Have you kept your cleaner this lockdown?

[flowerycurtain]

We've been 4 weeks without ours now. I'm struggling with home schooling and working from home and it's one thing I could do that would make life easier.

We need to keep our risk as low as possible - family run farm so not teams of staff to help if we get sick. Not sending our kids to school for that reason.

She could work just in one section of the house (ie one week do all upstairs, the next just fo kitchen/playroom) with all windows open and wearing a mask. It's a big house and there's a big hallway between us home learning in the dining room and her. We could even leave the upstairs to air for a few hours.

How risky is that? Dh and I aren't sure. She works in other houses through the week. Mainly elderly. Case rate in our area is about 350 per 100 000.

Would you have her back?

Like Bobbin, no, our cleaner is not coming.
DH has had COVID and it was fucking awful. A friend has died of it too- he was 55. I don't want my cleaner catching the bus to come here and I don't want to place myself at risk either. We live in a flat, work from home and have the DC around too- there is literally nowhere to squirrel ourselves away when she comes.
I'm cleaning my own bog for a bit and paying her as my own income has not fallen. I consider myself lucky to have that choice tbh

No! I pay her in full.

Why should she risk her life just because she can’t work from home. I’m also working 12 plus hour days and homeschooling but this is about doing the right thing!

Yes, we open all windows and for the rest of that day, stay in one room while she's here which she doesn't come into (over summer sat out in the garden, and on one memorable occasion I taught a class from the car), and she wears a mask and gloves. She's also very enthusiastic with the bleach, so I doubt any bugs would survive anyway

Yes, the house is empty when she comes as it's a site day for me so the kids are in school.

Yes

Yes, she has another job which means she has weekly tests and has already had dose 1 of the vaccine.

Yes, our cleaners still come, they’re wholly within the guidelines to do so.

No
I pay her full pay. She has health problems and her mum is over 90 and frail. House not as clean but I not really that bothered. One 18yo

No, but only because I am in a bubble with vulnerable grandmother. If not in contact with anyone vulnerable we would have done. Can't wait until she can come back!

A big hell yes here. I asked whether she wanted to - if she hadn't we'd have paid a 50% retainer but obviously not best sitn for her or us. I just carry on working from the office which she doesn't enter, and DH and DC shuffle rooms around her to be distanced. Both of us work on offset hours with DH home schooling 2 primary schoolers most mornings and cleaning would be sporadic at best if she stopped. Weve all had covid so hopefully low risk too.

Yes, and we are all at home when she comes. She’s been coming throughout. I have also had tradesmen here. I need my cleaner and wouldn’t even consider not having her.

Yes
Also had the plumber come today to fix something

How do any of you square this with lockdown, knowing that if she picks it up from you she may well infect others before she realises she has it? It seems incredibly selfish to me and I'm really surprised that a. it's not specifically against the rules and b. most of you are unembarrassed by it.

No way. We had a plumber and that gave me sleepless nights worrying if it was a good idea (as much for him as us). Surely you could just set aside some time and blitz the house once a week?

Our cleaner still comes twice each week but she only cleans for me no other household. I stay in bedroom and DH in another bedroom wfh and cleaner does downstairs, then comes upstairs and cleans bathroom and child's room she wears a mask and we do if we leave a bedroom. She opens windows downstairs whilst she is there too so house gets an airing. She asked if she could still come so I said yes but if she was not happy to come that would be ok too.

We are not in the UK. Our cleaner is sent by an agency and they asked what we would like to do. We said that we would like her not to come for the moment. I do not pay, as that is not the agency's practice, and as a self employed person myself I do not get paid for work I don't do and will have to cut back on the amount of work I take on due to all the extra housework piling up!

A few more varied comments overnight.

To those who asked why can't I just find a gap to clean - it's not always that easy. Homeschooling 2 key stage 1 children means I'm working most of the weekend and evenings to keep on top of even basic work I have to do. I can just about fit in half an hour a couple of days a week to attempt TOMM. Our work doesn't just switch off if so proper time off is very few and far between.

Yes. I'm home schooling X 2 while caring for a toddee and trying to find a job (single mum) and going without first time around was the last straw. For 4 weeks fine, but this is too long.
She's had covid, and also doesn't rely on public transport or live with anyone vulnerable, and we keep on separate floors with windows open when she's here.

Fwiw people on here all talk big about paying their cleaners not to come - I did pay my cleaner not to come in the first lockdown and she said only 1 other client did, and her friends who clean had about the same numbers.

@VitreousHumour - Clearly you have the time to clean or don't mind dirt, fabulous. If someone can catch covid from a different floor with the windows open and mask on, then we are all truly fucked. It's always fun to be judgemental, but worth considering that other people work, or have young children, or have health issues, or deal with all 3 at once.

Same as most others. She comes, but we leave all windows open and hide away working in two rooms, with doors shut, that she doesn’t clean. We gave her the choice, and last lockdown we paid for her not to come.

No: we decided it represented too much of a transmission risk. She came back for a while when lockdown eased but with three of us in the house juggling between rooms to make this possible in a fairly safe way didn't feel feasible. The idea of encouraging someone into numerous households didn’t sit well with me either: dh can’t work from home so we represent a risk to her too. but I do have teens so they are being bribed to help with cleaning!

No. We've paid her to stay away. She's in her early 60s and has to travel on london transport to get here. No way would we risk her health and ours just to have a clean loo.

That said the stair carport is grim and I'll spend a couple of hours at the weekend doing the worst of it , bathrooms and kitchen floor. DH has done some too, and DD.

Infection rates are so high it just doesn't seem worth the risk

I compromised and have reduced her to fortnights for now, with much regret.

I always go out when she's working anyway, did that even in the Before Times. She wears gloves, the house is well ventilated. Is mask exempt.

She is absolutely worth her weight in gold. I wish I had employed a cleaner years ago. It may even have saved my marriage. I absolutely loathe cleaning but living in a mess makes me feel guilty.
I am keeping an eye on local Covid stats which are very low in my area, and will keep it under review.

I've had other workers in my home unavoidably too. It is a bit nerve wracking but taking the recommended precautions and insisting on masks when in same room at least ( I do have sympathy for anyone doing anything remotely strenuous in a mask) unless exempt is really all one can do.

I can’t believe how many of you still have your cleaners! Mine also would need to come on public transport, I’m not having her risk her life just to clean my house. I am just doing it myself!

@VitreousHumour

How do any of you square this with lockdown, knowing that if she picks it up from you she may well infect others before she realises she has it? It seems incredibly selfish to me and I'm really surprised that a. it's not specifically against the rules and b. most of you are unembarrassed by it.

What is your situation though? I think it depends on that. DH and I are trying to home school two young children full time, work, keep on top of the house and I am studying too. I am already working 6/7 days a week. Sorry if I don't want to spent my very little down time cleaning! I just can't comprehend fitting it in right now with so much to think about. The risk is minimal, we lock ourselves in two rooms and have all doors etc open. She wears a mask.