Is having a cleaner stressful?

[Bubblemilk]

I want to get a cleaner for our small home as we are time poor and have suddenly had an increase in income we can access. I hate cleaning and we would like to sell our property so I was hoping it would alleviate some of the work. However I've never had experience of having a cleaner and I have no idea of what to expect. This is already stressing me out. I wondered if having a cleaner does alleviate the stress in your own home? Or is it more stressful having to keep things tidy for them?

I have a stress every week before she comes, similar to having guests over, but I need that to keep the house tidy! If you find someone you like, it's great. I love ours, she's lovely, does a great job.

A good cleaner is amazing. We struggled and had some very bad experiences but there are good ones out there you just need to persevere if things dont go well at first and change we’ve had 2 amazing cleaners and 6 absolutely dreadful for varying reasons. The amazing ones were life changing

It’s great! The stress is finding one, then it’s plain sailing. Sounds a bit dramatic but it’s changed our lives. We work long hours and have a baby and cats, the house is now lovely to be in and it’s made me very house proud. Go for it!!

No. Mine is invaluable.

We have a tidy on a Sunday night so that everything is clear for them on Monday morning. I love coming home to a clean house.

Yes.

One cleaner I had seemed to be doing ok until I was in hospital and my dad came out of a room and caught her on the landing with the hoover running and left to one side while she chatted on her mobile phone. She didn’t realise he’d seen her until she turned around.

Got rid of the cleaner after that.

Friend has just discovered that his cleaner, a woman who has literally cleaned for him for years and who he trusted implicitly has been stealing from him. She was the absolute last person he would have expected.

have heard similar from other people.

Lac of trust alone wouldn’t be worth the cleaner house.

I spend my money on a gardener once a week instead, I find it easier to outsource that than have a cleaner come in. Plus DH always whinged that the cleaner had missed X/Y/Z.

Having a cleaner removes a lot of stress from my life.

You need good communication. On day one, I brought my cleaner through all the things I’d like done as a minimum each week, and how it should be done. Also discussed more ad-hoc thinks that don’t need to be done weekly and she does those on rotation.

A cleaner should spend their time cleaning, not tidying so you do need to get into a routine of keeping things fairly tidy and areas clutter-free. To me, this is a benefit of having a cleaner as it keeps me disciplined and means I don’t get to the stage where I’m overwhelmed with mess.

On the night before she comes, I do a quick ten mins to remove anything from the floors (we have a dog- there are many sticks and toys), make sure that I have surfaces clear, and tackle anything the cleaner shouldn’t. For example, I don’t ask my cleaner to do anything related to laundry so I’ll make sure any towels that are due a wash are put into the laundry basket because she won’t be looking out for them, and I want them out of her way.

I supply all cleaning equipment and have everything in a big caddy so take those out the night before, add clean clothes etc.
If I’m running low on any cleaning supplies, my cleaner will let me know so I can get some more.

Honestly, having a cleaner is probably the best thing I spend money on in terms of the benefit to my mental health. I’m not a naturally tidy person, but knowing she’s coming every week is enough motivation for me to keep on top of tidiness, and the fact that she does the heavy cleaning once a week means I only have to spend a few mins each day doing interim cleans to keep everything looking great.

I now have a house where I’d be happy to have a surprise visitor come in, whereas it would previously have been my worst nightmare.

My sister is my cleaner. I couldn't give a crap what she thinks lol. But if it's not tidy she doesn't clean it. I tend to chuck everything on my bed.

We have a mad rush to tidy before our cleaner comes but it's definitely worth it because she's amazing!

Yes!

I’ve had cleaners in the past and found it incredibly stressful, especially the tidying the night before. One set of cleaners told me that I had to wash my dishes before they came as it took up too much time - I didn’t care how much time it took as I was paying them. Anyway, it’s taken me about three years overall to get a cleaner I’m happy with. She cleans well and tells me categorically to leave the stuff and she will tidy as she goes. So I no longer have any nights before frantic tidying, I feel comfortable if the kids have left toys on the floor etc or theses a few dishes I couldn’t fit in the dishwasher, as I know she will do it. Really helps us out and I would not get rid of her now.

Regarding the trust thing dp works from home so cleaner would never be here on their own. Good to hear all the positives too! I am worried about finding a good and letting someone go if they aren't up to scratch will be hard for me, but I will definitely be upfront with expectations although it takes me over an hour to clean a tiny bathroom.

Oh and I also recommend a eufy / schedule to hoover each day and it’s done by the time I wake up. Think I’m going to get one for upstairs too! Lol

I have a cleaner that comes once a month.
She doesn't do dusting and stuff, I do that .
She comes to do the stuff I don't get around to doing.
She does the skirting boards
Door frames
Windows
Oven
Cupboards
Stuff like that.
She has made life so much easier and I would never get rid of her.
Even with things going up, she will be kept .

I'm a cleaner 🙂 Whilst it's true most cleaners won't tidy, there are some of us that do! I have one home in particular where you literally cannot see the floor as it's covered in toys, craft materials, clothes and general household items. I tidy everything away, wash the dishes, put dirty clothes in the wash basket, collect cups and plates from around the home, pick up a million lego pieces and make the beds before I can clean. It's actually one of my favourite jobs because the difference between the before and after is very obvious!

A good cleaner is amazing and a complete asset. No reason it should be stressful. Mine has gone away for 2 months and I’m counting the days until she comes back.

Only issue has been when I started wfh- sometimes she’d want to hoover when I needed to do a call. But now we just tell each other what we’re doing when and work around each other, so it’s fine.

Having a cleaner is the opposite of stressful for me - love coming home to a clean house. We have ours for 2 hours every 2 weeks (a flat so not that big) which is enough so never do any real cleaning in between other than tidying and kitchen surfaces etc.

I've had the same cleaner for nearly 10 years and I wouldn't be without her. It is a bit stressful the night before but that's down to my own anxieties and nothing to do with my cleaner. My DH thinks I'm nuts but I ensure all bins are emptied, and I have to confess to giving the toilets a quick wipe over. Everything is tidied away (although we are fairly anyway) so she spends her 3 hours just cleaning.

I love coming home from work to a lovely clean, fresh smelling house and I would hate it if she ever left.

It's the tidying that's stressful. With young children. Especially as Dh is v untidy. And I'm not brilliant either.

The tidier it is the more they can get done.

It's forced me to be better at organising everything so that it's easier to tidy though (I'm not there yet) and the joy of the extremely clean and tidy house once a week has been amazing.

I had one company that were good but then ours left. if the cleaner was ill they didn't replace her. We got a new younger woman with a 2 and 3 yr old. Both children kept catching things as they do and she repeatedly had to delay cleans, and then had to cram them all in and so couldn't do it properly. I felt really awful for her and it also was annoying to be let down so much.

I switched to a company that have a swat team of 2-3 at once. And pay sick leave. It's much more expensive but they're in and out in 45 mins. But I feel it's more ethical, womens labour is under valued.

Another friend with 3 young children and both busy hcps found the swat team still weren't good enough for her standards so she paid a load of cash to a house de clutterer who went through everything and got rid of it. Also sold things for her and she got some money back on those items.

Now the children are in school and I'm part time I'm considering working towards cleaning myself again once I've worked through many piles of crap over this year and spending the money on a decent hand held quick Hoover or something.

I think there I’d a clue in the name a cleaner, they are there to clean your home not tidy it, so you have to get the house In to a tidy organised place before you can get a cleaner . Then let them know what you would like done every week , set aside half a hour for thoses extra jobs each week eg I would like the oven cleaned this week. If you home is declutted and unorganised get a organiser in first you can usually find them on APDO association of professional Declutterers and organisers . Your organisers and you should be able to sort your home out , once it’s done then you can start getting In A cleaner every week.

I have worked as a organisers and declutter and most of our clients once all sorted have gone on to having a cleaner once we had finished there homes. We always cleaned and organised when we do someone’s home.

@grayhairdontcare that's the type of cleaner I could do with. For some reason I didn't realise you might be able to get someone for just an one off monthly clean. I might look into this.

@mac1974 it really is a game changer.

A good cleaner is brilliant, bad ones are stressful

the worst is when they get too many clients so start ‘expanding’ and sending ad hoc people to your house. AWFUL.

I’ve also had cleaners who download all their problems onto me. again, not good.

If they aren’t happy to take feedback or listen to the things that are important to you that’s another issue. clear communication about what is / is not expected is so important.

the good ones are absolutely brilliant though.

I have had mixed experiences. Have just started having a weekly cleaner, and I find that it gets other people in the house tidying up for them (they work in a pair). I can ask for someone to clear this, get rid of that, empty the vacuum cleaner (all chores allotted by agreement) for days, but then the day before cleaning, it HAS to be done. There are four of us, one retired and three WFH, so we should be able to clean the house ourselves, but it always seemed to be me at the weekend picking up the slack. So, a cleaner is, I think, worth the effort and money if you're time poor.