Is getting a cleaner financially irresponsible/lazy?

[Sunshinere]

I struggle to keep my home clean. It’s only a one bed but it’s constantly a mess or dusty. I don’t own, I rent, and am saving for a deposit.

I could afford a cleaner but that’s £60 a week. It’d make a big difference to my quality of life. Has anyone else had a weekly cleaner in this situation?

I think you would be better off doing a little cleaning each day. Learning how to take care of your own home will serve you in the long run.

The only thing that matters is 1) can you afford it? And 2) which has the bigger impact - clean home/domestic burden lifted or £3k a year in your savings? It’s just about your current priorities.

Thats over £3,000 per year.

If the place is messy, then do a declutter, find storage for everything and train yourself to put things away.

£60 for a 1 bed? I think you are being fleeced.

is there a reason you struggle to keep your little flat clean? at the end of the day, if you can afford it and you want it, then do it!

but as others have said, that £60 a week could be put to better use in your savings for the house you want to own one day?

I have a cleaner but mine does 2 hr for £35. I could do with the money (we never go on holiday for example) but for me it's worth it for the mental health benefit of having clean floors and bathrooms when I'm working long hours and doing a lot of support with DC's homework/ extra curriculars etc

Yanbu although why does it cost 60.a week for a 1 bed flat? Best to find someone who will do it cheaper if you can.

If you work then why is it lazy? Some people think that women should just absorb the full time home making job they might have had in the 50s in addition to going out of the house for paid employment. It’s a very sexist view that sadly a lot of women still peddle.

I live alone in a 4-bedroom house most of the time (kids at uni) and, quite honestly, I can't be bothered with too much cleaning. My time is better spent (from a financial point of view) working as many hours as I can and paying someone else to clean. However, I only have her once every fortnight...would that be an option? I don't make too much mess on my own and having someone clean the floors and scrub the shower every couple of weeks keeps on top of the grotty bits, which makes it much easier for me to run the hoover round and clean up the kitchen on a daily basis.

Why don't you get someone in to do the place really thoroughly once a month, and in between you do a bit from time to time? That's what I'd do if I was in a 1 bed. How much cleaning can it need?
Once a week you dust and hoover the lot, throw bleach down the loo, change and wash your sheets. It'll take maybe an hour. You get in the habit of wiping down kitchen and bathroom sinks and surfaces when you use them in the evenings.

£60 does seem a lot for a one bed. Perhaps you could ask around and see what it other people pay. Also once the mess is under control you might only need your cleaner every fortnight. I wouldn't be without my cleaner, it's money well spent if, like me, you don't want to clean.

It’s not financially irresponsible if you can afford it.
It’s not lazy if you are unable to do it yourself. Even if it was laziness it wouldn’t matter, it’s your life and if you believe that having a cleaner will improve your life go for it!

If your place is that small how on earth does it require a clean costing £60 a week? Our cleaner does 2 hours a fortnight for less than £30 (3 bed semi, no kids but 2 cats) which is enough to stop us from sliding into squalor and we (try to) keep on top of the rest!

Getting a cleaner was the best thing I ever did. She comes once a fortnight (I'd love weekly, but not there financially). I find I have time to do other bits and pieces when she's gone (DIY etc) and the other week, the place never gets as bad.

That does seem expensive. We had a three bedroomed house and pay £50 for three hours every other week. I would give up a lot before I gave up my cleaner.

We have a cleaner, we have the time to clean but would rather use that time to do other things.

That does sound like quite a lot, we pay £45 for 2 hours once a week and have a larger house.

I think if it would help you then you should do it, even just to get it into shape.

I could walk to work one hour each way, but I take public transport. Because that increases my quality of life.

As a single mother to young children, the money saved would be very useful. But going to work tried (I currently have three long-term health conditions that all take energy from me), is not a very good idea. I have even taken the train home few times, because I wanted to see ds1 before he fell asleep.

Even if a place is small, there might be a minimum payment to make the travel etc worthwhile (especially if it prevents them going elsewhere and earning more). Agree that it seems a lot, though.

We have a cleaner and it makes a massive difference to our sanity. How about finding someone to come fortnightly?

People underestimate the cost of living in a disorganised dusty mess! The emotional cost (mh/stress/morale) and the financial cost (losing things, buying double because you can’t find original, not being able to address mould or infestations quickly, being late and disorganised costs you time a d time = money.

Cleaning is only valued and recognised as important when it’s not done and as it’s seen as a woman’s job of course so it’s importance is hugely undervalued.

Book your cleaner op! Even if it means cutting back on other things! Imho it’s very much worth it!

I am generally one the people who says “get a cleaner!!!”

butttttt If you don’t own a home and are saving for a deposit you (IMO) can’t afford it.

also I never owned LESS stuff in my life than when I rented. If you can’t keep a one bed only you live in clean…. 🥴

I think you would be much better off taking a couple of days annual leave next to a weekend (eg Thu- sun) to reset. By this I mean decluttering and deep cleaning. Use the time to also make a cleaning / tidying routine to follow…

I'd say it's less about being financially irresponsible/lazy, and more about WHY you care about what other people think about you.

If you want a cleaner, and can afford one, great, get one. If your friends are likely to judge you for that, say whatever you want: I can't be arsed/I don't have time/it's too hard for me/if you think it's so terrible then you come and clean my flat for free for me.

It's very liberating, you see :)

I had cleaners in a 2 small bed flat when M.E. was really kicking my arse; it was £60 a week because they sent x2 women for 2 hours. I don't think cleaning companies are all that happy sending one woman to a property alone anymore? Maybe it's a safety thing.

They spent half their time talking to me and wasting cleaning time. Then we moved and I didn't have to deal with the stress of asking them to buck their ideas up/getting different cleaners in.

I've briefly had two since: had the same problem again, and a lady who was so painfully slow that I couldn't cope having her in the house and seeing the lack of productivity.

Now we live in a mostly dusty house and I do what I can, when I can, and I no longer let myself get upset at the fact that it's impossible for this house to be truly clean.

Anybody who wants to judge can come at me, or alternatively spend the £2k it would take to get my floors professionally cleaned so they actually look clean and can be maintained that way, and then another 5k replacing two absolutely vile bathroom floors, so that cleaning the rest of the house actually feels worth it.

Shrug.

I don't think there's anything financially irresponsible or lazy about getting a cleaner, provided you can afford it.

What I would say is that £60 a week for a one bed flat is a rip off. We pay £18/hr for three hours a week for a 4 bed house. They don't tidy - I make sure it's possible for them to have a clear run at cleaning it to maximise their time doing what I want them to do - but they clean two bathrooms and the whole house in that time (they're brilliant).

Unless your flat is disgusting and you make it so every time you have a clean, I can't see that you'd need more than a couple of hours fortnightly?

If you can afford it (not on a weekly basis, the total hit of not having that extra 3k towards your deposit) then go for it.

But get more quotes. Unless you're at Mr Trebus levels of hoarding/dirt £60 sounds loads to clean a 1 bed flat.

I have a cleaner OP but I still have to clean myself. Not because she isn’t good but she’s not emptying out my kitchen drawers and cleaning them, or she’s not decluttering etc. but she is cleaning the bathrooms, mopping the floors and vacuuming once a week. I have to top up vacuum, I still need to mop etc I still clean my own windows. And I still do a lot of dusting! It’s just it’s not as much as she maintains some things once a week.

Best thing I ever did. I have two bed house, and hate cleaning. She does it so much better than I do. 50 for 3 hours per week. She was recommended by a neighbour, so no agency, and i trust her, we give each other festive presents, I signed her kid's passport forms etc. Sometimes I think I love her more than DP.

I'm not working at present (I was when we started it) so maybe it is considered lazy, but I can afford it, so I do. Go for it if it will make you happy.