Stealing from money box

[jugglingmonkey]

We have been monitoring DS's money box since December. We were going to bank the contents for him - should have been close to £100, but it was nearer £55, so we've been keeping an eye on it.

We have deliberately not put anything else in since December (and of course never take any out), but today it was down to £35.

In short, someone is stealing from the money box. The only people other access to the house are my mum, and our long standing cleaner.

We only put £1/£2 coins in, so very little room for error with regard to counting the contents.

What would you do? Confront cleaner or just terminate services? For anyone wondering, there's no way this is my mum!

I know you've said that other than yourselves only your dm and cleaner has access to your house, has there not been any friends or family called round and nipped up to use the toilet or been left alone for even a few minutes?
I would still get evidence of her taking the money just so that you could prove it her if she denied it. Apart from telling dh about a camera no one else would know including dm.

I was in the same situation a year ago, had a thread about it.

I waited until she was going on holiday and had handed back the keys to the agency to pass to another cleaner, then rang the agency and cancelled my contract. They grudgingly agreed to cancel it but said she was very distraught and clearly they believed her. Obviously it was her word against mine and I don't doubt she was genuinely upset, it's horrible being accused of theft even if you've done it, and she loved my baby son.

In our case, we had a bowl of coins by the front door, and DH tended to empty his pockets into it. I rarely used it myself or I may have caught on sooner. He noticed a few times that there were days when he had put in £10 in pound coins and there was only coppers and silvers left. I thgouht she may have taken money from my wallet on a couple of occasions when I had taken out a large sum of money to pay a certain bill and found a chunk of it gone... I had even called my husband in front of her one day to ask if he took money from my wallet that I had withdrawn the night before, but didn't ask her. However after that I felt uneasy and had taken to keeping my handbag in my bedroom instead of in the hall as I wasn't always up and about when she came in at 8am, I had a tiny baby at the time so was often catching up on zzzz's from the night wakings or feeding him in my bedroom, and I had baby brain/sleep deprivation and wasn't the most organised with my cash anyway and couldn't be sure I hadn't lost it myself. I forgot after a few months, left my bag in the hall for a while and then it happened again when I had a large chunk of money withdrawn the night before for a specific bill... Another day I put a fiver in the bowl by the door before she arrived, couldn't find it when she was there, and as that was the first area she cleaned that day I went to ask her to look for it, and let me know if she found it.

Each time I convinced myself that I/we must have just mislaid it, counted it wrong, DH is careless with his pocket change anyway...

Eventually one week he was adamant that there had been £10 in pound coins gone, unusual as there were usually only a couple in there and he definitely noticed that. So the next morning she was due to come I took most of the pound coins out, counted £3 in pound coins and £2 in 50p pieces... didn't count the other silver/coppers, but as soon as she left that £5 was gone from the bowl and nobody else had been there.

Gutted. It's an awful sense of betrayal.

My new cleaner was recommended by a friend, is efficient, warm and lovely and now works for 3 more friends of mine and I've recommended her to another as well.

For me the 'proof' thing is more about my need to confront her with the crime before firing. To do that, I'd need to be completely certain it was her.

I wouldn't be comfortable with firing her without making sure she knew why but if you are then obviously go for it.

It must be seriously awkward having someone in your home you don't trust.

be 100% sure before you do anything.

can't you just count it exactly, leave her alone for the clean and then count it again straight after? if nobody else is home and it goes down then you will know it was her.