Cleaners - how often, how long do they come for, what do they do

[drspouse]

Just that really!
We have a cleaner once a week for 3 hours and she just cleans - hoovering, cleaning bathroom and kitchen etc. She tidies toys but we've asked her not to tidy other things after our previous cleaner put "all papers in a pile" meaning we got important papers mixed up etc.
I'm feeling really overwhelmed by washing and house stuff in general but I'm struggling to see how a cleaner can help, a lot of it is the sorting and putting away laundry, ditto things like putting away dishes, and the cycle on the washing machine means that sometimes for a large load she could put it on and just about hang it up if she was super speedy, but one load's worth of hanging up is not really here or there.
We have two DC and one or the other always seems to be in a light sleeping phase so we can't put wash away in the evening. I'm due to go back to work next month and I'm already feeling overwhelmed - and I know DH feels frustrated he can't do more at the moment with getting in late from work and things being off limits for evening sorting out due to DC sleep.

It's tricky and something I haven't yet mastered.

I moved where we kept our clothes which made it easier when putting away.

Other things that help me are to keep some clothes for a second wear if they are clean specially for the DC ( think hoodies, cardies etc more so than pants and socks!) this cuts down on laundry.

And when it comes out of the washing machine it goes straight in the drier and then sorted into piles of each person's clothes before folding. I get totally overwhelmed with piles of laundry everywhere.

Would it help to get service washes done at laundrette? I have no experience of this but it might be money well spent for a few weeks til you get straight?

And sorry, meant to add I know what you mean about cleaner. Ours is fab and does mostly the same as yours, but having one is not the magic wand I thought it would be. Think you just have to pick out the jobs you hate doing the most and ask them if they will take care of it.

We have a washer-dryer so can't do both at the same time sadly. We always put adult sheets on a wash-dry cycle though. At the moment DD is going through a constant dirty sheet and smelly grobag stage so maybe they should go in on the same type of cycle (I find baby clothes in particular shrink badly if dried so avoid that if I can, but sheets are ok).
We also use washable nappies which is kind of shooting ourselves in the foot but frankly it's just a different bin in the bedroom, and fewer smelly rubbish bags waiting to go in the yard, obviously you have to hang them up & take them down too but only DD is in nappies in the daytime and I do remember it was actually easier with DS at nursery in nappies as they went from nursery bag, straight in the machine (and less often as no bucket to get full) then back straight to nursery bag from the line.

Sorry, but I think the clue is in the name! Having been a cleaner -generally that was what I did - hoovering, mopping, bathroom cleaning etc. when I did "housekeeping" I did limited laundry or sorted it for a professional laundry- 2 different workplaces but both holiday properties.

Now I hear what you're saying delilah but I have heard people say their cleaners do more general housekeeping stuff, including laundry and ironing, so I was wondering how they arranged it.

I think you either negotiate tasks with the cleaner, or you contract it out to someone who does it specifically.

So our lady will do what we want in the two hours. If I asked her to just iron, she would. Trouble is like you say in the OP, they can't make much of a dent in a week's laundry in just two hours.

The other option is as I suggested I guess, get service washes done so they are ironed and folded, use a laundry service, or get a load on before cleaner comes so she can at least hang it out.

It's three hours, but if it was practical we could rearrange things or add hours , but for just hanging up a load or two it doesn't really seem worth it.

Our cleaner comes for 3 hours once a week (3 bed house, 2 adults. 1 child and too many pets!) before her visit I normally empty bins, change bedding, tidy house and clean litter tray. All washing is done ready for cleaner to iron (I do half in the week usually and leave the other half). She cleans 2 bathrooms, hovers, cleans glass, dusts and mops house plus other things if she wants such as microwave or unload dishwasher. If I'm falling behind on jobs in the week I may say to her not to clean bedrooms but use that time for the extra ironing or if I haven't put clean sheets on bed she may do this too. Then I either clean bedrooms in week or just leave them until the following week. It seems to work for us, she mostly does the same jobs each week but will do others for us if we let her know (and say which jobs to leave instead)

If you are struggling with washing maybe your cleaner could help you catch up one week and do less cleaning then go back to cleaning the following week? Or try and get the washing done so your cleaner could spend the time doing all the ironing for you?

Have a chat with your cleaner see what she is willing / able to do. Maybe you could work out a bit of a rota with her to help you keep on top between visits?
Mine amazes me with what she can get through when she's here, and she'll squeeze in extra hours to help with ironing and laundry if I need it.
In 4 hours this week she's cleaned and tidied 4 bed, 3 bath, got laundry that was sorted washed, dried and folded, done a basket of ironing and put it away. I'd still be bloody thinking about it in that time!
I never expected laundry or that much to get done when I hired her, she just started doing it. I luffs her

We don't do much ironing, we use an ironing service maybe every 6 weeks.
I should probably get her to change the sheets more often and show her how to put on a wash and dry, that would mean they were done and dusted, our current strategy is to ignore them.

It doesn't really sound like many people do ask cleaners to do washing, a combination of time and it not adding much really I suppose.

Maybe it would be worth having more hours and doing odd things each time. I hate disturbing her routine though!

Cross posted, hmm, maybe it is worth asking her to sort/put away... Maybe labels on drawers?

We are a cleaning company but we do not do do housekeeping, laundry related tasks or ironing, we do not have the insurances in place for these.

Other cleaning companies offer ironing services though!

It depends on the type of service you hire and if they are selling these services or not really.

We get our cleaner through a company too and the previous cleaner changed the sheets quite often. They've asked if we want ironing doing (but we said no as there's so little and we do use the ironing service when we need to).

Ah yes we do change sheets as an extra but we don't use any of the homeowners appliances we are only insured for our own equipment so we are not set up for using the washer or dryer, or ironing we are a dedicated cleaning service.

It just depends on the company - I know a couple of cleaning companies that do some laundry related tasks, it just depends.

We used to have a stand-alone oven cleaning service attached to our service too which clients could book but we have just got far too busy with the domestic cleaning side to continue with that so we no longer have the equipment.

It just depends - if your cleaning company offers these you could book for these tasks to be done and your cleaner would adopt a new routine to include them.

I've just started getting my cleaner to come every other week to strip beds and stick a wash on plus ironing plus hang up washing already in machine plus a quick clean in time for the weekend. 2 hours extra every two weeks. She already comes 2.5 hours once a week and does a full clean. Before she comes I tidy, put washing away, empty bins, stack recycling ready for her to put out.

I an doing much less washing now n back at work. It used to take up all my time on mat leave whereas now I do fuller washes and dh helps put away.

That might be a good arrangement Zen if she came as usual every week, and then a couple of extra hours once a fortnight... maybe just before recycling day...

I've had weekly cleaners for 20 years, both via agencies and employed direct for about 3 hours at a time in a 4 bed house. The one golden rule we've developed is the whole family has to tidy up the night before she comes in. So all dirty clothes in hampers, papers/ magazines away or at least piled up, everything away where it lives as far as possible etc.

We've had cleaners that would do ironing but I found it better that she did the dusting, vacuuming, bathroom cleaning etc. She will also do an extra job or two a week - either one I ask or ones she sees such as deep cleaning a room or cleaning inside windows.

Having a cleaner was one of the best decisions I ever made - even now we both are both semi retired she still comes in once a week. She is my "luxury" - I'd far rather use my money on a cleaner than a night out or expensive beauty/ hair appointment .