Outside help needed to run my life!

[SlovenlyWrench]

I’m in the fortunate position to be working part time-ish with a well paying job so that I can afford (perhaps) to buy in cleaning etc. I’ve always done the domestic stuff myself (not very well admittedly and have low standards!) but I would like to be able to spend my time with my 3 children whilst they are still small enough to want me to do so, instead of the tidying/cleaning that seems to be never ending as a single parent. So I’m going to prioritise spending money on getting support and tighten my belt in other areas.

What is it that I need? I’d like someone to clean, iron, put a couple of loads of washing in washer and peg out/put in drier and then tidy round a couple of times a week. I have a cleaner currently once a fortnight for 2 hrs and she manages to get a top to bottom clean done in this time but once a fortnight isn’t enough really. A couple of days and its back to normal! And it would be so nice to have someone help tidy the little piles of muddle that appear by themselves. It’s a small 4 bed house, always lots of clean washing to be ironed (I rarely iron anything but appreciate the luxury of wearing ironed clothes so it would be lovely to have someone do this for all of us) but wouldn’t need bedding/towels/underwear ironed.

Plus maybe mow the laws/trim hedges/tidy up weeds every two weeks.

Do I need a housekeeper for 4 hours twice a week and then a gardener for two hours a fortnight (tiny back/front garden that takes me an hour max to mow)?

Or a cleaner 2 hrs per week and an ironer 2 hours per week and suck up the tidying myself? I am in a small market town in an agricultural county and paying £10/hr for my cleaner. It’s not like my house is a lovely one though that people would be glad to come and spend time in so I don’t know if this makes a difference to being able to get people! If I was a cleaner I would be more tempted to be working in lovely surroundings than my bog standard 30yr old estate house!

Not sure what to look for as have no experience of this.

Would welcome advice and experience/opinion.

If I were in your position I'd have no qualms about getting more help. None at all!

How about having your cleaner in every week instead of every fortnight to start with? I imagine that would make a huge difference. Personally, I don't get much value from ironing but if you do maybe she could do the most important things once a week?

Have you spoken to your current cleaner about increasing her hours? And other services she might be able to offer? I don't imagine the loveliness or otherwise of your house would make any difference at all!

So you're a single mum with 3 DC, and some spare cash. I wouldn't think twice about getting a cleaner if I were you! I got a cleaner when I had my first baby. The only advice I would say would be to up it gradually. Cleaners are (almost) always happy to get more hours but it can be pretty awkward to cut their hours down if you decide it's too much.
I always try to have my cleaner come while I'm out because I feel awkward just playing with the children while he cleans round us.
Also how old are your children? Make sure they are helping too!

Cleaner here!! Versatile is the key to being a good cleaner imo. For the family homes I clean (1 a busy farm) I 'run' the house in my 4 hours. So put washing on /hang out. Clean general rooms with 'requests' fortnightly - say guest rooms /windows. Organise /tidy bedrooms on occasion, paintwork /doors, lists left often have bizarre requests but all in my days work tbh.
*include - packing for a df /ds holiday, Xmas tree up /down /organise carpet fitters /wash ddog/collect medications /collect dc!
Best job ever tbh!!
A Girl Friday is what you need!!

What works for us is, we have a cleaner that does a quick one hour tidy round at the beginning of the week and a 2 hour clean on a Friday, I take our washing to a local lady who does ironing and who does a whole basket for £10 (I sometimes fell very guilty cod she'll never take more even when it's crammed in), we also have a gardener who mows the lawn weekly who does an hour and a half a week. Our children are looked after at home so it does get messy and this makes a fantastic difference to us!

Oh Aprilshouldhavebeenmyname have you got a sister please, one that would come and look after us like you look after "your" family?! That sounds exact the sort of thing I need. So you do all that in 4 hours a week?

I was a bit worried that I'd come on here and be told that I'm lazy and entitled, and I should suck it up and do it myself! Thank you all for being lovely and offering good advice

So how do I go about finding a "Girl (or indeed boy) Friday"? I don't want to advertise on Facebook for example, people round here would think "who the hell does she think she is!" My current cleaner, whilst reliable, can't do any more hours than she currently does. I'd like to keep her because she's lovely and would feel bad replacing her just for someone with better availabilty.