Okay need some advice on hiring a cleaner

[sunnyjim]

Dh has decided he can't deal with having anyone live in, so instead of an au pair to hlep with light housework and childcare we're compromising on a cleaner with the view that we'll get far more housework but obviuosly no childcare!

So this is what i would like done:

Large living room:
Window opened
Cups taken to kitchen
books put back on shelving unit
toys put in toybox
floor hoovered (but dont' have to move sofa!)
side table and dining table wiped down with damp sponge or wipes*
TV, dusted*
windowsills wiped over with damp sponge or wipes*
Bin emptied and relined
cushions plumped
rug shaken
recycling (newspapers) taken to recycle box at front of house*

Kitchen
Window opened
Washing up (breakfast things) done and put away
worksurfaces cleaned
floor swept
floor mopped*
Bin emptied and relined
recycling (bottles and jars) taken to recycle box at front of house

bathroom
Window opened
bath cleaned*
toilet cleaned*
sink cleaned
shower screen cleaned*
floor mopped*
Bin emptied and relined

Hall and stairs (2 flights)
swept/mopped*
or
hoovered (if carpeted)
shoes put in shoechest
post put on dining table

nursery
cot linen changed
floor swept
floor mopped*

utility
load of washing put on
load of washing taken off airer / tumble dryer, folded and put in basket to go upstairs
load of washing put on airer or in tumble dryer

all windows closed

It took me and DH 2 hrs to do all this working together so I was hoping that 2x3hr visits a week would be able to tackle it all, some jobs marked with a star are only needed once a week.

how realistic am I being?

are there some jobs cleaners won't do?

That sounds fine. I would have done all of that as a cleaner.

the only thing i would say is don't expect a cleaner to really scrub your toilet. they tend to give it a bit of a once over with a toilet brush and not get too close!

also, you will have to spend a fair amount of time tidying the house before they arrive. you probably do this without thinking as part of the cleaning, but in my experience if they tidy it takes them forever and it will just irritate you as things won't be exactly where you want them. Sometimes i think i don't need a cleaner by the time i have spent a good couple of hours putting everything away.

Perhaps if once a month, you schedule rooms to have a deep clean. So scrub the bath, rather than clean it, scrub the floor, rather than mop it.... However, if everything is being done once or twice a week, it will never get that bad. Other things will also come up that you might want to schedule in - cleaning out the fridge, the kitchen cupboards, behind the cooker etc, that don't need doing weekly, but do have to be done every so often.

Would agree with the tidying thing. Although chucking all the kids toys in a box would be easy enough.

The house will be relativly tidy - I do that in the evenings.

I just hate having a non-clean house and that means the things like how often the bath gets cleaned etc.

I'll ask cleaner to do a deep clean of one room once a month especially once we've got on top of things in general.

So how do I go about finding a good one?

recommendations! it's the only way. plus then you know they are trustworthy as they will have too much to lose.
for example my cleaner's cousin cleans for my mum and 2 or 3 other houses on my mum's road
my cleaner cleans for 2 of my friends

so very very trustworthy, honest and reliable!