Am I being ripped off?

[kkgirl]

After being back at work for nearly two years, part time but doing four school hour days, I finally have arranged for some help with my ironing.
The lady I contacted said it would be £6 an hour and I wondered how it would pan out, so I put 30 items, all small kids things, t-shirts, pj bottoms, some jeans etc nothing I considered which would need a lot of work on.
The girl who came seemed nice enough and she collects and returns it to you. She has just phoned to say it is ready and when I asked her how much she said two hours.
Am I being unreasonable in thinking she is ripping me off, I could do that in just over an hour I am sure?
What do you think?

My Bosch has a condenser and you empty the water container, very easy to do.

I love the smell of freshly ironed bedlinen, I couldn't put my sheets on the bed without ironing as they are egyptian cotton and would be all creased, like wise the duvet cover, and they are also super kingsize hence the au pair!

My idea of heaven is clean sheets every day, don't do it in the winter, but do in the summer, bliss!

My dryer is Admiral, but Whirlpool do them too. It takes 20lbs. And yes it does need a place to vent it.
Clucks, in theory i get everything done superquick, but in reality being that my dh is male, i have to wait years like anyone else. And he really isn't very good at plumbing or electrics so I do those bits myself. If you dishwasher is in place and jsut needs to be hooked up to an existing sink waste, it's actually quite easy to do and you could probably do it yourself. The fittings are all plastic and push together so you don't even need any special tools. I think B&Q do a leaflet on how to do it.
Aloha, Samsung do an american style fridge/freezer with water/ice dispenser that is narrower than the regular american ones.

OK, so one of you changes your sheets every day, and the other can do plumbing. Right, well I'm feeling really grubby and inferior now

oooh, alibubbles, we have a super king size bed too. finding bedlinen was a real pain. we loved a linen set we saw in john lewis but it was definitely for ironing, so we bought a different set! i found myself asking the staff witheringly who on earth had time to iron super king size bedlinen! little thinking anyone would actually do this! my mistake! lol !

anyway, could you please recommend somewhere which has super king size bedspreads? am reasonably interiors conscious so would like to avoid the ultra traditional cream look which seems to be all i have come across so far.

thanks in advance for your help

slug, you are my soulmate.

I have discovered that even things that really need ironing (like thin cotton shirts) give in and look presentable after a few washes once they realise they're never going to see an iron. Your family has to not mind looking a bit crumpled in the meantime though.

SofiaAmes, you couldn't just nip up to Scotland and wire up my oven could you?

Just to change the direction of this thread, but in the original vein of the question, I have made enquiries at a local chilcare/nanny agency about babysitters. Received a leaflet today giving prices as £6.70 per hour PLUS £5 booking fee PLUS (I think, not clear) a £5 taxi fare. Goes up to £8.70 for every hour after midnight. Bearing in mind that I live in South Wales, does anyone know if this is reasonable? It's for my work's Christmas "do", and I've worked out it's going to cost approx £60 for 6.5 hours. Seems a lot to me, but then I've never used an agency for this before.

I've only got 2 sets of sheets for my bed - they'd be forever hanging over the radiator if I did them everyday! I like a good 'bedded-in' feel to my sheets, me!

bossykate, I tend to buy all my stuff in America, superking is pretty standard there!

I also buy Sheridan which is Australian and you can get that at Debenhams, Sheridan do realy deep fitted sheets, as the mattress on our bed is 15" deep standard super king just slip off the corners.

I would really like to go back to sheets and blankets, but DH loves our pure goose down duvet, bought for a fraction of the price here in Canada, I bought a lovely white cotton waffle balnket that we use in the summer in JLP.

Last trip to the StatesI bought back two super king goose down pillows, wish I'd bought two more, as when you turn over there is always some more pillow!!

I do also get duvet covers made direct from the factory, I found the place who makes linen for The We He asnd buy it for far less, they are very helpful and send lots of cotton samples and make all to order, deliver within a week!

alibubbles, I was going to say that the towels and sheets are much nicer and cheaper in america (i can't sleep on anything less than 240 count), but i didn't want to sound too fanatic...
I'd love your source for duvet covers, if you are willing to pass it on, as I am in the market for new ones.

The White Company does superking everything by mail order and it's very nice stuff at comparatively reasonable prices. The website is www.thewhiteco.com or 0870 900 9555. Nice but expensive baby stuff too, good for presents.

I do think that sounds expensive for babysitting though, with all the extras. Do you know any other parents you could set up a babysitting circle with?

Alibubbles - your postings astound me - you sound like the most organised person on the planet - please come and organise my life for me

emsiewill - sound very expensive to me ! I'm in Reading and the rates aren't that high here ! Try Sitters - they have different rates for different areas - but even central London isn't as expensive as you've been quoted - from what I can remember anyway - have lost leaflet now as we use girls from dd's nursery ! They charge £4.50 to £5.50 ph and get themselves here and back at no cost.

HTH !

emsiewill - yes it is expensive we're in the East Midlands - we pay sitters £4 booking fee and there's a quarterly fee as weel then its a flat rate of £4.50 even after midnight, and they pay for own travel . I have only used them a couple of times because of the cost, but the lady was very good and they have all been vetted and in an emergency or for a one-off outig it might be worth it.

grommit, I need someone to come and organise my life!! I have an office in my house but now have commandeered the dining room as well much to my husbands despair!

He also has an office in the house but his looks like the life laundry has been round, mine.... well, I have this theory, I cut out all the pages from mags and newspapers for things that i am going to send off for, but never get round to, so after a month I go through the lot and think, well I've managed to live without it so far and bin it!! ( But the pile never gets any smaller!)

The problem is I have such a busy life and am very organised in the the things I do, but my own life is a muddle. I swear that one day I will forget to pick up a child from somewhere!

aloha, I wasn't sure whether I could name the White Company, but that is who I meant.

SofiaAmes, I'll find the address and phone number for you at the weekend, it's in my filing somewhere!!

Only got a one day weekend as I'm going to the Good Food show on Sunday with DD's school. Last weekend I was on a conference, lost days, can't believe it's only 20 days till we go skiing, got to get organised!!

Alibubbles - I believe you - honest . I am just about to order some linen from The White Company so would appreciate that address as well...Thanks!

thewhiteco.com Tel: 0870 900 9555

The Finishing Touch, Marsh Mills, Luck Lane Huddersfield for made to measure bedding

01484 514463 a lovely lady called karen helped me ( in fact I sent her a bouquet of flowers as she was sooo good!)

thanks so much, alibubbles and pamina.

alibubbles - i remember seeing the sheridan range in debenhams, thanks for the reminder, the style is just what i'm after.

pamina - thanks for the tip. i had no idea ikea did large size bedlinen, most places stop at king size, so that's handy to know.

thanks again.

Callista Bedlinen do plain Egyptian cotton bed linen at very reasonable prices (cheaper than the White Company). Not a great variety though but they do have some things in American King Size which is huge.

Bossykate

Designers Guild linen go up to superking and quite vivid too.

I'd wait for the sale though as they are quite pricey and go down to half-price or lower. Try selfridges or bentalls in the January sales.

Bossygate - only just seen this thread but M & S also do super king size bedlinen.

Bossygate - is this the latest political scandal?

bossygate might well be the latest political scandal. bossykate would be left thinkin huh? as usual! thanks clucks and lindy. cam - a very sharp eye!

Just another post re the ironing, let the last deal lapse, I just have no time at all, and haven't time to sort ironing ready or ring and ask for it to be done!!!!!

Have a new ironing lady this time, but its really embarrassing, her advert said £5 a basket, so I gave her a plastic box full and she said that would be a basket, when she delivered, I asked her how much and she said it was her first time.
This week gave her two boxes and said "could you do £10 and give me any back if you can't manage it".When she delivered it was all done, and I asked her how much, she said she didn;t know. It was very embarrassing, and I asked her how long it took, she didn't know and I ended up saying "is £10 ok? She said "more than enough" but I felt very awkward, because I wasn't sure it was enough but shes so vague that I have to make the decision for her.

What can I do to make it better, it is becoming so awkward