Does anyone else run around like a scalded cat before the cleaner comes?

I would love to have a cleaner as I loathe housework. Ditto ironing. But I'm reasonably fit and well and my conscience wouldn't let me pay someone to do what I just don't want to do. It's not as if my time is worth money these days but I couldn't do it even when it was.

I always tidied up and told my girls to tidy their rooms too - if she couldn’t see the carpet, she couldn’t vacuum it. She was a cleaner not a tidier-upper!
A friend has been quoted a one off clean at £120 for 4 hours, then a minimum of 2 hours (£60) after that. It’s a National company, named after a flower. I think it’s beyond expensive.
X

For me, it’s mainly about retaining my sanity.
I’m neat and tidy, and I like everything to look nice, my daughter and her children are the messiest, untidiest people you could imagine, so rather than be constantly nagging, I thought this might be a solution.
It only partially works, but it’s probably saved me from total meltdown.

Never had a cleaner (been one) gosh is it really a thing I only know very old infirm people or very rich people that have cleaners No one in my circle does

Since Covid I am the cleaner!
I cannot justify my lovely cleaner anymore as most of my work dried up due to the pandemic.

BlueBelle

Never had a cleaner (been one) gosh is it really a thing I only know very old infirm people or very rich people that have cleaners No one in my circle does

So glad you said that! Thought it was just me!

Granny23

I've never had a cleaner, but I could do a spectacular job in half an hour when I knew that MIL was on her way.

Me too! I once caught my mother running her finger along the top of the door frame and perfected the quick whip round with a damp cloth after that!
DD has a cleaner once a week and the children always tidy their rooms ready for her. Daughter says it's worth paying just for that to happen!
I've never had a cleaner but I am sure I would want her to walk into a clean and tidy house.

I do spend a while tidying up before she comes. This one charges £12.50 an hour which I think is enough considering she has not moved anything and does not know my rooms have corners. She has been twice but she has to change or goodbye.

She has a law degree but is saving £10000 for her next degree. She wants to be a criminal lawyer and the sooner the better.

I live in London so English is usually a major problem but we usually get by.

I had a cleaner when I was working but not since I retired. I did have a lady come in on a three month temporary basis when I fractured my pelvis. I couldn't move much so any tidying up was done by my husband. I couldn't have managed without her.

I have had one cleaner or another since 1976. The one I have now charges £30 fir 2 hours - upstairs one week, down the next. We always tidy but I would never clean.

Sara1954

For me, it’s mainly about retaining my sanity.
I’m neat and tidy, and I like everything to look nice, my daughter and her children are the messiest, untidiest people you could imagine, so rather than be constantly nagging, I thought this might be a solution.
It only partially works, but it’s probably saved me from total meltdown.

The only reason I'm considering getting one. Not that I can afford it, but my quality of life is suffering due to other people's mess. Grrrr

I don't have a cleaner, but many that I work with do.

I would do a tidy-up, but that's it. That's what she is hired to do!
Floors and counters cleared should be enough.

GagaJo
Well I certainly know how that feels.

Sara1954

GagaJo
Well I certainly know how that feels.

Isn't it crazy, that it has such an affect? I try to be grateful I'm such a part of my DGS's life, but living in squalor... (DD thinks it's clean!).

GagaJo
I can’t even go into my daughters bathroom, and her bedroom looks like a charity shop with stuff piled everywhere, she only does her ironing when everyone has run out of clothes.
I love them all to bits, and we’re happier that they are here, rather than in the situation they were in, but how I miss my lovely quiet tidy home.

Good for you Auntieflo.

I tidy and give the bathrooms a quick once-over before our cleaner arrives. Otherwise she’d spend her time moving stuff in order to clean.

Never had one. I would hate the idea of a stranger in my house cleaning.

My older sister got married in 1973, aged 19, and had a cleaner booked for when she returned from honeymoon. The whole family was really shocked, but my sister said that as she was in full time work she was not prepared to become responsible for cleaning her house unless her husband was also prepared to do it. He wasn’t. She had a cleaner from then until she died two years ago. In fact I suspect some of her cleaners lasted longer than her marriage! ?

Marydoll pre-Covid I used to have strangers in my house all the time and I often gave them jobs to do.

It was pretty much the equivalent of singing for their supper, but rather more domestic and involved things like mashing spuds, sorting out water and glasses, setting the table, putting pans in to soak etc. ?
?

grannyactivist

Marydoll pre-Covid I used to have strangers in my house all the time and I often gave them jobs to do.

It was pretty much the equivalent of singing for their supper, but rather more domestic and involved things like mashing spuds, sorting out water and glasses, setting the table, putting pans in to soak etc. ?
?

I have a cleaner, Mr MDoll

Grannyactivist, we are all different.
I have never wanted a cleaner, even when I was working long hours and have no intention of having one now , despite my ongoing ill health.

I started using a cleaner a few months ago as I was unable to clean properly for myself due to arthritis - it was taking me an hour with lots of rest breaks just to do one room! I live along and keep my house pretty tidy so all I do before they arrive is empty the bins and make my bed, I don’t usually bother to make it!

I have two cleaners for one hour, every two weeks and pay £13 an hour ie £26. They work very hard and each week they clean the kitchen, bathroom, hall, lounge, garden room and my bedroom, They then have time to do one other area ( two spare bedrooms or the study) each visit so these little used rooms get done every three weeks. I generally tell them which area to do, depending on if I’m expecting visitors to stay or if I’ve made a mess using my sewing machine! Every now and again they will clean the inside windows instead of one of the rooms.

I could not manage without them, my house was getting a bit grubby round the edges and I was stressing about it. I’m away this weekend and when I get back on Monday they will have been so I’ll be returning to a lovely clean house.

I had cleaners for most of my working life. Now I’m retired and in a flat, I have one who comes once every four weeks and does the heavier jobs like washing floors, windows, skirting boards, etc. For two hours, I pay £25 and she uses her own products and equipment.

Yes. The first time she came I tidied the house, cleaning as I went! I’ve recently been away for 5 weeks and ‘lent’ her to DD1 while I was away. When she arrived atD’s house she said, I hope you haven’t cleaned up like your Mum does? She had. Obviously I don’t bother now & she just gets on with it - using copious amounts of cleaning materials ?. ( I pay her £26 for 2 hours once a fortnight) I only gave in to having her when I injured my knee. My Mum returned home with me from the hospital to find a ‘ Mrs Mop’ organised by my Dad. She had a cleaner from then until she died 49 years later. In fact, I don’t think I can ever remember her pushing a Hoover or wielding a duster.

Marmight
Your dad sounds wonderful, especially in an era when it was considered the wife’s job to keep a lovely home.
Good for him.