Throwing (a bit of) money at housekeeping to make life easier

[jafferz1]

First time posting so please be kind. My DP and I (41F) have one DS - almost 2 years old. We both work full-time in pretty demanding jobs. DS goes to nursery full-time. We recently decided to stay in our three bed flat in SE London for a couple more years rather than try to sell and buy a house, so we have some cash to spare, and have decided we should use that to make our lives a bit easier. We do already have a cleaner who comes once a week but she doesn't do any laundry, ironing, changing of bed linen etc.

My question is - how do other people do this - how do you throw a little money at this to make life easier so you don't spend your evenings and weekends tidying, doing laundry, sorting toys and clothes etc. We obviously don't spend all our time doing that but it would be nice to free up some time, energy and headspace.

Really what we need is a "housekeeper" but I don't know if such a magical person exists and even if they do, we couldn't afford them. I'm thinking maybe instead of our cleaner coming once a week we ask her to come a couple of times and also take on the laundry? She could get a couple of loads done each time she is here. Or do people find using laundry services helpful? You still have to get it together and put it away afterwards so it doesn't cut out that much work?

All ideas and experience gratefully received. Thanks x

Depends on your budget but I'd definitely do as you suggested and get cleaner to come a second time each week. This has the benefit of the house never actually getting to the really filthy state and with the extra hours she can also do a few additional tasks. Our old cleaner used to do the following, all of which I miss with a new cleaner and fewer hours.

• change bedding
• wash bedding and towels (we would return home to one load in the washing machine, one in the tumble drier and at least one already dried and put away. New towels were also hung up in the bathroom)
• fold any clothes already washed and on the drying racks - usually left on the beds for us to put away
• Hang up washing if we'd put a load on before we left
• Ironing (now we use a service)
• Use some of the extra time to make a dent in the "bigger" jobs that don't need to be done every week but that actually, make a huge difference. eg windows, inside fridge, inside cupboards, bookshelves etc. It meant they never got truly dirty and I never had to think about them.

I once came home to discover she'd taken the curtains down and washed and dried them and hung them back up!!

Also, if you are ever away, don't cancel the clean but rather ask her to use the time for a spring clean.

Out cleaner does all our laundry and ironing and changes bedding weekly.

Oh and she puts it all away too - that’s essential!

I have a cleaner fortnightly (budget reasons). Occasionally I will o her a bag of ironing to do which she will take away.

You are buying time for you. What jobs do you really hate? They're the ones to outsource.

For me it would be cleaner as mentioned, car valet, supermarket delivery, window cleaning, gardening & ironing.

What about getting an au pair who can do the dc related chores such as tidying toys, their clothes etc?

Thanks all.

I hate laundry the most - or at least that feels like the biggest job we could obviously get help with. We have a small garden which is low maintenance so don't need anyone regularly. Don't use the car that much so it isn't a big issue. We already get our groceries delivered.

I also hate dealing with the constant clutter that seems to come with a small child (and to be fair from me and DP too). His toys and his clothes that he is constantly growing out of and need sorting. There also always seems to be a build up of random items in the hallway and elsewhere that don't have an obvious home - or do have one and neither of us makes the effort to ensure they are put there. So yes, I think getting our cleaner to come twice and week to do laundry - but also teaching her where everything lives and asking her to sort through them and put away - rather than just clean around them - that would help a lot.

Our local laundrette takes a large black bag of laundry for £20. I do this sometimes - wash, dry and fold and then i just have to put it away.
If you can afford your cleaner to come a second day I would do that. She already knows your house and routines.
A local lady takes bags of ironing but I haven't used that service yet.