the floor. There might be sunday’s dishes on the table. The laundry has been left out drying.

We earn an OK salary and have a tiny flat to save money, so a cleaner coming 2-3 times a week for two hours a time won’t be an issue.

But obviously I’m slightly embarrassed for someone to see my home in such a mess. Are there any cleaners who will sort all of this? Pick up the clothes, put them on to wash, load the dishwasher, and clean the bathroom etc?

Just get a laundry basket. Do you drop tissues and leftover food on the floor and leave them there?

I do similar 9am-10pm hours (and I knew that’s what you meant by your post). I do all my laundry on the weekends, run several loads and hang them all up to dry before Monday. Have a cleaner once a week and she will also run a load and fold the clean laundry that I haven’t managed to sort yet. Actually most past cleaners I’ve had have done this, without me even asking, so I’m surprised how many people are saying this isn’t a done thing.
Not bothering to use a laundry basket is ridiculous though, you can’t ask them to try and sort and pick dirty clothing off the floor. How hard is it to dump your clothing in a basket, and then chuck it in a machine on the weekend?
My cleaner will also tidy up dirty plates but I mean, I don’t see why you can’t tidy up Sunday dinner.. and otherwise how can you create that much mess when you eat in the office?
I have some sympathy as I know how chaotic a home can feel when you work those hours. But honestly, plenty of people do those hours and manage, so kind of feel you both just need to get a grip on it and do the boring chores..

How hard can it be to throw your worn clothes into a laundry basket???

Fucking hell, I'd love to live in all of your perfectly tidy houses with your perfect routines! How about a bit of compassion and kindness? Sounds like OP is knackered and struggling. Maybe her clothes are on the floor cause the chair is overflowing cause she hasn't got enough storage to put them away in her tiny flat which they are in because they're trying to save money and working long hours to save up for something bigger? Maybe she has ADHD and sticking to tidying/domestic routines is just a mental blackhole for her? Maybe we should just answer her question rather than banging on about what a lazy slattern she is?

Op, sorry you've had such a bashing. We struggle with domestic stuff, i find it overwhelming and simply can't keep on top of it. My cleaner is a hero, she will tidy, clean, hang up washing, scrub the highchair etc. I shove all my clothes onto a chair of doom (wardrobes are packed so no space to out things away, need to have a clear out but always get halfway through and then run out of time and stuff migrates back into the wardrobe arrrrggh), but i have no doubt that she would be totally fine to pick some up if they were on the floor. It's ok to need help and to seek it out.

We make about £120k combined because we are recent grads and just starting out in our careers. In a few years we should be on over £300k

thank you to the few compassionate posters. I’d promised myself I wouldn’t let things get this way, but it’s hard starting out

Quite, why don't you just get the hangers out ready to hang the clothes up? It takes minutes, throwing them on the floor is what a bone idle teenager would do..

I think you need to both pick up your clothes. Do it every morning when you are not tired. Every morning. Your employer will not miss the 5 mins it takes. Cleaner can do the rest.

I used to work long hours like you in my 20's. But I learned I need to take a bit of time for myself to be able to sustain the effort.

Don’t let people tell you you are lazy you are simply exhausted. Get a housekeeper who will do all that stuff for you

Ok, so based on your latest posts about salary I’m guessing you’re a trainee lawyer, junior mgmt consultant or similar. Like you can clearly afford a cleaner (can’t believe you’d even question that on a £120k joint salary), I’m guessing 99% of your colleagues have one, honestly why on earth are you asking mumsnet if it’s ok?
Also.. just some perspective here but you’ll need to learn to manage life too as the job goes on. Otherwise you simply won’t last in it. A good start might be managing your laundry :p

Dirty clothes all over the floor all week sounds like a horrible way to live, it would make me feel ill.

If you pay enough money, I'm sure there'll be a cleaner who would pick it all up for you, but personally I'd just buy a laundry basket and put clothes in there everyday; it really isn't difficult.

I wonder if you wouldn't be better off just having somebody to take care of your laundry - pick it up on a set day, sort it into drycleaning/washing machine, dry and iron it? Then you'd only have to stick it all into one big laundry bag when its dirty and put it back in your wardrobes when its returned?

YABU these are not cleaners jobs

No one is too busy to pick clothes off the floor

You want someone to pick your clothes off the floor? I honestly can't understand how you can't manage to put them in a wash basket, it takes seconds! I have ADHD and even I'm not this slovenly!

Lots of people work long hours and are raising young children and still have time to pick their clothes up! I can't see anyone obliging to do this. It seems so disrespectful to even ask unless you're incapacitated.

Have you heard of work/life balance

You need a maid.

You need to pick your up own clothes until you either

a) evolve enough not to tell people your salary
or
b) grow up enough to stop posting shite on the internet

But good for you if you’re really not living with your parents any longer and expecting them to pick up after you.

i think you need both need better jobs with sensible hours, not someone to pick up your dirty clothes.

They do exist! I have one. Ask your friends/colleagues for a recommendation for a cleaner/tidier/maid. Don't tell them your clothes are on the floor though, only tell the person you're offering work, god forbid you'd get called SLOVENLY by people you actually know
Pay them well. Offer to go direct and cut out any middleman/agency/app once you're happy, they usually take a 20% cut from what the cleaner gets.

I know of grad jobs like this a friend of mine had a sleeping pod at his bank but this was 20 years ago so not sure if allowed now.

I have almost always had cleaners but I never expected them to tidy up.

I would suggest you send shirts to a laundry and your bedding, there is no point earning mega bucks and having zero time so make time. But definitely put clothes in a Laundry basket.

A good cleaner can clean a flat if tidy really very well in an hour and you would only need a cleaner once per week. You could get one in for two hours per week and they could clean fridge out and stuff like that which is classed more as a deep clean and not every week and do every single cleaning job.

As an aside the average wage in the UK is 35k per annum, you are already in top 5% of earners and if you hit 300k will be in top 2%. I don’t mind big earners but I don’t like it when they think they aren’t

You want a house keeper rather than a cleaner. That’s fine though. It’s your money🙂.

I think you just need some better habits OP. My house was a tip before I had DC because I always knew I'd find the time for a big clean when it got really bad. Now I have DC I've learnt to do everything as I go along and my god is it easier! The state of the house used to get me down. Don't get me wrong it's far from a show home now but at least if the door goes I'm not afraid to let someone in!

If you each do 10 mins a day it'll make a big difference. 5 mins in the morning 5 before bed. And get a cleaner for the standard stuff.

If you want to pay someone to do yesterday's dishes and wipe up your breakfast crumbs so you can concentrate on your career, I guess that's undersandable.

I do think having them pick your used knicks off the floor is probably a step too far, as it's literally no extra effort on your part to throw them in a basket instead. Then run the basket to the laundromat once a week for a wash and fold - too easy.

some people posting on here are so so judgemental and rude! They probably have no idea what it is like to be working such long hours. Ignore!

I think you’ll need to check with the person you hire they are ok to do such tasks. Other than that, it’s your money, your life.