How Clean is Enough?

[KatyTheCleaningLady]

I wanted to ask you all something that has been on my mind all week.

I tend to stress out about how clean I'm getting the houses I clean. I have a hard time drawing a line under things and saying "This is a reasonable amount of cleaning for the money." I sort of beat myself up for being "lazy" or something because I feel almost guilty that I'm not making everything perfect.

I am not talking about some sort of OCD cleaning. I'm talking about feeling guilty that I don't get kitchen floors clean enough to pass a white glove test. I will hoover a hard floor with the hard floor attachment, and then mop it with a string mop, and then leave it to air dry. I feel like I should then flat mop it with a dry microfibre mop pad to remove anything still on the floor. Sometimes I do that - if the floor is very dirty it is necessary - but I don't most of the time. Also, even though I hoover first, something about mopping seems to knock things loose and so I still see bits when I'm mopping. If they're big bits I will pick them up with my fingers but I know I don't get everything.

I think for a floor to be perfectly clean it needs to be hoovered (or carefully brushed), then mopped, then wiped dry or allowed to air dry, then hoovered/brushed again, and then mopped again. Repeat until the mop water is clear and the floor towel doesn't pick up any more dirt. Like, if the floor does not pass a white glove test, then it is not truly clean - it just looks superficially clean if you don't look too close.

If I did that, I would spend at least another hour cleaning every house. I'm not sure if customers care about this or if I'm just beating myself up unnecessarily?

Help?

I think if something is particularly important, your clients will make you aware.

For example I am a childminder and I did tell my cleaner at the beginning that I would prefer more time spent on the floors and bathroom over say the mirrors and sitting room.

I'm like that in my own home... Drives my poor family to distraction.

I can understand that it not practical when it how you make your living. If you were my cleaner I would like it to look clean (hoovered and mopped) and certainly not even think about attempting a white glove test. Spending an extra 40 mins attempting a deep clean on every floor would be a waste, I'd rather you cleaned something else.

I always ask at the initial meeting "What things matter to you the most?" Most people don't really have an answer for me, but one client said without hesitation "the floors." They have several animals and lead a very outdoorsy life so their floors require a lot of work.

However, they're in such a state that it doesn't really take all that much work to make them look significantly better! I'm sure they don't pass a white glove test, even though I mop and wipe them dry twice (the dry wiping mop is muddy the first time I do it, and only sort of grubby the second time).

I struggle with getting out the door of my clients houses without leaving footprints on the wet floors. I try to organize my equipment and exit better, but there's always something I have to go back in over AFTER I've packed away the mop.

Nobody complains, by the way. I may just be beating myself up. However, most people won't complain. I don't really know if they're happy or if I'm just making excuses for being lazy and not making their house perfect.

I agree with Narky, above - they'll let you know (one way or another) if they're not happy. You could take the initiative for example "Would you like me to deep clean your kitchen floor next week and just give the bedrooms a quick onceover to get the job done in time?".

You sound like a delightully conscientious cleaner, by the way!

Katy you sound an amazing cleaner! From the concern you are expressing I have no doubt that you do a fab job. I agree with the others that if people weren't happy they'd let you know.

You aren't in the north are you??? I'm looking for a cleaner again!

I don't know why I beat myself up like this. I tell myself that it's enough if the floor is hoovered and then mopped because it leaves the floor looking OK. I will also hand-scrub high-traffic areas when needed, but not every time. Few houses need that done more than once in a great while. Bathroom floors I do clean by hand a lot because it's easy to do when I've got a couple of wet cloths already soaked in cleaner and there's so much dust and hair around the toilet base. But, I will even feel sort of guilty about not going back in later with the hoover and the mop. Like, I will wipe the floor with two microfibres, backing out to the door and it looks fine. But some part of me says "That's nice... but it would be more work to come back and mop them and that you don't want to do that is because YOU ARE LAZY!!"

And, if the whole house has hard floors (laminate throughout, for example) I sometimes clean less-dirty areas by just spritzing with a spray bottle and pushing a flat microfibre mop (after hoovering). Again, something in my head says "Well, this is much easier than mopping with a string mop and bucket of solution and then wiping, isn't it? Why aren't you doing that? You're just telling yourself it's enough BECAUSE YOU ARE LAZY!!"

Another example is cleaning windows. I will clean interior windows when they need them, but sometimes it's hard to get them completely streakless and on a sunny day I can drive myself crazy before saying "OK, that's really nearly perfect and you got a lot of grime off of them so just move on with your life" and the voice in my head says "THEY ARE PAYING YOU TO MAKE EVERYTHING PERFECT AND YOU ARE BEING LAZY!"

clean enough for me would be
hoover or brush the floor and mopping, leaving to air dry.

for the mopping I use the mop very wet, then as dry as I can get.