Baffled by cleaners!

[Clio82]

Hi all,

I’d love some opinions, please on the cleaning agency I’m using. It’s been about three months. I booked 2 hours a week for a small 3 bed terrace (just me and my son).

First cleaner; nice older lady, a bit ditsy. Did a lovely job of tidying, hoovering and straightening up bedroom but only “cleaned around” things in bathroom and kitchen and frequently missed obvious dirt and rogue hairs. Got back from hols the day she’d been and she’d left dust, dead insects and cobwebs as well as food stuck to surfaces. Didn’t seem to be able to see it. Broke my hoover and used to chuck water all over the floor with a cup and then apologise for it being wet. Asked me to be honest with her so I would gently point out the bits she’d missed. I never moaned at her about the hoover cos she was so upset about breaking it. Even brought her husband over to fix it and he couldn’t. Changed her day nearly every week, which drove me mad.

If I wasn’t in, the job could be very poor. One week it looked like she had done nothing. I asked her about it and she said “yeah, I had a migraine, it will be better next time.”

Eventually kicked off at me after I asked her if she left a cup of what looked like cleaning fluid on the counter. (Someone did and my 4 year old grabbed it and took a swig before spitting it out, which was dangerous. Turned out to be diluted washing up liquid). Told me I’m obvs not happy with her work and it’s not her job to pick up toys. Added a couple of digs like “I bet you’ve had a lot of cleaners” and “your house is what is dangerous.” Quit.

I sent the agency photos of her poor work and her reason for quitting and they never acknowledged; just sent me a new cleaner (Cleaner 2), who was ill the first week and then couldn’t work the second week cos I hadn’t been able to give her the keys when arranged (cos she was ill and didn’t contact me when arranged).

Temp cleaner; amazing! But not available weekly.

Cleaner 2: does an excellent job of whole house and leaves it looking like a hotel. Says it’s a lovely house and a great job for her. But keeps telling me things are “deep clean” so not her job. This includes kids’ finger marks on stair rail and dusting skirtings. I told her the agency very clearly includes dusting skirtings as standard and she agreed and said “oh ok, must be my other agency that doesn’t.” This time she turned up with a young woman who she said she brought to him her. The job was good but not as good as normal.

She also pulled me aside and said the house needs to be tidier. My kid was off sick from school and I was working from home, so we were dishevelled, but nothing unreasonable. (I got up at 06.30 to straighten it up for her). One of them dumped a huge pile of dirty sheets and cloths on my dining table and left it there (which I had left in a corner near the washing machine as my next washing load. She knows I leave stuff there as I have told her.)

Is this normal? It’s becoming so stressful managing these people that I think it’s taking more of my time than cleaning!

No but you have mentioned tidying quite a few times...what things are they having to tidy in order to get to the surfaces they need to clean...surely that's slowing them down?

I've had my cleaner for donkeys. We mega tidy beforehand so she can clean which is what she's being paid for. I expect her to clean under things rather than around them and thank god she does..

Do you want a tidy upper or a cleaner? Could you find someone new via local word of mouth? The only agency I used spent more time telling me about what they didn't do and didn't last long.

There was one pile of dirty laundry near the washing machine and one pile of clean laundry on top of an ottoman that she doesn’t need to interact with. Also two laundry baskets were apparently in her way by a bedroom window and she didn’t like that. She said I should chuck everything on the bed.

Other than that, it’s the odd toy in the living room. If my kid’s room is full of messy toys I tidy it before she arrives, but if I don’t have time I tell her to skip that room and do some dusting. She doesn’t like dusting.

It’s a good point; maybe I actually need a Mother’s Help who can just assist with what I need on the day. This could free up some of my time and every little helps.

My family have used cleaners since the 90s and it seems like expectations have changed. Or perhaps we had different types of cleaners?

Cleaners now, especially from agencies, tend to be on the side of ‘I clean, I don’t tidy’. But ours growing up, and the lady I had when my kids were small (2010s) would tidy and organise within reason.

I hired an agency for a while last week and I didn’t leave the place a tip but I would get annoyed at things like an empty mug left by the bed would still be there. Bottles around the shower - if I clean my bathroom I tidy them neatly into the corner but they were just left all over etc.

They did fold my loo roll to a point though!

I’ve decided if I need a cleaner in the future I’ll look for someone who advertises as a housekeeper.

We have a 4 bed house that is often untidy and so we just have cleaners to do the kitchen, bathrooms, upstairs landing and hall. We tidy those areas and clear surfaces and close the rest of the doors. Fortnightly 2 hour clean. I would work out what you really need cleaned, OP, and tidy those areas so they have time to do a proper clean where it's needed.

I really miss my London cleaner who would literally just tidy everything and clean it all in 2 hours. But then I had a one bedroom flat and I think she felt maternal towards me. Plus I agree that cleaners are (totally reasonably) much less amenable to picking up laundry and toys and dirty crocks now.

Cleaners clean; they don’t tidy at all unless that’s agreed at the outset. Cleaning the skirting boards is not part of a standard clean in my experience.

I have considered moving it to a fortnightly 3 hour clean. That means only every other week I have to get up early to get it straight for the cleaner and she can do more on the time.

It does seem counter productive to have hired an agency to save me time but now I spend more time getting the place ready for them than they do cleaning!

This is what I find! The pre-cleaner clean takes longer than just keeping on top of things myself 😂

I’ve also considered that babysitting rates in my area are about £5 an hour cheaper than cleaning (with both agency rates included). I could just get a babysitter for a few hours a week and clean the house myself!

The agency says “any reasonable domestic task if included.”

It may be that the agency is not communicating to the cleaners what it puts in its contract with clients.

Good cleaners are priceless and really hard to find. Right now I use a lady who has several cleaners who work for her and so she trains them up personally so I’ve never had an issue with my main cleaner or any of the temps, but that was after me going through countless cleaners who were just not that good.

That said, I spend ages tidying before every visit. They do tidy for me, but the more time spent tidying means less time cleaning, so I do most of the tidying first. Although I have had cleaners in the past who don’t tidy so simply clean around the mess rather than tidy first and then clean.

So essentially you need to find a new cleaner.

Maybe advertise for a mother’s help. That’s what I went for in the end. No help with the children needed, but more of a mixed bag of household chores. Mine will occasionally cook a casserole or similar too if I leave the ingredients.

It's so hard to find an excellent cleaner. God, I suddenly felt so entitled when I read that back! But yes, we've had issues. Our agency sends three cleaners together for three hours work. They never, ever do the time! I couldn't care less if we paid for 15 minutes more than we get- but we pay for an extra hour!
I've only had one really good cleaner but she fell out with the agency and left. She was amazing. Worked the full hours and worked to a very high standard.

my mother is disgusted with me but have had cleaners for past 20 years longest one waa a lovely polish girl who worked in hotel and did an amazing job. you would come home and the clean smell would hit you as soon as come in the door.
currently have a good one at mo. live in 5 bedroom house. she comes for 2 hours every 2 weeks. she doesn't do the three spare rooms. she will.do them when I ask but they not used often so I keep in top of them. in them two hours she will hoover all house hall kitchen dining living room my bedroom and office ( one bedroom) porch and two bathrooms. it's a bungalow so all one floor. she will was down counters and hob and clean kitchen sink. dust and polish my room and living room. scrub 2 bathrooms and wash all.floors. she does all the air b and b around so got her on recommendation. however I do have a big tub that I throw everything in and we do a tidy up before she comes. Good cleaners are like gold dust you have to go through some frogs to get good ones. If you can I would put word out with friends etc and see if yoi can get recommendations that way and always tell them when start they have a three month trial period

I personally always have the house very tidy before my cleaner comes. She is great and I hire her directly not through an agency, but she has broken a few things and always used to be late. She isn't gentle when she vacuums and some of the skirting boards have a black line from the vacuum bashing into them. She put a cloth with a tiny bit of bleach on one of my beds and left a bleach mark on a duvet cover I love by mistake. She feels terrible when she breaks things and I find it annoying but this has all happened over a decade and I accept that some things are going to go wrong. I think it's pretty hard to find someone who does everything exactly the way you would, I do think you have to settle a bit.

I wonder if hiring someone direct instead of through an agency would be better. My previous cleaner was hired through an agency and I wasn't home when she cleaned and there was no way she worked the hours I paid. One day my brother was home and even though there was someone in the house she only worked half of the time for which I had paid.

Clean one small bathroom one small kitchen.
Hoover two double bedrooms, living room, dining room and stairs/landing. Dusting on rotation if they have time
Be realistic, do you really need to pay someone to do this?
Utter faff for the sake of what you could do yourself in an hour.

I work 37.5 hours a week and am the single mother of a 4-year old boy. Can’t afford nanny but have occasionally babysitters. (Less than once a month). Limited family help due to his dad now living abroad and my parents being quite elderly.

I pay for two hours cleaning on a Friday so we have a clean house for the weekend so I can spend quality time with my son and not be cleaning. So yes, for me, this is important, but there may be a better way to achieve it!

I was a single parent to 4 and never had a cleaner, swings and roundabouts. I'd never have wasted money on that.

I would recommend not using an agency. Ours is never a tip, just usual things on the side. Our cleaners never bothered about it and one said mine was a palace compared to what she usually deals with. My last cleaner would tidy kids bedrooms for me. Obviously I pay by the hour, so if she’s doing that, she wouldn’t do something else.

Is it an agency or a company? I use a local company and they do housekeeping too so will tidy/change beds. They generally are v good. I had a disappointing clean once and they sorted it out well.

Interesting. What hours were you working and how long was your commute?

Each to your own though. I don’t see it as a waste of money. It’s a luxury, yes. But it helps me out and it makes me feel good having the house lovely and clean. I pay £102 a month for 6 hours of cleaning and it’s worth every Penny imo

Time is the greatest resource we have. A lot of people would consider getting 2 hours back a week a great way to spend money.

£30 on a cleaner is so much better than a lot of things ppl spend £30 on - a takeaway for example 🤷‍♀️