What Can a Cleaner Do in 2 Hours?

[Ichangedmynameonce]

Life has got very busy and quite stressful, so I'm thinking of getting a cleaner.

We had a cleaner a few years back and she did the house in 3.5 hours- it was originally a 3 bed terrace but we got an additional 2 small beds and bathroom in the loft. (I've explained it like that to show the house isn't massive). The cleaner did everything including 5 beds in 3.5 hours.

We can't afford that now but can afford 2 hours. My priorities are kitchen, bathrooms x 2 and hoovering all communal areas. Ideally front room and dining room too.

My mum was a cleaner and said she thought this was realistic for 2 hours, but I'm not sure. It would take me longer, but I do it erratically so sometimes it's dirtier than others. If it was done weekly it would be generally cleaner. We'd also tidy for them coming- I generally do loads of tidying to get to cleaning.

Can anyone advise?

Thank you

No advice but I’d be with you on that being a lot but then you sound like me in terms of cleaning!!!

I have a cleaner, for 2 hours, every other week. She vacuums all communal areas and bedrooms and gives the kitchen and bathrooms a really good clean. She also mops the bathroom, kitchen, dining area and hallway.

Thanks @Alwaystired23 do you generally have a tidy, clean uncluttered house? We don't 😬

Umm, sort of. The most messy and disorganised person is my husband. So I usually have to tell him to tidy his stuff the night before 🙄

Well cleaners are hard to find, so you're better off locating one first, finding out if they can fit you in, and ask them about what can be done. A word of warning though: while it's always a good idea to have an idea of what you want doing and how much money you can afford to get it done, it's a really bad idea to say to any cleaner or cleaning company "I want X hours and X jobs done in that time", because that's a red flag most - and I was one of them for years. As soon as someone told me how long a job was going to take, I lost interest in the idea of ever working for them.

As to whether your list is too much for two hours, it all comes down to how big the areas are, how dirty or clean they are when the cleaner arrives to clean, how much stuff is in the way which prevents cleaning happening (do not underestimate the time a cleaner has to spend just moving things out of the way to clean, and kitchens & bathrooms are the worst for this, what with all the bottles and crap), and how thorough you want the clean to be.

Money wise, you have to either apply the "top leff" or "bottom right" approach to this - as in, if you start with a sheet of A4 paper and write on it from the top left & down the page all that you want, by the time you get to the bottom right you will have the true figure of what that costs.

If, however, you have a specific amount of money in mind, you write that in the bottom right first, then work your way up the page, streamlining/flexing/removing your needs & expectations accordingly.

HTH.

I've had many cleaners in my 2 bed 2 bath flat and most of the time from a fortnightly visit they get through a proper clean of the 2 bathrooms, kitchen & corridor and a light clean of the front room and bedrooms in 2 hours

Everything is always clear in advance (we pre-clear but don't pre clean)

We have a cleaner for 2hr weekly she does
Kitchen
Main Bathroom
WC
ensuite
Hoovers stairs / hall and living room
glass doors cleaned (DD in her toddler era)
front window cleaned every fortnight (DD in her toddler era)

My cleaner does my whole house in 2 hours. 3 bed semi. It tidy and uncluttered before she arrives.

She doesn't do bedding changes or bins.

She does a full clean of the bathroom, windows, mops floors, hoovers, dusts whole house, full clean of the kitchen and porch area. She is amazing. The house always feels spotless after she has been. She often leaves early by 15-20mins but I don't mind because I have nothing else for her to do.

She come for fortnightly, and in between I do quick bathroom clean, hoovering and kitchen surfaces.