To be confused as to why hiring a cleaner is seen as an indulgence?

[Gahr]

This is something that I see time and again on this site, and it is SO WEIRD. People seem to think that it is the height of luxury to have a housecleaner, and also seem to be strangely apologetic about it, offering disclaimers as to why they need one. Also, I've noticed that on threads when someone has a problem with their cleaning service, they will get several posts telling them to 'clean their own house'. Nobody would tell someone to 'service their own boiler' or 'fix their own toilet'! I don't understand it at all. I have a cleaner and I wouldn't be without her.

Yep this exactly. Im constantly hoovering, polishing, mopping and cleaning glass because I have two children. My house would be filthy if I just relied on a cleaner once or twice per week.

Or perhaps be a little clearer in the nonsense you’re posting. Just a thought.

Clearly I wasnt remotely handwringing about having a cleaner and being a high earner

Given I say both apply to me?

Ignore @Dreamlava They are a recurring poster who posts nonsense under a lot of different usernames. I was silly not to spot them before.

We’ll rest (abit!) when they leave home! 😂

Nonsense

Thinking you being “confused” is daft

Having a cleaner is not just for affluent people! Yes it’s a luxury, but a small one that, if you budget well, most people can afford. I’m a single mother working every single hour of my life that I’m not caring for my kids. I don’t have time to do big house cleans. I do smaller cleans but I have a cleaner who comes in fortnightly to do a 2 hour clean. It costs me £30 a fortnight. I budget for it, which means I can rarely go out for dinner or drinks with friends or spend money on anything me or my kids don’t absolutely need. So yes a luxury in the sense that it’s a luxury not to live in a dirty house but that’s setting the bar very low for “luxury”. I could drop my Saturday morning shift at work and clean the house instead. Would I be told I was “living a life of luxury” by “only” working full-time 5 days a week as a single mother? No, I don’t think so. Or would posters say going out socially for dinner or drinks with friends once a month was a luxury? Cos that’s the equivalent of what it’d probably cost. No. It would be seen as normal, if not less than normal. It’s just about your priorities and what you choose to spend the money that you work very hard for on. It’s not for anyone else to judge. I think some MNers imagine a live-in maid who cooks you a full English every morning when people say they’ve got a cleaner 🤣

Well said!!!

But as you're already not going out for meals and drinks, if your costs for essentials went up significantly, things like this would be sat in the bucket of "cost cutting considerations" when you review your budget, wouldn't they?

Because it's not something essential to your life that you can't provide for yourself if necessary. That's the reason it's a luxury.

You said it yourself that you choose to budget for this instead of other luxuries like meals out. That's absolutely acceptable and no one is actually saying otherwise. What were doing is highlighting that it is a luxury. Nothing more.

I was more referring to the quote I was replying to where the poster said that having a cleaner is only for affluent people. My understanding of affluent is meaning more than comfortably off. I just don’t think it’s true that only affluent people have cleaners. I know plenty of people like me who have cleaners. Even when I was a student we had a cleaner! And there was 4 of us in a house share & all of us were typical skint students but it only cost us something like a fiver a week each, maybe less, I can’t remember, but it was affordable even then. So what I’m saying is I think there’s a misconception about how affordable it really is.

Does your cleaner have a cleaner?

I mean she works full time.

So does she have a cleaner?

Or is it a luxury that’s unaffordable for her?

My cleaner doesn’t, but she does go on 4 foreign holidays a year which feels fairly luxurious to me, so I guess it’s an issue of priorities in some cases.

I have no idea, it's not any of my business how she spends her money!

But not everyone wants a cleaner! If I was a cleaner as a job I'd probably be too picky to hire one. I had a job editing programmes for a while and it spoilt concerts a bit as I'd find myself proof reading other people's work...

I’d also see 4 at year as luxurious. I’m not fir one minute saying people can’t spend their money where they want, but in times where working people need food banks, and rents are unaffordable/ mortgages unattainable, to deny that luxuries are luxuries is very elitist.

Thanks for the response. Interesting mix of people. I hope her goodwill isn't exploited by him. It's very good of her to keep him on as a client when I imagine most would prefer someone more reliably good for the money.

I think having a cleaner is a bit of a grey area, because for some people, having a cleaner is a necessity and not a luxury at all.

Thanks for replying. I was only in student accommodation briefly and the absolute filth that other people were willing to live in was a big factor in moving out!

If it works for you, great. I don’t know that I’d be thrilled with a DP that couldn’t be bothered to clean on his time off, as if somehow you’re just having a whale of a time while he’s working. But each to their own.

eta: kids sound great, they must have got that from you ;)

I worked via an agency at one point. Got sent to some random cleaning job. Turned out to be a social services job, a woman, mid 30s ish, living in squalor, incredibly vulnerable, very frail and largely bed bound, dirty and unkempt, clearly a drug user, with her front door on the latch and various men letting themselves in and out. I did what I could whilst I was there but I told the agency I wasn't going back. It was appalling to see someone so uncared for and falling through the cracks but there was no way I was turning up to a drug den with god knows what going on. It's years ago now but I've never forgotten her and I can't imagine her story had a good outcome.

I don't see why anyone, male or female, needs to clean in their time off. If he can pay for it, what on earth is the problem?

Cleaning up your own mess you made, instilling good values in your children, being proud of your own home, not sitting around whilst someone else cleans your mess up, keeping active, saving money to spend on things you can’t do yourself (holidays!).

Just a few reasons why people might want to clean their own home.

That PP said that their husband is a hard working high earner. Not everyone has time to clean.

I’m a bit perplexed as to why neither you nor your husband can’t even do the laundry? Unless you both have disabilities, or are really elderly and infirm, or are some old Victorian ladies confined to bedrest then that’s really entering lazy territory. I mean how difficult is it to bung in a load of laundry in the washing machine? It takes minutes to do. Nobody likes doing housework; most people just get on with it because it needs to be done.

Anyway, after reading this thread, I hope your confused little head can now understand why hiring a cleanser is considered an indulgence. Lots of people have explained it you very clearly. If still can’t understand, then I suggest you hire a tutor as well as a cleaner.

Love it!

spot on

op possibly doubly incontinent hence the need for laundry help