cleaning instructions for au-pair?

[Lauree]

I specifically asked my au pair if she would be happy to do 6 hours cleaning a week, and she agreed.

there's time for her to do this in the agreed hours, but I don't think she is doing more than a couple of half hours a week. She says she spends the whole time hoovering ( it's a big house, it would be possible to do that, but then the floors would be clean!)

Has anyone written instructions on how to clean the house? I want to say spend five minutes looking round the house and figure out what to clean, and then work at it for three hours. But I don't think that will work in this case.

any ideas?

I find the best way to clean an Au-pair is to hose her down once a week then a quick polish with beeswax.

most models of au-pair are self-cleaning IME

sorry, sensible answer now.

i would maybe think about giving her specific tasks for each day/week

ie, you want the bathrooms done once a week (and specify what)
kitchen cleaned down each day, maybe floor done once a week? fortnight?

hoovering shouldn't take 6 hours! i would suggest that she do the downstiars one day and upstairs anoither day perhaps?

I'd give her a more specific list - what to do on what days. Eg. Mon - hoover through top floor and dust bedrooms, Tues - hoover ground floor and dust lounge, Weds - mop kitchen floor, daily - empty dishwasher and wipe kitchen surfaces. Obviously use a timetable that is specific to your household needs.

Something I've read before is that you need to think how long it would take you to do a task - say it takes you 30 mins dust and hoover the lounge - then double that time and that is how long it would take the ap to do it, as they are younger and less experienced in cleaning than you or I. I've also read that it is a good idea for the ap to watch you do the task the first time, so that she knows what you want done and how.

Probably not a good idea to ask her to clean what she thinks needs cleaning as she probably won't see the house how you see it.

LOL I'm not the only one that thought that about the thread title then

On a sensible note - I give my au pairs (who are self-cleaning) a list of cleaning jobs, some are daily and others are weekly. It is in a reasonable amount of detail ie. dust windowsills, dust shelves... as I find that a generic 'clean room' is not enough. This gives us a basic once-over of communal areas each week and then I only clean the things that are one-offs or need extra cleaning.
Friends of mine give their au pair instructions to clean one room each day, that way when they get home they know which room is meant to be clean and they can discuss any 'missing bits' with her.

Thank you for the humour ! I'm not finding this very easy... she won't stay still for long enough to hose down!

and thanks for the advice... I'll be a bit more specific.