To think fortnightly cleaning is better than weekly?

[UpsyDaisyMegaphone]

I'm about to get a cleaner for the first time.

DH thinks we should do weekly, I think fortnightly (the price per clean is very slightly higher for fortnightly).

I think fortnightly will be enough to keep it clean with just doing a quick swish over bathrooms (my job) in-between and some light hoovering/mopping in kitchen (joint jobs). It will be cheaper (just under half the price) so we'll have more money for other stuff. We can afford the weekly cost so the extra would just go to savings or fun/holiday money.

And we have 3 DC under five and both work (me 5 days, DH 4 days) so I feel like tidying up for the cleaner will be a big hassle if it's one evening a week so easier to do fortnightly.

DH thinks it'll be much better to basically not clean at all apart from kitchen, and the joy/time saved from this will be worth the extra money.

Thoughts from those who have a cleaner?

YABU - weekly is much better
YANBU - fortnightly is better

We used to have fortnightly cleans and then switched to weekly and it's way better. We pay slightly less per clean, mainly because we don't need to pay them to come for as long when it's getting done more frequently, though obvs it is more expensive overall. I find the tidying up is actually helpful too as it's an incentive to keep on top of things. If you can afford weekly I think your husband is right.

I like fortnightly cleans for the reasons you mention but round here a lot of cleaners will only take on weekly cleans.

If you can afford it, a weekly cleaner makes life so, so much better.

Fortnightly works better for us. I work from home so it's quite awkward for the 2 house she's here as the house is small. She does a really thorough clean fortnightly and we just keep on top of the kitchen and bathroom and let the roomba loose the week she doesn't come.

I'd start out weekly and see how you go. We have a cleaner weekly, having to tidy up every week kind of helps to not let the mess get too extreme.

You're concerned about the money, obviously it costs less not to have one at all but it's worth it in my opinion.

You can see why a cleaner might be a bit less keen on trying to shift two weeks' worth of grime in the same time as one week's.

Weekly. Definitely weekly. Why would you want to do the hoovering/ mopping/ cleaning in the weeks she is not here?

Weekly, if you can afford it. Pre-DC when DH and I both worked full time we had a weekly cleaner and it was bloody amazing. All our free time could be spent being idle drunks instead of scrubbing the taps. It was ace.

I definitely like the idea of being an idle drunk, think I'm persuaded!

I'm with your Dh on this, as somebody coming each week will mean that the place doesn't have the chance to start looking messy/grubby/dingy - it'll sparkle for most days.

We didn't clean in between fortnightly cleans because we are dirty people BUT the rushing around tidying up was a big job and stuff got thrown in piles that never got sorted. Weekly I would hope the house wouldn't have time to be awful.

Go for weekly. We have weekly 6hrs and it’s back to the same state after 5 days! Enjoy-it’s a must!

We used to have weekly, but upstairs one week, downstairs the following week. Stairs got hoovered every week. That worked well for us - still half the time/cost, but at least half the house was clean every week!

I’ve had both but the weekly clean was a 5bed house and the fortnightly was a 2 bed flat. It was too long fortnightly at the house, I definitely had to do more housework in between - whereas weekly it was really just keeping kitchen clean / cleaning sinks / putting things away every week the night before the clean. Why not start fortnightly, see how it goes. Easier for cleaners when it’s weekly (as my friend who is my cleaner tells me) when it’s a house / multiple kids etc. Fine for my DD and I (plus Dog) at our flat when it’s every 2wks as well don’t make much mess