Cleaner dilemma - what would you do?

Hang on to her.

Unless there are nights of wild passion going on the bed can wait 4 weeks!

I would suggest she brings her little boy with her in the holidays, but not the dog.

If you have a TV it won't harm him to watch children's TV for a couple of hours, do some crayoning etc., nothing too messy when he's with you.

I hope her little boy is recovering.

Luckygirl3

Hang on to her.

Unless there are nights of wild passion going on the bed can wait 4 weeks!

😁

I'm assuming it's a double or larger. Sleep one side of the bed for two weeks, the other side the other two weeks! Can you manage to change the pillow cases?

cornergran

I’d also wondered about the child accompanying your cleaner in holidays. Worth suggesting? She may not want to ask.

If you’re really worried about your bed is there a local agency that does one off appointments? There are several here. Probably expensive though.

Overall I think I’d stick with your cleaner and try to work around the school holidays by trialling a visit with her son. If it doesn’t work out you can re-think then.

Seriously 🤦🏼‍♀️ Have you had a 6 year old ?

petra

cornergran

I’d also wondered about the child accompanying your cleaner in holidays. Worth suggesting? She may not want to ask.

If you’re really worried about your bed is there a local agency that does one off appointments? There are several here. Probably expensive though.

Overall I think I’d stick with your cleaner and try to work around the school holidays by trialling a visit with her son. If it doesn’t work out you can re-think then.

Seriously 🤦🏼‍♀️ Have you had a 6 year old ?

I remember going with my Mum to work in school nursery when I was about four! I really enjoyed myself, but it wasn't in someone's house 😁

The child would presumably have to accompany his mother on all her jobs each day, which would be very boring for him.

I remember going with my Mum to work in school nursery
Goodness, that's wat happens when you get interrupted by someone asking questions halfway through typing a sentence!

No, my mother did not work in a school nursery. I went with her to work during school nursery holidays.

I would give it 6 months and then review. This gives you a chance to see what her baseline norm is. It also means you can let yourself off the angsting for a bit. Meanwhile keep your eyes open for anyone who could do a bit of adhoc work....for example the bed. There are sometimes cleaners/ practical types who could do with a bit extra work.

Luckygirl3

Hang on to her.

Unless there are nights of wild passion going on the bed can wait 4 weeks!

Unlikely and my memory isn't that good

Thanks everyone, lots of different ideas and opinions. I'm going to see if she comes in 2 weeks time and then make a decision. I can live with that and it's fairer on her.

Get a bigger company to do it and pay for the overheads of them having admin and contingency.

In your place, I would long since have started looking for another cleaner.

It does not matter how nice she is, or that some of the reasons she cancells are those we all can understand and sympathise with.

The bottom line is that your home is not being cleaned to your satisfaction, and as you cannot do it yourself, you have to have a cleaner you can rely on to come on the days arranged, or if she has to cancel, to come the day after.

If you can afford it, why not try and find a cleaner to work alternate weeks with your current cleaner, then when she’s not available you could ask the second cleaner if she could step in.

Stick with her, good cleaners are hard to come by. Talk to your alternate weeks friend, see if any compromises there. Seems hard you are always landed with the bad days. Could she just pop in and change sheets? But stick with her one way or another.

Having worked as a cleaner with a young daughter the school holidays were often a problem. I was very lucky in that the people I cleaned for would allow me to bring her.They loved to see her and her them and actually become part of our family coming to birthdays, Christmas dinner and life long friendships. This was 30 years ago and I was very lucky.

Don’t go to agencies ..

Why not?
My cleaner has come to me via an agency for the last 15 years. She’s a star.
If she’s on holiday or, very rarely, ill, I have the choice of having someone else or doing the cleaning myself.
If I go on holiday I just let the agency owner know in good time, she finds alternative work for my cleaner and I don’t have to pay.
Yes it’s more expensive than cash in hand, but I’m more comfortable knowing that employers’ National insurance contributions are being paid & when my cleaner retires, she’ll be entitled to a full state pension.

I would let her go, either she can do the job or can't , it's never going to improve, find someone else you can do the job requested and paid for

Some cleaning companies do one off cleans, so perhaps you could see if you can find one for the occasions when the delays are too long for you.

Keep her and let her bring the little boy when she needs to, personally i would love it, children brighten the day and unless he is a holy terror i cant see the problem really

I have had cleaners who brought children with them, and wouldn't do it again. It was in the days when my own children were young, and I thought it wouldn't matter. It did.

Inevitably my children's toys were played with, and sometimes got broken, and I ended up feeding them all, which messed up my meal planning. I'm not sure that the children liked accompanying their parents either. As it worked out, though, my current cleaner used to come here with her mum, who has since retired. She managed to squeeze me in when I was looking for someone, as she remembered me, so it's all worked out for the best. She does have children, but her mum looks after them in the holidays or if they are off school sick.

I think in your circumstances I would ask her what she thinks should happen on the days she can't make it. Obviously a child in hospital is a different matter, but there may be a way round the school holidays situation if she knows how annoying it is for you when she can't make it.

Keep her poor woman it’s so hard working around children

I ran my own cleaning company for many years and had 17 clients all of which had their particular needs and some were very vulnerable.
In over 20 years I missed twelve days, I had young children and sick relative I also looked after but. And this is a big but…your clients come first.
Without an income, my family suffered, so whatever crops up you deal with it and soldier on. Some days I finished at 7 pm but it was necessary.
When I finally hung up my dusters several of my ladies gave me a large retirement gratuity which really shocked me but was very much appreciated…they told me I was better than family as I never let them down. I was sad to retire but I always gave them my best and only charged a fair price. I have a cleaner now who hoovers strips the bed ( doesn’t remake it or put the laundry on) and she’s off. Not really what I did or expect as a service.
You ARE paying for a service after all! There’s a fine line between being kind-hearted and taking the p*ss.

I use a flat top sheet under my duvet now (as well as the duvet cover) to keep it cleaner as I really hate changing the cover, though I can manage the pillow cases. If you use two pillows you could first turn one and then swap the bottom one for the top one the next time. I wondered if getting your cleaner to put an extra fitted sheet on the bed might work? Then you just need to pull off a fitted sheet and there's a clean(ish) one underneath.
Otherwise I'd suggest that you stick with your cleaner - maybe she could do shorter visits some weeks so that more of her employers get a visit?

I have always employed a cleaner all my working life until I retired 20 years ago. I then thought that doing my own housework etc would help keep me active, and it did that, however the plan was that if I was still alive at 80 I would then re-employ a cleaner.

So that is next February - if I’m still here😊

I have already decided to employ a company, it is just deciding who etc. because previous experience tells me that inevitably if you employ a person acting independently, there will be weeks when they can’t turn up for whatever reason.

I’m in the stick with her and review in a month or so camp.

However we have had good experiences of companies coming to do a one-off clean after building work or to do a Spring clean. They don’t need a commitment to come every week but appreciate a bit of lead in time. When an aunt was ill a company cheerfully cleaned weekly and now are happy to fit in an advice clean with a week’s notice.

Whitewavemark fingers crossed!

sorry- advice should read ad hoc!