Wanted to say "hello."

[KatyTheCleaningLady]

Hello. Although I'm a mum of three boys, I haven't joined mumsnet before. However, I keep running into topics during Google searches that make me think this might be a good place to join!

As you can see from my handle, I am a house cleaner. I am NOT here to tout for business. I just love cleaning and love to talk about cleaning. I may give my advice/opinion on things to do with cleaning - particularly hiring cleaners - but I only do so because I love the subject so much. I keep my social networking and my professional life completely separate, and I am not trying to sell anything.

Anyway... hello! I think I'll peek into some of the other boards, here.

Is it totally daft that this was the first one I checked out? LOL

Hello back! I am not as keen on cleaning as you, or as good I should imagine!

Lots of people ask for advice though so keep an eye out.
Welcome to MN.

I will do!

I just wanted people to know that I'm opinionated, sure, but I'm not trying to get anything by it. I just like to hear myself talk.

I do love to clean. I'm a pretty good cleaner. I follow a specific system called "Speed Cleaning" that goes clockwise around a room, left to right, top to bottom, back to front, and I have a apron/tool belt with everything I need so that it can be mostly automatic.

Reading threads here about cleaning ladies is so good for me as it keeps me aware of what people expect. I have noticed that few people feel comfortable communicating issues and it kills me to see people paying for a service that isn't all they want/need. Everyone wants and needs something different. So, reading many threads here has shown me the importance of initiating feedback with the client so that I can find out where I'm missing things they care about.

waves hello back

Hello Katy - Interested to hear about the speed cleaning system :)

Ooh that scares me, I tend to Hoover and wipe the bathrooms but. Do have a cleaning lady,she is a friend and I teach her dyslexic son in return.

Well, there's a book for general homeowners. It's called Speed Cleaning by Jeff Campbell. You can order a used copy on Amazon, but it will probably have to come from America. The edition I had was some years old (80's?) and American so the specific products he talks about won't translate or are outdated. But the method is still good.

He and another woman who has a cleaning company has training videos and stuff for professionals, but I've not gotten those, as they're very expensive.

Basically, you work around a room left-to-right, top-to-bottom, back-to-front. So, in the kitchen, you start just to the right of the kitchen sink. And another thing is you wear an apron with four pockets and loops at the hips to hold spray bottle triggers. In the pockets you have:

1. Folded fresh cloths.
2. A plastic sandwich baggie held in place by tiny binder clips, to make a lining. Inside this plastic lining is your scrub pad (one of those green scourers or a sponge with a scrubby side.)
3. A toothbrush, a plastic scraper (like for smoothing putty), and a retractable razor blade like those used by window cleaners.
4. Another plastic liner. This pocket is to collect crumbs or anything grotty that you sweep up.

You start with a cloth in one hand for cleaning and a clean cloth thrown over your shoulder for polishing glass. On your right hip you wear a general cleaner. On your left you wear the bottle of glass cleaner. In your back pocket is a ostrich feather duster. You clean around the room, using the tool that best suits the soiled spot you're dealing with (razor blade is great for petrified pancake batter) and your spray cleaners close at hand at your hips.

The bathroom has a slightly different routine where you start by applying an acidic cleaner to the shower tiles and screen and leaving it to work while cleaning the rest of the room. There is also a routine for hoovering and dusting. The whole thing is set up to be done by 1-3 people in a very short time. A team of three working this way can clean a fairly large house in about an hour. Even singly, it just saves time because you never have to backtrack or go look for the tool or stuff you need.

Hello :)

I like you OP, you are serious

I love the idea of you walking around with your utility belt :)

LOL. Thank you, NYNN! Don't be fooled - I am a very silly girl sometimes! .

Not only do I wear a utility belt, I wear men's work trousers with knee pads! LOL

Wow. I'm impressed
I may even just think about use this idea as it sounds so simple an effective!
My DP may thank you if I ever get round to using it
Oh and hello! Welcome to MN

Thanks, aiming! I like it here!

Loving this 'system'! It sounds similar to the one outlined in Shirley Conran's 'Superwoman' book many years ago. Welcome

'petrified pancake batter'

I think you may be called upon to answer many questions on here OP!
You sound like a kind of canny cleaning cowboy, ready for action!

I can only aspire to this, I am worried now that my house is a hideous dump.
but not worried enough to get up and do anything about it

Make sure you check out the Good Husekeeping section regularly, seriously you will be busy answering queries!

Jeezy peeps! Puts my meagre efforts to shame lol big welcome nonetheless

After my back being knackered for months and only being able to do minimum house cleaning, I am now back on form, well, getting there. I love the sound of this speed cleaning malarkey.

Welcome to MN. I think you will be great on the housekeeping boards.

I sort of do flylady, but at the moment I am just trying to get back on top of things again. Dont get me wrong I dont live in CHAOS, but its not as clean as I like with DH and the DC doing most of the chores.

I would like a cleaning person, but I have 2 dogs and I feel like it would be money down the drain. I also want things like windows/skirting boards/stairs done and lots of cleaners dont want to do that...

So - give me tips on hiring a cleaner. What should I ask for?

First of all, I need to disabuse you all of any misguided notions:

I'm a mum of three young children who works full time. My house is NOT overly clean! Seriously... I'd like to hire a cleaner, myself! lol

JaxTellerIsMyFriend: I don't think it would be money down the drain at all. True, it would need to be cleaned again and again, but if you're like most people, knowing someone else is getting into the corners makes the rest of housework so much easier. Years ago I had a cleaner and I actually loved the part where I'd scurry around tidying before she got there. It forced me to tidy up, which only took a few minutes, and then she got all the actual dirt.

I suppose some cleaners don't want to do things like skirting boards, but I wouldn't assume that. Cleaners are all different and all you can do is ask. I wrote a post earlier in another thread (it's seriously only a couple of hours old) where I talked about how to hire a cleaner. I wish there were a guaranteed way to find a good one. There isn't. I know of independent cleaners who charge £9 an hour and do a great job and of national franchises that charge £25 an hour who do a poor job.

Here's a link to what I wrote. I'm afraid it's a bit long:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/good_housekeeping/a1647322-Finding-a-good-cleaner-and-how-much-do-they-charge#36578355

In short, I'd say ask around for people you know, don't sign any contracts, and expect them to have references and proof of insurance. If you google "house cleaning in _" you should find some places to start.

Good luck!

Wow OP, you are the business!
I LOVE that you wear kneepads. That just rocks.

thanks. Its not the fact that I have dogs, its that they would need to be put outside in the kennel as 1 is very old and the other young and big bouncy people get put off by the youngster.

I get what you mean.

I'm actually sort of afraid of dogs. I have been making a special effort to change in that regard. But, I'm not a "dog person."

And, yeah, I have a policy of requiring excitable dogs to be secured somewhere I'm not. I phrase it as "for your dog's happiness and peace of mind..."

Oh! But I wanted to add: if you can put them in a secure place while the cleaner is there, it is very worth it. And, if your dog is just very happy but after a bit of jumping around, will calm down, then you can probably find someone who won't mind. Many dogs will try to jump once, get told off by their owners, and then they get used to me. That's really not an issue.

I always work left to right around a room - yay I'm doing something right.

I love a good book on cleaning/organising, I could read about it all day :)

Jergens, thanks for that. To be honest, I was a bit worried people might be put off by the site of me dressed like a joiner. But, that doesn't seem to be the case.

I'll tell you, part of the reason I dress the way I do is because I am deliberately trying to avoid the stereotypical image of the "little lady who does." In my opinion, the worst look is just plain street clothes. A uniform - even if it's just a logo'd polo shirt and nice trousers - makes a real difference. It sends the message that you're a professional and not just some benefits scrounger trying to make some money off the books. A more traditional cleaner's uniform - like a tabard or something - is a bit better because that conveys the idea that you're some sort of specialist. But, I have this daft idea that women's work is considered less valuable precisely because women do it. So, I try to look like someone who does something very specialized and serious about what I'm doing. I call myself "Katy The Cleaning Lady" here, but that's not my image in my actual work.

One reason I do this is that I charge more than most cleaners do. I spend hours trying to think of ways to make myself worth more money. It's also why I charge by the job and not the hour. Most people would go if I told them I wanted £15 an hour to clean their home. However, few people have a problem with "I pay her £30 and she comes in and cleans my bathroom with a toothbrush and then gets down on her knees and cleans my kitchen floor with a razor blade." But, if I'm going to get £30-£45 to clean someone's house, it had better be perfect! And the customer's perception of what I'm doing had better be that it's superior to anybody else.

So, I do the knee pads and the razor blades and I colour-code all my cloths and buy the best professional chemicals and change into gleaming white indoor-only safety shoes when I enter their house. And then I follow a system that makes me faster and more efficient so that I can get the job done quickly and to a high standard.

But, my own house.... don't ask!

TeaOneSugar: me, too!

Hi! You sound like the kind of person that could help me! I am a recovering slob (who still has relapses sometimes)! I am trying to devise a system to make cleaning more efficient as I will be taking on more work soon. I have come up with the 15 minute plan. I am splitting the house into areas/jobs and allocating 15 min time slots to them. I have been writing these down into bullet pointed instructions so anyone can do them, namely my kids and husband!

Any ideas to add to my plan?

I do that sort of thing, myself.

I like to set a timer and see how much I can get done.

Anyway, 15 minutes is plenty of time for the average bathroom (unless you let it go to the point where there's lots of build-up.) 15 minutes is enough for everyone to race around and tidy the house, too.

If everyone does fifteen minutes of tidying every evening, and then another fifteen minutes of something else (kitchen, bathroom, hoovering) most days, your house should stay fairly presentable.

I do that sort of thing, myself.

I like to set a timer and see how much I can get done.

Anyway, 15 minutes is plenty of time for the average bathroom (unless you let it go to the point where there's lots of build-up.) 15 minutes is enough for everyone to race around and tidy the house, too.

If everyone does fifteen minutes of tidying every evening, and then another fifteen minutes of something else (kitchen, bathroom, hoovering) most days, your house should stay fairly presentable.