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Original poster

I don't need a cleaner I need a tidy-er - does anyone do this sort of thing?

42 replies

Homebird8 · 21/05/2007 18:04

Cleaning is a doddle if it's tidy. I need someone to come and understand the minutae of my life and do a perfect housewife on me. No time to get organised. Do people offer this service?

OP posts:
dmo · 21/05/2007 20:25

my cleaner also tidys
you wouldnt even want to go in my childrens bedrooms but she tidys their toys away, makes the beds, puts washing in the wash basket and clean clothes folded on their beds
she also irons (fab)
the kitchen always looks spotless when she has been and she also tidys my playroom if i'm out (i'm a childminder)

Original poster
Homebird8 · 21/05/2007 21:04

Maybe it's a case of looking for a cleaner who would get some satisfaction out of organising me!

OP posts:
babygrand · 21/05/2007 21:08

I think the idea is that if you have a cleaner, you tidy first before they come round.

Original poster
Homebird8 · 22/05/2007 10:05

I know, but it's that bit that seems to elude me . I'm happy cleaning but organising and putting away never seems to get done often enough (at least, to my satisfaction). No cleaner would stay for more than 2 seconds because they wouldn't be able to clean for the untidiness.

OP posts:
Cappuccino · 22/05/2007 10:12

flylady

15 mins a day

come on woman

oliveoil · 22/05/2007 10:15

agree

I did flylady before I knew about flylady iswim

attack piles in 10 min bursts

eventually piles retreat

same with washing, put a load on every day, don't let it pile up

do ironing once a week, ignore until due date

shove toys in one big mound and hoover round

sauce · 22/05/2007 10:34

Twice a month, I hate Thursdays. I have to spend about 5 hours non-stop tidying the house from top to bottom before the cleaners come. Everyone in my house is untidy, which is finally forcing me to be tidy after all these years. GRRRR! How I hate putting toys, dirty clothes, papers, books, shoes, etc away. I get after dh & the dc to be tidy but no one takes any bloody notice.

Thanks for letting me get this off my chest!

LoveAngel · 22/05/2007 10:37

My cleaner tidies. I love my cleaner [goes all mushy]

LoveAngel · 22/05/2007 10:38

FlyLady puzzles me. Surely you spend more time reading the fecking emails they send than you doing actually cleaning?

Cappuccino · 22/05/2007 10:42

no most of them are reminders you just need to scan the titles

and you can choose not to get those bits now she has altered the system

Chattyhan · 22/05/2007 10:44

This would be the perfect job for me! I hate cleaning but i'm really good at tidying and organising people. I'm currently a mother's help so do this as part of my job as well as childcare. I help with laundry, washing up, tidying and amuse the kids for a few hours!

haggisaggis · 22/05/2007 10:49

You find thta if you have a cleaner, you get used to being tidy(ish!) We all tidy round before ours comes (3 x a week). Because she comes so frequently, the house always looks reasonably tidy. THe kids know that if they don't put their toys away properly that she will just chuck them in the nearest box - never to be found again - so they now tidy their stuff up.

sauce · 22/05/2007 10:49

I hate anyone seeing our house in a mess. Actually I hate being in a mess. I would get off my backside & do something about it but I'm ill - ear, nose throat infection, anti-biots, foul mood.

fennel · 22/05/2007 10:54

oh yes, we need a tidyer too. I used to spend a frantic 45 mins on the mornings the cleaner was coming, tidying up. it was quite stressful. enough to put me off looking for a cleaner again.

QuiltHugger · 22/05/2007 10:54

I actually enjoy tidying gives me a real sense of satisfaction hate cleaning though. sahm atm so cant justify cleaner.

Ladymuck · 22/05/2007 10:56

My cleaner tidies and I have to say that it is hugely frustrating as when you go to look for something you realise that you have no idea where she might have put it! once someone else is puttign stuff back inyour cupboards and drawers it feels evenmore out of control ime. But I've given up on trying to have control.

Anna8888 · 22/05/2007 11:07

Have a blitz on your house and throw away (donate, recycle, etc) everything you don't use. Then go to Ikea (or similar) and buy new hangers, cupboards, storage boxes etc for what's left.

We did this a couple of years ago when we moved in together (and left most of our old lives behind us). It's brilliant.

Judy1234 · 22/05/2007 12:04

My sister paid someone exhorbitant amounts to spend a weekend with her sorting stuff out. She also had to pay her rail fares and hotel bill. But she was very relieved to have had the help with it.

our cleaner is her each morning in the week and she does tidy the children's rooms (I keep most of the rest of the house tidy). Mine is like dmo's. Depends on her hours I suppose. Not fair to make someone tidy a whole house if they're only there 2 hours a week.

Personally I try to do it as I go along but when I had very little children it was much harder to achieve that.

Anna8888 · 22/05/2007 12:10

Agree on the help. In my case my mother looked after my daughter while I sorted through a whole garage-worth of furniture, books, kitchen equipment etc and took what I didn't want for recycling. And I didn't achieve it in a day - it took quite a while, with pauses. And, as for my partner's stuff - I did a lot for him - he wasn't able to psychologically face up to going through 20 years of old clothes but quite happily agreed to chucking the lot once I had stuck it all in bin bags (took me about 30 minutes).

Grrrr · 22/05/2007 12:17

Would it be grounds for divorce if I tidied (read binned) any clothes dh hasn't worn for 3 years ? I'm going to do the same with mine so it would be fair.

Our problem is that dh is a hoarder and seems to have a problem letting go, wants everything "to hand" iyswim.

We so need a cleaner again (even if the rates per hour have just gone up rather dramatically round here). I'd even pay for extra time tidying, surely it's not as strenuous as cleaning ?

Anna8888 · 22/05/2007 12:22

Grrr - I had to do a lot of prep work before actually daring to bag up his clothes... had to get a couple of very old friends on board for support and go shopping first for some lovely new stuff. He was stunned when he opened his wardrobe and a bit silent for a few hours, but all's forgiven now - in fact, he thinks it shows just how much I care about him so, no, not grounds for divorce if you go about it kindly

Judy1234 · 22/05/2007 12:36

It seems like mothering a man to me, Anna but whatever dynamic works for you.... man as child...

Original poster
Homebird8 · 22/05/2007 12:37

I regularly whittle [sp] down any gatherings of things without homes. Even DS's at 4 and 2 think that some of their toys could go to children who don't have enough so perhaps I need to take the hint!

Chattyhan where are you?

OP posts:
Anna8888 · 22/05/2007 12:42

Oh Xenia... don't you think that in couples neither half should EVER help the other half out with something they don't particularly want to do?

Is he fathering me if he drives me somewhere???

How about when I do the drilling? What stereotype can you think up next to pigeonhole for my behaviour...

LoveAngel · 22/05/2007 12:46

Grrr -

I have binned half my DH's possessions on several occasions and we are still happily together :-)

He is also a hoarder on a grand scale, so roughly once a year I give him a deadline by which, if he hasn't sorted through his shit, it gets chucked. He never sorts through it, I always end up chucking it, and he never notices what's gone.
(Why would he,when the skip-full of crap usually amounts to 50 frayed tee-shirts, 25 pairs of scuffed shoes, a hundred odd back issues of maagzines he doesn't even subscribe to and a zillions of pens that don't work?).
xx

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