PLEASE help me to make a comprehensive list of all cleaning tasks a cleaner should cover...

[Milliways]

We now have a young foreign girl coming to clean for 3 hours a week (she is trying to get a business going).

She is hardworking, but is very worried that she is not doing a particular thing that we want doing.

My idea is: If it has a surface, dust or wipe it! On the floow, mop or hoover. We are not perfectionists, just need a bit of help.

DH made a small list which she loves as she ticks things off, then asks what next! I need a FULL list. Room by room, for 3 bedrooms, bathroom, shower room, lounge, kitchen/diner.

EG we have:
Kitchen: Wipe surfaces, wipe cupboard/unit doors, bleach sink & draining board, dust table/chairs, mop floor,

Can you please help - it's doing my head in!

[luckylady74]

i would say cobwebs, dust including skirting boards and plants,polish,wipe anything like light switch/phone/painted door hoover (including under sofa cushions and moving sofa if easy to do), wipe windows for all living and berooms. would flylady not help?

[Desiderata]

Does she do the three hours all in one shift?

[Milliways]

3 hours every Friday.

What is Flylady???

[Desiderata]

[Milliways]

Wouldn't expect the windows doing - although she did attack the bit of Patio door that the dog nose seems attached too!

Just googled Flylady! Great site. Is she a MNer??

[Desiderata]

Well, Milli, cleaning can be a dull occupation, and it can be difficult to know what's expected, and where to start.

I suggest that every Thursday night, you make a list of the things you would like to be done.

The floors are a given ... every week. Vacuuming and mopping, etc. Depending on the size of your house, this can take one or two hours, so gauge the rest from there.

Believe me, it is so much easier if a cleaner has a list to work from.

I know this, because I'm a cleaner at the mo!

[luckylady74]

so i'm extreme in wiping the inside of my living room and conservatory windows most days and the others once a week? my dh did say it was ott
flylady is a website about cleaning ans routine - not been on it, but there are dedicated followers in goodhousekeeping on here

[yomellamoHelly]

Would split it into tasks she needs to complete each time she comes and those which she does on a rota basis so that the entire house gets a good going over on a regular basis (eg cleaning fridge, cleaning under bed, cleaning windows .... ).

[Desiderata]

Not OTT, lucky , but windows en masse is not generally a cleaner's job.

[Milliways]

Desiderata, thanks for letting me know it is easier. We haven't had a cleaner for years, but our last one was a gem who just gutted the entire house every week, but she had been doing it for years. This girl wants to do well as she will want us to recommend her, and I want to make it easy but have never thought about every little job.

[Desiderata]

Thanks, Milli.

For what it's worth, I don't tend to need a list, but it is quite nice when you get one. And reading between the lines, it seems to be what your current cleaner needs and wants, and there's nowt wrong with that!

[sunandmoon]

Our cleaner does 2 hours per week in our 2 bedroom house. She is a real fairy!!!
In 2 hours she vacuum, and mop all our wooden floor (that's include a set of stairs). She does all visible surfaces, tables, chest of drawers, kitchen counter... and clean the bathroom and mop floor there too. It used to take me at least 4 hours myself to do it all (!!!). I don't give her a list but told her what I needed at first... and it didn't include the bathroom and the dust... but she find time to do it! When we go on holidays, I ask her to still come and she does inside kitchen cupboards and the top of cupboards etc (the surfaces we can't see!)..
Unless you need your cleaner to do different things each week, you should make her one weekly list and add at the bottom the extra (inside kitchen, top of cupboards, cobwebs, picture frames)... I'd think that windows are for window cleaners, aren't they?

[Milliways]

Thanks.

Am busy compiling list, trying to think of everything, and then decide what is weekly, fortnightly, whenever etc.

It's soooo nice to come home to a clean home!

[chocolatekimmy]

I did a really detailed list, room by room basically step by step as I would do it. I included the cleaning products I used for each thing and listed 'cautions' like ensuring microwave is off before wiping inside as well as 'don't do the shelves in the nursery' (all those irreplacable christening presents for example).

It ensured everything I wanted doing was listed and the cleaner knew exactly what she was required to do, what products to use and what things she had to be careful about. That way there was no getting stressed about her doing things she thought that were different to my requirements.

You need to make everything crystal clear from day one and discuss any issues etc.

[Milliways]

Thanks. I am out when she arrives & DH working at home, so it is also for his benefit!

After every room she asks him to come & check. She has also put stickers on the products with things in her language so she doesn't confuse them.