To wonder what people do when their cleaner is in?

[SoloWanderer]

Do you stay in the house and just move to another room, or do you head out while they work? I find it a bit awkward either way and am curious what others do. What’s the norm?

I don't feel awkward with my cleaner. I can easily sit and read while she cleans around me. If she is doing something noisy then I'll move rooms. We get on really well and she has worked for us for over 15 years. I don't feel akward asking her to do things for me either.
Generally though I'm out in the day so she has the place to herself.

I’m WFH on the days she’s here so I just sit upstairs working in the box room / office and she usually cleans that last, at which point I go downstairs to the sofa / kitchen table for the last five minutes or so.

Blimey! Was there some kind of ritual involved? Did it work? What did you do with the body?

I stay in and dodge around them (my unit only has a lounge and bedroom). I don't go out, because I have two cats and need to be sure they're safe and don't get the chance to run outside if they take fright. Also I haven't had a regular cleaner to build up trust, and don't fancy leaving a stranger alone in my home.

😆😆😆

I usually try and be out, but if I can't do that then I'll stay in the living room until they've done the upstairs and then move. We only have a small house and they clean everywhere, and there's usually two or three of them at once so it can be quite hard to stay out of the way! They don't clean dh's garden office but he's always working in there so I can't hide there either.

I make sure I am always out and they have a key.

Its a small house so I'd be in their way. But also I guess I have residual guilt I don't do it myself/am seen as lazy.

Ha! Me too 😂

I do admin work in my office and move when she is ready to clean it.

I'm usually at work, as my dh is home that day, but she has a key for when we're both out. If I'm home then she starts upstairs, and I work downstairs then I go up once she's done

Mine used to come when I was at work and during the school holidays I would take the kids out for lunch on that day.

My cleaner starts upstairs so I start downstairs and then we switch.

This is what I do. There is no need to feel awkward

Make sure I always have a chat first and then head up to my home office. If I pop out for a coffee, then I’ll chat for 5 too. It’s as awkward as you make it.

Eight cleaners? How big is your house?

If I'm working I just go to my office, they don't go in there. If it's a day off I tend to make myself scarce, thankfully they come as a pair so it's for half the time.

Mine comes when I am working , so I am either in the office and she lets herself in or I am in my study but if I pop out for a drink or anything we will have a nice chat

If I am ill I would stay in my bedroom (and let her know in case she doesn't want to come)

If it's school holidays I take the children out somewhere

I've never met mine and she's been coming for a year! She sent me her insurance details, dh dropped keys in to her and she comes when we're at work

I'd hate to be home when she cleans and always arrange to be out if I'm on leave from work. We're the weird ones though. She only key holds for 1 other client. All others are home when she cleans.

I prefer to be around when my cleaner is here. I’m disabled so have no complicated feelings about employing someone- it would be impossible for me to do what she does.

I tend to stay in my study which is tiny and only takes a minute for her to hoover, and I get on with easy paperwork. From experience it doesn’t work if I try to do anything too complex, but her time here actually creates a good space in the week to catch up on filing, routine bills, reading and deleting emails, etc.

DP and I both mostly WFH so we stay at our desks until lunchtime when the cleaner is done downstairs and then she does upstairs. We don’t get her to clean the office though, we do that ourselves. We pop out for a chat with her/make tea for all of us. Sometimes if we are not in she vacuums the office if she has time.

@saveforthat, it's big but not massive (georgian house with six bedrooms and three floors). I used to have a two person team and they were there most of the day, so the bigger team gets the job done in the same time per person but they are in and out.

Not necessarily.
I also don’t want people cleaning around my paperwork ( and have no “stuff” to hide)

One of us is usually WFH, we just continue working. But she does have a key in case we're out.

She's not a stranger, we have known her a long time and we trust her completely

Hide in my office. I might pop down to say hello/make a coffee but generally I hide!

ours comes whilst we are out at work. If I happen to be working from home I just stay in the study and that room then doesn’t get cleaned