Im thinking of getting a cleaner..

[purpledreamer]

I just know know what expect...

This is what i want done ..

Living room;-
swept & mopped
windows wiped over and on the pvc
tv dusted
sofa and cushions brushed down and plumpted
table dusted

Kitchen ;-
mopped and swept
surfaces wiped
inside microwave wiped
windows wiped over and on pvc

hallway -
bottom of the stairs mopped
stairs and landing hoovered
landing wiwndow wiped over ,sills and pvc,

bathroom
bath cleaned
sink cleaned
toilet cleaned
window wiped
floor mopped

my bedroom
hovered
window area wiped over

childrens bedroom-
floor sweeped and mopped
and toys on floor in toy basket
bed made
windows area cleaned

Reading that back it sounds like a lot of work am i going to get someone that can do this for me? how much would i pay for this type of work .. do they make change beds? wash up iron??

what do your cleaners do ?? i do have a small 2 bed home so allthough seems a lot the rooms are small ish

My cleaner does less than that and I hvae 2 hours a week, so you are most likely looking at 3 hours a week.
I pay £9.50 an hour (£6.50 direct to cleaner and £3 dd to agency)

My cleaner does 2 bathrooms, kitchen surfaces and floor, dusts most places and hoovers all floors and 2 flights of stairs in 2 hours.

I excluded the cleaning of the kitchen when I had a cleaner because I clean surfaces etc every day. She would mop the floor through downstairs including the kitchen.

I have 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and the agency said it would take 1 hour with 2 cleaners. I don't think it enough personally. In my old house (2 beds) she did the same as you describe but I didn't have children. She also did a bit of ironing too and I paid her for 2 hours.

Your list is exactly the same as mine. We have an ordinary sized (ie not small and not big) terrace house and I pay for 3 hours at £7.50 and hour.

So it would be normal for a cleaner to come 3 hour a day one or twice a week on that list ..cheapest i can find is 9.50ph but they do come and do a free quote..if its set at 9.50 why do they need to come and quote?

I have this done once a week which is fine for say the bathroom and bedrooms, but obviously busy areas I clean more often.

I think they come to do a quote to check the size of the job and let you know how much they can get done in the time you are asking for.

I used to have a cleaner and got her to do the "big jobs" that needed doing once in a while- such as cleaning windows, and ironing.
She came for two hours and would hoover all downstairs- 2 receptions, wash kitchen floor, dust downstairs, and iron a pile of shirts. She might also hoover the stairs and the kids bedrooms.

I never asked her to do bathrooms as I'd do those often myself. never asked her to do my bedroom- too much personal stuff around.

In the end I got rid of her as she was too chatty and she used to come when I was at home.
Best advice is go out, or be out when they come otehrwise they get too friendly and it's harder topointout mistakes etc etc.

thanks for all the advice , ill defo be out when the cleaner comes!!

My cleaner is my mum but I do pay her. 30 quid for approx 4 hours. She does all that plus ironing in 4 hours (2 bed, 2 receptions).

My cleaner does 2-3 hrs a week and we have 3 beds, 2 baths. She also does 2 hrs a week ironing which she takes home with her and drops off when done.

We pay £7.50/hr for the cleaning and £8/hr for ironing.

She does pretty much what you have listed but more mopping as we have lots of wooden floors which takes time.

We are pretty clutter-free but agree that it's very hard for them if all your personal stuff is about.

Big jobs such as cleaning inside fridge, inside oven etc are done on rotation.

How should I go about finding a cleaner?

I've asked around and nobody seems to know anybody. I'm a little bit nervous about just putting an ad in the newsagents window as I'm likely to be out when they're cleaning pretty much from the start.

I'm in central Northampton.

Any suggestions? Are companies like Molly Maid any good?

Oxcat here there are load of companies listed but imo well worth going with a well-known franchise or company to begin with. A friend in Northants had Selclene for a while after a c-section but has now found one locally, minus the admin charge.

as an ex cleaner i used to dust, tidy, hoover including down the sides of sofas in 2 lounges one which was huge clean all windows, clean kitchen floor by going down on my knees with small brush and pan under cooker etc , clean sink ,mop all floors clean 2 bathrooms , clean 5 bedrooms including change bedding in master bedroom , tidy everything and also clean and tidy dining room playroom mop all hard floors hoover stairs as well this was a MASSIVE 5 bedroomed house with huge amounts of glass oh yeah then ihad to scrub outside steps loads more things ive probably not mentioned i got £17.50 for this and never looked in drawers or pried in any way oh used to hang the washing out too and every penny was grudged i must have been mad

Thanks Heated - very helpful.

I've dropped an email to Selclene so we shall see.

We have a cleaner, she is a godsend, she doesn't tidy ( don't have enough money to pay her to do that)
She does upstairs one week and downstairs the next, this takes her 2 hours. she isn't the fastest, but I trust her completely and what she does is perfect. my bathrooms still look new after 18 months. We pay £9 per hour and that is a couple of pounds cheaper than average for the area I live.

mine is £12.50 an hour.
In 3 hours she does kitchen - sweep n mop, wipe surfaces, clean sink and clean front of things,
bathrooms
hoover and dust front room, hall and dining room.
she sounds slower than some of yours!