Do you have a cleaner and how much do they charge?

PS I was not implying that you should do it yourselves (as per kittylester's recent thread), just that three or more hours a week seems rather excessive unless you live in a mansion...

I used to have a cleaner when I worked full time, but really wouldn't want help now that I'm mainly at home. I seem to be able to keep the house clean without too much effort these days, but I must admit, when I've had my family staying, I'd happily pay someone else to sort the chaos out!

There is web site called Streetlife which you can log on to,you put your local area in and the asked for local people to recommend a good cleaner it is a very good site I use it good luck

Ana I feel I have to justify myself, don't know why!!?
We have a reasonable sized house and at 78 with DH 79, I really can't keep the house as I would like it to be without some help so it enables us to stay in the house we are fond of. DH also has Alzheimer's. That's my excuse anyway (just bone idle really).?

hummingbird, I agree we have members of the family coming and going, children, grandchildren, they make a mess. Two of us no problem we clear up as we go. We don't live in a mansion, but we have a townhouse on three floors with three bathrooms. Our cleaner hoovers the stairs, which we hated doing, cleans the bathrooms and changes any beds that need doing after departing guests and remakes them for the next time, among other things. I don't get her to do ironing though I do that. Anyway I don't pay her my husband does, mainly because cleaning the bathrooms was previously his domain

Of course you don't hav to justify youself, ann, I'm fully aware that age and/or disability makes household cleaning and maintenance impossibly difficult.

I just couldn't afford to pay a cleaner £50-£60+ a week and will have to continue living in splendid squallor!

Just a point to those of you who pay your cleaners in cash; you are likely contributing to the black economy. Those of you paying an agency fee plus an amount to the cleaner; this is a vat dodge. Those of you paying less than £10 an hour; your cleaner is entitled, like all of us, to 5.6 weeks paid holiday pro rata. So, around 10% should be added on for this. Also be aware that when these people go sick they do not get SSP or SMP when pregnant. The real cost of staff is considerably more than they get paid, so if a cleaner is being paid £8 per hour which is a fair rate, the true cost to the employer is over £8.80 plus NIC, plus pension ( now mandatory), plus SSP ( no longer repaid to employer), plus fuel allowance, plus cleaning materials, staff training, provision of cover during absence, insurance, accountancy fees etc. Suddenly £10 an hour doesnt provide much profit. Have somebody off sick for 12 weeks, pay them £90 a week SSP and pay for replacement staff at the same time, then see how far the £10 an hour goes. I am, not criticising anyone, just pointing out the true cost of staff.

No Anaonly every two weeks so I have some money to squander on food and heat etc.?

The last time I worked at cleaning I did everything for 2 of the households I worked for. Changed the beds, all the washing, ironing, put it away, plus all the cleaning, that included emptying dishwasher, clean fridge, freezer.
These were both professional working families.
I even had their dogs when they went on holiday.

That's verging on housekeeping, to my mind, not strictly 'cleaning'. I doubt whether agency cleaners would be prepared to change beds or do the ironing.

I pay £12 per hour x 3 hours every other week, through an agency. I started having a cleaner when I was working full time and now, cannot imagine life without one! I always thought that when I retired I would stop, but was advised by my older sibling (in a similar situation) to hold on to her as long as possible. Excellent advice!

There's nothing illegal about paying cleaners or anyone else cash. It's down to them whether or not they declare it. iI always had a cleaner when I was working full time. I have now passed her on to a neighbour, she was excellent but I can't justify having one at the moment. She now charges £10 per hour.

I had a wonderful cleaner for 2 hours twice a week after my pneumonia as I could do virtually nothing without being out of breath. I paid her £8.50 an hour.

However, she has now gone back to college to retrain as a classroom assistant for children with disabilities. I miss her badly, but can't really justify replacing her now.

Except that the house has decended into chaos once more with messy DH, grandchildren and hyperactive puppy whose latest trick is bringing sticks in from the garden and chewing them to pieces all over the house.

Not to mention muddy feet.....and paws.....everywhere!

I started having a cleaner when we had 5 children in a 6 bedroom house which was on 3 floors. We have since moved but this house is fairly big and we still have a cleaner for 3.5 hours per week. She does downstairs one week and upstairs the next. She does the kitchen and bathrooms each week. We have visitors (children,Dgc, inlaws) quite often and I don't like housework!

Housework is very easy these days. It's quite good exercise too.

Most cleaners will change beds, do ironing, put washing in the machine etc. There is also a big difference between agency cleaners who are generally self employed and those who are employees of a company. Lots of people on here get excited, quite rightly about the inequities and unfairness of zero hours contracts but are happy to pay a cleaner as they need them and presumably do not pay sick pay/holidays. Apologies if you do.

I have a cleaner 3 hours a week at £9 ph. However when I give up work completely I am thinking of stopping because it seems silly when I could do the work myself (but will I? ) and I will have less disposable income so it makes sense .......

My cleaner checks each week if i ant her to come the following week and is OK if I am away etc and do not need her... she says she has plenty of other things to do. She works in a care home and does cleaning additionally.

A few years ago I worked for an agency cleaning, I got paid £7 an hour (this was around 10 years ago) the agency received £14 an hour. I now do a little 2hr a week cleaning job for a lovely couple in their mid 90's who can't manage to 'do' for themselves - they pay me cash in hand £10 an hour, as they have for the last 4 years. We're both quite happy with this arrangement. I hear the rates for cleaning round here are between £10-£15 an hour. I think the going rate depends on where you live.

Interesting thread this..as some of you know I am jobsearching and it has crossed my mind to think about starting my own cleaning business..!
I have often thought about it in the past. for one I like cleaning (providing it looks like I have been afterwards) :0 I would also do small jobs (sort of handy person) curtain rails/shelving/you know most of the little jobs that no one else wants to do I am very versatile and adaptable so will follow this thread and learn It must be lovely to go out and let your cleaner run riot and you come back home to sparkling taps/loos/hoovered/polished ahhhhh bliss.

Go for it Biker !
I have an occasional cleaner, when things get just too much - probably a couple of times a month for 2 hours. I pay £10 per hour. She is a local lady who works her way round our village every day and I reckon she earns upwards of £300 a week. She always reorganizes my photos and furniture - I like everything at an angle and she only does straight, so once she's gone I go round the house putting everything back in its place

We had a cleaner when I was working abroad in the week a lot and I didn't want to spend my weekend cleaning the house. We had a visit from the agency we chose to talk about our requirements and the person was very helpful. I hadn't got a clue how much could be done in an hour, so we agreed on set tasks to be done every week, plus one larger job and some extra tasks if time was available. We settled on 2 hours a week and in that time the cleaner did the bathroom, the cooker, the fridge, the worktops and cupboard doors, and mopped and hoovered throughout. She always had time for extra tasks and I used to leave a list of things for her to choose from. She used her own products, but we provided clothes and brushes, etc. This was about 10 years ago and I think we paid about £16 which wasn't cheap then, but it was worth every penny to come home to a nice house on a Friday night. Sadly our lady left and we never had a regular person again. This made it easier to cancel the service when my DH lost his job.

The whole time we had a cleaner I felt ashamed and we never told anyone. If we could afford it, I would have a cleaner again and wouldn't care who knew.

Yes, go for it Biker you could do some decorating too, a woman of all trades! You have said before about doing your own decorating and doing that means that it shows that you have been there. Go on, why not? At least then you are your own boss.

I have a wonderful cleaner, she comes once a fortnight (I can't afford any more) and charges me £8.00 a hour. I do tidy up before she comes, not clean, but move stuff as she uses her own sprays etc and I don't like chemicals on anything so move things into cupboards. I have said I will provide sprays but she says she's ok and she is really nice so I just go with it. I enjoy her company more than anything, although it is lovely for about five minutes when she has done, until my DS comes home!

I am with an agency which I feel is safer as they are insured. I have to pay them quite a hefty fee but y step-daughter had a bad experience when her cleaner spilled bleach on her sofa and I would hate for a similar incident to happen to me if I were uninsured. It also ensures I get someone trustworthy whom I can leave in the home when we are out.
Our agency cleaner comes once a fortnight for two hours. Frankly, although we are just the two of us in a two-bedroomed bungalow, the very fact she is coming makes us tidy up on a fortnightly basis!

Sorry, I forgot to say that the going rate for cleaners seems to be £7.50 an hour here in North East England.

I have had a cleaner since being widowed at 38 with 2 girls and a full time job. I retired at 55 and kept it on, as it's what I'm used to. I can afford it and my cleaner has become a very good friend. I pay £10 an hour for 3 hours per week. I live alone so it's a friendly face too. I am 60 now.