Cleaner questions

[Seesawmummadaw]

Would people please tell me about their cleaners.

How often, how long for and what do they do in that time?
Also how much do you clean before they visit?!

Mine come for 2 hours, once per fortnight and do whole house (3 bed semi) basic clean. Clean bathrooms, vacuum and mop floors, dust and wipe surfaces, clean kitchen, empty bins. They do a little bit of general tidying too, just things like make the beds if unmade, straighten out the sofa cushions, etc.

I don’t do any cleaning before they come, but do make sure the house is fairly tidy so they can actually clean, I just make sure there is no excess clutter on surfaces or stuff left on the floor. I keep things quite tidy generally anyway so probably only spend about 20 mins before they arrive tidying.

I used to be a cleaner.
I cleaned every room in the house unless I was told not to.
I cleaned bathrooms and toilets I vacuumed, and dusted, polished and wiped surfaces, paintwork etc..
I emptied bins
I cleaned windows. I mopped floors. I tidied as I cleaned, but one thing I did not do was to wash up.

If washing up was left for me to do it detracted from the real cleaning and I considered it insulting to leave a pile of it for the cleaner. To me it showed no respect.

Do the washing up and leave the kitchen clear for cleaning which is what you pay the cleaner to do

I had cleaners in the distant past, and it varied hugely what they could get done in that time. Some people are just faster and more efficient than others.

I wouldn’t clean ahead of the cleaner (eg hoover/mop/polish) but I would tidy away as I think that’s more efficient. I suppose it depends on what you want - I don’t mind tidying but I find cleaning a chore. Before I met dh his cleaner did his ironing, and changed the sheets on his bed as well.

I had a fantastic cleaner who was a human dynamo and was always finished early and getting stuck into extra jobs like cleaning the fridge or oven on her own initiative. I had another that needed a very precise list. It just varies person to person.