To want to get a job as a cleaner, despite being shite at cleaning my own house and being overqualified.

[lucyellensmum]

What do people generally expect their cleaners to do and would it be reasonable to expect to do it in 2hrs a day? DD is starting playschool in october and what will i do apart from waste the morning because that is not enough time to get a "proper" job. I am going to return to full time work when DD starts school, possibly teaching but we need some money and i fancy it, i'm not sure why. lol - my mum was a cleaner, perhaps its in my blood.

So, 2 hours a day?? And how much should i charge, i am in Kent. My cousins wife does it for £5.50 an hour and im not prepared to work for that. I was thinking along the lines of £7-8 is that reasonable?

im shite at cleaning my own home because im lazy and we have storage issues, big ones. I'm pretty sure i can step up to the plate. lol. Of course ivy, you don;t have to give me ajob

FM, this is getting spookier and spookier, i'm planning on doing my PGCE next year .

Just don't let any customers see in through your own front door

Isn't there something though that you would rather do?

I use an agency who provide everything and thats about £10 an hour - they're very good.

I'd pay £10 an hour especially if you'd do stuff like clean the oven, change bed linen.

I reckon your best bet would be to do someone twice a week then you'd get loads done. Put an add up in your local shop or post office.

Its really hard to get cleaners round my way hence i have to use an agency.

lots ivy, but not that i can fit in around preschool

I'm going out now but i'll quickly add my tuppenworth.

I honestly think that after a good enough start you'll get frustrated and lose your enthusiasm, at least this has been my experience of cleaners. I had several over the course of a year sent by an agency, and they all told me (bar one) that they weren't really cleaners two were classroom assistants, one was waiting for her CM registration to come through, and I can't remember the others, but invariably after a couple of months they either chucked it in or started to cut corners. i longed for someone to come along and say that cleaning was their job.

good luck anyway whatever you decide to do.

Does anyone else have a cleaner who turns up in a white dress and sits down to do the dusting?

In 2 hours would expect beds made, bathrooms cleaned, floors hoovered/mopped. Would not expect ironing done as I love ironing and am a bit fussy about it. I only live in a 2 bedroomed flat now as we downsized and cleaning is a doddle now (moved from a 5 bed house). More time for mumsnet and living!!!!

in 2 hours i expect floors/carpets donw, toys put away first (had a cleaner who used to clean round stuff - wtf), bathrooms takes an hr in my house as 4 bathrooms., beds changed, paw prints removed from stuff. and a quick wipe of the surfaces in the main living areas.

I paid £7/hr in hants a few yrs ago.

In 2 hrs she cleaned the downstairs or the upstairs.

My mother pays £8 an hour (near Tenterden).

i personally wouldn't pay more than £6 but some people would be prepared to pay more.

do people expect their cleaners to tidy as well? Apart from putting toys away that is, thats a given i would have thought, only i would hate to tidy someones stuff, id be uncomfortable

I always tidied first as I didn't want to pay her to tidy up.
Actually made us tidy the house every week,as if the queen was coming.

In Tunbridge Wells the cleaners are taking over the world.

I just let mine go citing creditcrunch as a reason, when infact she was taking the piss.

In 3h and at £11/h I asked her to:
-- do general clean of kitchen and floor (never any pots etc)
-- general polish and hoover of living room, 1 of the 3 bedrooms and the hallway
-- clean the family bathroom

its worth noting that I am a bit OCD anyway about tidiness and am quite minimal so never anything really to pick up etc.

Well she got more and more demanding -- and slower ... she asked for the house to be empty and not have my toddler in incase she crashed into her (nanny usually keeps her in nursery or takes her out anyway) ... she wanted basket of cleaning stuff to be left out for her as didnt want to reach up o the shelf (I wouldnt move stuff down incase baby reached it) and the final straw was when we were on holiday and she texted me over and over about geting in early ... I had arranged for nanny to let her in at usual time of 0930 and she went crazy saying she prefers to be with 'clients' from 0700 and only paid me the courtesy of 'waiting' till 0930 so I had a chance to get my child dressed.

so you're not being unreasonable to take the job on ... and in TW you sound like you;d be innundated with work!

oh ... and i had once cleaner in TW who got all pissy because after her first visit I left her a note saying ... 'great job last week thanks a lot you made a real difference ... don't bother with the bathroom this week cos we had people staying over at the weekend and the kitchen is a tip, please could you spend most of your time on that instead? Thanks a lot.'

she wrote back

In my 20 years as a cleaner I have never been told what to do. I am not coming back.

I was flabbergasted!!!!!!!!!
Perhaps it is me?

Best cleaners I have had were foreign students ... they came in, pulled on joggers and tornoed around the place ... brilliant ... no airs no graces and smashing people

ive been thinking of doing this as well, im a teacher but currently on maternity leave and starting back doing a bit of supply in september. might stick an advert up for cleaner/ironing and see what happens. Not sure how much though, my mams charged £20 for 3 hours, and would clean the whole house (3 bed semi) but no ironing

spugs ... anybody ... if you're around TW I'll give you £20 for 3 h ... starting asap!

Im going to put some adds up in the local shops, see what comes of it.

£8 - £10 an hour in Bristol and no-one I know thinks their cleaner is particularly great so I'm sure you'd be fine.

£10 plus an hour in Maidstone and you still can't find one.

£7.50 an hour here.
2 hours 2ce a week

Our cleaner processes laundry (folds one load from airers, puts next load onto airers, next load through machine, we don't iron) and leaves it in roughly sorted piles for me to put away.

Cleans bathroom thoroughly and does kitchen - sink, hobs, surfaces and floor but not oven.

Hoovers everywhere, picks up children's toys, mops throughout (we don't have carpets). In theory she concentrates on one room each time to make it extra clean but in practice clearing up after the children takes over from that.

We're unusual round here in not wanting ironing to be done - most clients seem to want cleaner to do an hour or so of ironing. Seems like a waste of time to me.

As an ex -cleaner can I please ask all of you who have cleaners to make the effort to clean your own loos.

Not that I minded cleaning toilets in general, but I did if they were really disgusting,

and I took pride in my work but too many shitty toilets and I began hating those I cleaned for (unless they were elderly / disabled as I did lots of care work too...)

and you all must know how bad men aim etc...

id rather clean the loo than tidy

we pay £10/hour just outside london. our cleaner comes weekly, but would be very happy ( happier?) with twice a week. For 4 hours a week (ours does one hour ironing she cleans the whole house special attention to kitchen and bathrooms. I am sure you could find someone who would be delighted to give you a trial.