Does everyone have a cleaner except me?

No! I had one when I was working full time with 2 teenage boys & a messy husband.
She was a lovely lady- much older than I was which made me a bit ashamed TBH. However she only cleaned what she fancied doing rather than what I wanted done.
My husband used to laugh as I would rush round the house the night before doing things when I should have been leaving it for her to do. I never asked her to do boy's bedrooms- I hate to think what she might have found!
I started working part time & unfortunately the day I had off was her day so I had to make myself scarce or feel very guilty. We parted on good terms when I started 3 days a week & could not justify having her anymore.
We stayed in touch until she died a few years ago.

obviously, I clean during those periods

I like that idea cossybabe. Better than a weekly invasion.

I’m sometimes tempted to have the occasional ‘deep clean’ aka spring clean but reckon as long as I’m still able to do it myself (68) I treat all housework as a work-out - plenty of stretching, reaching, lifting, bending etc - then I don’t resent the time spent doing it. For same reason I won’t move to a bungalow as long as I can still nip up and down stairs without any pain.

I hate housework and have had cleaners in the past. I always found it very uncomfortable if I was around when they came but I was working at the time so was not often in the house. However, a few times I had the day off and I must admit I did sometimes leave her a message to say I was off work sick and not to bother with my bedroom then I would hide away until she had left! Now I am retired I would love a cleaner but I can't really justify it.

I have one for 2 hours twice a week. She is really flexible and will clean windows, oven and even see on name tags on school uniform. I had one when I worked full time and just kept her on as she is thorough and flexible.

Nope I don’t, and wouldn’t want one, I prefer to do my own cleaning

I don't have a cleaner but the housework has gotten much easier as my eyesight has deteriorated.

We have not had a cleaner since the first lock-down when we parted company reluctantly, but she had a large and blended family. She was excellent and came for four hours a week. Ours is not a large house but a converted and extended stable with a mezzanine floor. There are a couple of steps down to the kitchen, we are all open plan except for the utility room, downstairs loo/cloakroom and upstairs shower room. there is a step down to the TV area and vaulted ceilings to the dining , sitting and sleeping areas, wooden floors with rugs except for the kitchen, utility etc. with stone flags.
So not an easy house to clean by any standards. Our cleaner had a system and did certain tasks on a rota as well as the usual normal cleaning each week. We never interfered. We have bought one of those hang on the wall cordless Dyson vacuum cleaners to avoid tripping over cords and my husband is a really good cleaner, very quick, energetic and methodical. However we both work and the problem is finding enough hours in the day to do it all. Personally I hate cleaning so I do the cooking, laundry, shopping but I do miss my cleaner. She was with us for four years. We had others before that but she really was the best we've ever had.

I've had cleaners in the past. First one spent so much time chatting about her problems she did very little. Second was an agency who was great for first 3 weeks then I found stairs only hovered halfway down, worktops not wiped, etc and she left half an hour early. Also work colleague had a cleaner that slowly went the same way. Also a couple of months after she left she found her very expensive binoculars missing from her bedroom drawers and other items had vanished too. So no I don't want a cleaner and won't have another.

I'm exactly the same as you Septimia. I don't particularly like cleaning but when the urge to do it,I do a really good job. I'm always tidy but a bit dusty. Once I start reading that's it everything goes out the window. I would like a cleaner but then I would have to clean before she came as I would be embarrassed if the house was dirty. So what would be the point.

Go for it! My only word of warning.... They can be a bit like gardeners. Great for a few weeks, then a gradual top show only 'dust around' .

If you want it done thoroughly, then don't expect miracles. They usually only do 2-3 hour sessions and no one can do an entire house in that time.

Good luck

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Used to have one when we worked full time. Her name was Hazel and when the house was Hazelled it was wonderful!
I’d like your idea Nankate just to do the bits I really hate, -skirting boards and windows but it’s not going to happen.

No, I would probably benefit from one as I am not a domestic goddess but my finances wouldn't allow it and my house is so stuffed with muddles (aka all our hobbies) I would be mortified for someone to see the state of it.
I did do an annual clean this month and was somewhat surprised to find that our furniture isn't grey at all, but actually different wood colours! I should have remembered that from previous rare occasions - must make a note to myself....

Cheeky daughter, doesn’t she realise you’re busy doing things in the house. I used to have a cleaner but had to sack in the end and nothing was ever to my standards! Kitchens and bathrooms do need to be kept clean for obvious reasons. I always clean the bathroom after a shower or Bath and cleaning the kitchen is always done after cooking so the important areas always look ok and never a major chore. Doing cleaning in stages means it’s never a big deal.

Love the idea of a cleaner especially for those jobs like washing skirtings, inside windows, paintwork, bathroom grouting but in reality I would be concerned about having a stranger in my house with almost unlimited access. I would be wanting to hover all the time to see what the cleaner was doing which would not be a good thing.

You should make the decision yourself rather than your daughter telling you what to do.
I have just got a cleaner for my father who is 89 and whilst he didn't whoop with joy at the thought of it he is relieved not to be changing the sheets once a week, washing floors and cleaning loos. We were doing the chore between us every week when I visit but it seemed a shame to spend my visiting time to him cleaning rather than chatting with him over a cup of tea. I also cook for him and freeze down meals each week and take him shopping twice a week, so it was nice for me as well. He now enjoys the fact that someone is coming to do this for him, and its another person checking that this very independent man is OK.

My DIL had one once, after her second baby. She has ME. After a while, maybe 4 to 5 weeks, she was taking the rubbish out, and at the top were a load of wipes! All they’d been doing was wiping round with them. No hot water, buckets, disinfectant ?. At thirty pounds a time, she decided to buy her own wipes, and needless to say, she sacked them straight away!?

I have a cleaner every other week for 2 hours. I got it through Age UK as I am now unable to do many things in the home, the one thing I am grateful for is that she changes the bedding for me among other things that I can't do myself. Up until I had these disabilities I never had a cleaner, but now it is a necessity

I had a cleaner when 3 teenagers lived in the house.I worked full time plus a lot of work taken home so time was short. Had her for 4 years. Haven't had one since. I think of cleaning now as a way to keep moving just like resisting a move to a bungalow. As long as I can move, bend, I will do without a cleaner. Of course your house will seem like a tip with all the decorating,dust evetywhere. Has your DD never experienced the mess caused when work is going on inside a house!

I can't see how your daughter can say your house isn't clean enough - anyone that has lived through the chaos that house renovations cause, however small knows that it is nye on impossible. As soon as you clean one bit, dust, fluff etc lands straight on it.
Do what you can until all the work on the house is finished and the boxes unpacked and then suggest your daughter puts her hand in her pocket to pay for a one off through clean!

I had a cleaner years ago when I had youngish kids, an “unhelpful” OH and worked full time. I had the same clean-up- first issues but the joy of opening the door at night to a freshly vacuumed carpet on her day ??. Although now retired I do still have a lady who collects my basket of ironing every Monday and brings it back beautifully ironed - on hangers- every Thursday. Bliss! In fact my house was flooded in 2007 and my ironing board ruined. Never bothered to replace it and have managed just fine ?

I love it! You do her washing and ironing, look after her children, etc and she is telling you off for not cleaning well enough. Although I prefer to ensure confrontation, I think even I would have bitten back on that one.
She should have stepped into our house last week. We have been sanding, sawing, routing, etc and the whole place was heaving with dust. We also had to move things about from pillar to post so rooms were stuffed to the gunnels but we will sort it in our own time. As long as it isn't a fire hazard, it is our problem, nobody else's.

I had one when I lived overseas and we ended up cleaning the house together! I didn’t have her for long. Preferred to do the housework myself. It wouldn’t enter my head to have a cleaner now. I enjoy housework.