I've had ENOUGH! How much do cleaners cost??

[Bigmerlin]

Hello
Had enough of doing all the bloody housework and working 3 days a week. Can't get dh to change, it's threatening our relationship. So... how much do cleaners cost [Berkshire] , and what's the best way to get one??

AND - why is it, if I drop just one of the many balls I am juggling, I am a bad mother, whereas if dh does even a TINY amount of housework, he is a fabulous new man and wonderful father???????

[mumtorobbie]

I pay £10ph too and she's worth every penny. She comes once a fortnight for two hours and the house is literally sparkling when I get in from work.

She comes on a Wed and the house is still usually clean(ish) the following weekend although I do a quick clean of the bathroom and a surface dust in the other rooms.

I work four days a week so its a massive help. I thought £10ph was about the average and I live in Essex not central London!

[Knackeredmother]

I'm in the midlands and pay £8 per hour cash for 3 hours per week for our 3 bedroomed semi.
We are so bloody messy though it's a tip an hour after she's been!

[Bratfink]

I pay £10 an hour and she's shit. Can't find a good way to ditch her though. My advice would be get a recommendation if you can

[rookiemater]

Hi I think I pay £9.00 an hour through an angency, its good going through an agency as if they aren't good you can get a different person, or if they go away they will find someone else.

Second what a few people were saying, if you can't afford once a week, go for once a fortnight. When I lived on my own I had a cleaner once a fortnight as I hate housework and whilst I still had to do some stuff it meant that a lot of jobs were done.

Also are you absolutely sure you can't squeeze another £10 per week out of the budget, it is really worth it if you can.

[CalamityKate]

Bratfink - define "shit" please? I've just started cleaning for people and I really try to do a good job so I'm always after opinions on what constitutes "good" or "shit"

[Bratfink]

Well when I get home I'm sometimes not sure if she's been or not, i have to peer closely to tell if its been hoovered etc She insists on using her own cleaner, nasty cif cream that leaves the bath all gritty even though I've asked her to use te stuff on the shelf in the bathroom and the taps are never shiny. On fact I was here once when she was cleaning and she spent about 5 mibs in the bathroom and i didn't hear any water running . A few times she has sent her boyfriend to do it instead and he cleans as well as you'd expect a 20 something chap to.

Tbh I spend about 2 hrs the night before tidying and clearing all the surfaces so she cam whip around and I'm starting to think that an extra hour or two on top to do my own cleaning might not be so bad

[Bratfink]

Oh and there are big cobwebs in the corners and I watch them growing wondering if / when she'll notice

We have a teeny weeny 2 bed house. She charges £10 ph. Comes for 2 hrs a week. I said to please prioritize the kitchen and bathroom and to dust and Hoover the rest. In fairness we have very little to clean, not much to dust there being no room for trinkets or much furniture

[emy72]

Well I used to pay £10 per hour for mine and as I have quite a large house she used to come for 6 hours - and tbh, although it was a help, it wasn't what I was hoping for. I still had to do tidy up everywhere before she came, then do my own ironing, changing beds, she wouldn't do windows, cooker, fridge, and the floor was just mopped as a once over, which on a laminate floor it meant it always looked grim.

She was very very good at doing the bathrooms as they always looked sparkling, and I miss her for that, but tbh with the amount of laundry/ironing, tidying and floor cleaning I have to do, just the bathrooms and a dust around wasn't really worth the £300 per month for me.

Obviously if you get someone very very good who does the bulk of your housework relieving you of that responsibility, then I'd say it is definitely worth it.

[GwendolineMaryLacey]

I wish I hadn't read this thread. I'm desperate for a cleaner but absolutely can't afford it and one of the people who've said they're are available for work is down the road from me :(

How much would DH fetch on ebay? He's the one who makes the mess and his sale might finance a cleaner!

[wonkylegs]

£25 for min of 2hrs a week (Newcastle ) although they often do longer
Agency which = insurance and no bothers with sickness - but usually get the same lady, it's a small agency tho and she does seem to get a good chunk of the money
Does a generally good job -3 bathrooms, kitchen Inc. Fridge & cooker, lounge, dining room, and 3 bedrooms.... We tidy up, she does cleaning, dusting, hoovering....
We don't get her to touch either of our studies or the spare room unless we've had guests
At 1st visit they asked if we had any preferences for 'green' products etc and they really do seem to stick to them
(I don't check on them much but sometimes me (occasionally works from hime)or hubby ( does nights sometimes) are in when they come
We didn't have loads of choice over whether or not to get a cleaner, i'm disabled and find lots of chores difficult and hubby is very useless busy

[80sMum]

I too have a DH who makes the lion's share of the mess! What can one do? he doesn't seem to notice that he's spent the entire day (he works from home) messing the house up! The other day he was away for the evening and I got home (after my usual 10 hours work) and found he's left mess everywhere, breakfast things still all over the kitchen, a mug and plate under the chair in the living room etc. I cleared it all up and cleaned up the kitchen. When i got home the next evening, he was back - and so was the mess! ARRGH!
We don't have a cleaner so I do what I can at weekends and occasionally take a day off work to catch up when it starts getting me down. I investigated some agencies. They both wanted a minimum of 3 hours a week @ £20 an hour, which I can't afford, so still stuck doing it myself.

[HappyAsIAm]

£9 per hour in Bromley. I give her £10 per hour though, as I like her, she's very reliable, and does a good job. Having a cleaner saved my marriage, seriously! I was fed up of doing everything on top of working full time and spending weekends doing it. DH didn't see any mess or grime or anything, and would do a crap job at cleaning, so I would do it all. Now we pay our cleaner to do it, and we're all happy.

[SometimesIAmABirdbrain]

Darn..looks like i'm paying over the odds. my cleaner comes through an agency and i pay £15 per hour inc VAT and I live on the surrey/hampshire borders. i've been searching for ages for a cleaner without having to go through an agency but with no luck. even with agencies, the cheapest i could find around here was £12 ph and i decided to go for the £15 per hour as this agency sends a cleaner with all the cleaning materials with her + she does a really good job. i only have her in once a fortnight though as cant afford a weekly clean.

it's ridiculous money really but that's the upside of not having to clean this house myself when i'm already struggling to find enough hours in the day!

[Asinine]

I had a cleaner when I broke my leg, she was fantastic! But as I am not earning much I can't justify it now that I am fit. But I am pretending to be her so cleaning like an OCD banshee every Thursday for 2 hours, and then 'paying' myself £20 for a good job.

[CointreauVersial]

They are mega-pricy here in Surrey. I had a husband-and-wife team who charged £24 per hour (obviously there were two of them so they only needed an hour a week). They were very good, but I couldn't justify the cost after a while, especially as I work part-time and the DCs are at school. Agencies round here charge £12 p/h +

But I hate cleaning, and live for the day when we have a bit more spare cash (that'll be when the DCs leave home, then).

[dontrunwithscissors]

I've been quoted £25 for 2 hours or £30 for 3 hours per week or fortnight. I'm in Scotland.

[CJMommy]

Can anyone recommend a good cleaner in telford, Shropshire?

[FastOne]

hello, do you need a cleaner in london

[jenmelbourne]

never hurts to try Facebook... I got my house cleaner on Facebook (i'm in australia). I had MAJOR complications and nearly died in childbirth, and there's some things that i just can't do (like get in and scrub the shower, vacuum, mop the floors, etc) - so I get a cleaner to do the things I can't.
I work from home (so the hours vary from nothing to 12 hours a day!).
I can't afford childcare, and I'm not well enough to go to part-time work.
Definitely well worth the $20 an hour I pay

[HarrietJones]

I want a cleaner but can't justify it atm when dh & I are both part time ( I'm on maternity leave too). We are both crap at cleaning & keep on top of stuff but never get as far as a deep clean. We did a rota yesterday cleaning the kitchen/looking after dd3 and got half done.

[Verso]

I've got a cleaner and she is worth every penny . Three (and a half) hours a week (the half is for the new downstairs loo and extension/room thingy) for £10 an hour. She's very good. She won't do ironing though. After years of making the whole family wear crumpled things I'm trying out an ironing service tomorrow in fact. More expense but I find I'm getting unfeasibly excited about the prospect of FLAT things!

(I work full-time and just can't do all of the above as well. My DDs are 6 and 2 and my DH is disabled.)

[RubyRubyLou]

I pay my cleaner £6.50 per hour and the agency £32 a month for two hours a week but I live in Pinner. Not sure if they cover your area but you could check here Helen is an absolute dream but when she goes on holiday with her family they usually send good reliable girls to cover for her. And when I went on holiday they refunded my agency fees for the three weeks I was away!!

[bbcessex]

Like another poster has said, see if you can economise on something else and have a cleaner for 2 hours a week .. Sounds like it is really getting you down.

I work full time, have a cleaner for 5 hours a week (inc ironing).. That costs me £45 a week, i'm in Herts. i still have tonnes of washing and general stuff to do, but it makes so much difference.

We have had the same lady for 2 years. She is reliable and fantastic. I LOVE her!