To those who have a cleaner...

Penny-Pincher!!

lallysmum wrote: »

I'm a cleaner.. and think that it is pointless for the people I clean for to tidy up before I come. The lady I cleaned for yesterday actually left me a note to apologise for the mess! A) it wasn't that messy, and she pays me to tidy up!

I dont agree with this and neither will most cleaners. You are paid to clean not tidy. If you're tidying too, then you're more of a housekeeper than cleaner.

Mojisola

Penny-Pincher!! wrote: »

Cleaners are paid to clean and not tidy up, so we always make sure everywhere is clear before she comes.

Isn't this something that you agree before work starts?

If someone wants to pay you to spend time tidying as well as cleaning and you are happy to do that, it doesn't matter.

One of my parents' cleaners works for someone else and they walk out of the house in the morning leaving everything to be tidied away as well as cleaned. She is paid for the extra time and it isn't a problem.

If you only want to clean, then you won't take on clients that expect tidying as well.

What's annoying is if you are paid just for cleaning but can't get on with it because of the mess - that's not acceptable.

Scrapaholic

I used to have a cleaner when our children were small. She came once a week and did a fair enough job . We all liked her as she was a friend of my mam's too. A thorough clean of our home would take hours. She did what she could in 3 hrs once a week . I do loos everyday + did a basic tidy before she came .

Corelli

Exactly what Mojisola said. I was cleaning until a while back and had all sorts of clients and houses.

One was so shiney that I spent my time going over clean surfaces that the lady of the house said had finger prints on. Despite looking under different lighting conditions with two different pairs of glassses I couldn't see them but she felt happier after I'd gone over them with disinfectant spray. That was the house where I vacuumed the curtains every week .... it was CLEAN! Another house had a couple of professional batchelors and there I quite frquently faced chaos, broken glasses and empty wine bottles when I went round there. Other people have childrens' toys every where. The majority of my clients also wanted me to change the beds and deal with last nights plates etc in the dishwasher and refill it with mugs etc left around the house and this morning's breakfast. I would sometimes do laundry too.

When you get a cleaner you are paying for someone to come to your house to make your life easier. that might or might not include tidying. Don't feel like you have to clean first! Toilets though ... I can't say I'm too keen on sordid toilets and if its left to dry on it takes longer to get off anyway. A simple solution would be to keep an old shampoo or washing up liquid bottle full of water by the toilet and then if you have any residue after flushing you can use that to clean the toilet.

I will admit to living in a house that falls below the standards I set my clients but this makes the job enjoyable. I always liked spending time in my clients houses and making them look nicer when I leave. I like them saying to me that they enjoy coming in on the days I haave been. I am also in the position of not having any moral high ground to take when I'm pointing out what needs doing. And if clients apologised about the state they had left there homes in I'd be honest and say I've seen far worse in my own home.

So, OP, no need to go to extremes before your cleaner comes in but the tidier it is the easier it will be for her to clean and if you at least make sure the toilets are flushed and not too manky it will make her life more pleasant.

Mojisola

Corelli wrote: »

I will admit to living in a house that falls below the standards I set my clients but this makes the job enjoyable. I always liked spending time in my clients houses and making them look nicer when I leave. I like them saying to me that they enjoy coming in on the days I haave been. I am also in the position of not having any moral high ground to take when I'm pointing out what needs doing. And if clients apologised about the state they had left there homes in I'd be honest and say I've seen far worse in my own home.

There is something different about cleaning your own house, isn't there? A couple of the mothers I knew from the school gate used to swop houses. A would look after their combined pre-schoolers in B's house while B cleaned A's house and later in the week A did B's house.

pinkteapot

There's a difference between tidying and cleaning - something men usually fail to grasp.

We tidy up before the cleaner comes (put clutter away in cupboards/drawers so that surfaces/floors are free to be cleaned).

That's all we do though. My rule is that if anyone leaves a skid mark they have to clean it themselves straight away, so never any of those left for the cleaner anyway.

I wouldn't bother emptying the bins (unless you have any sort of personal items in there ). Our cleaner empties our bins. Some cleaners I've had before have emptied them, some haven't.

pinkteapot

Thanks for following me round the forums and thanking me today Mojisola

fluffnutter

I think it's a little odd to get stressed the day before your cleaner's due. Why have one then? They're supposed to make your life easier, not be a source of stress. I also think it's a shame that, for some women, they clearly see their own worth as connected to how clean and tidy their home is. You're not a bad person if you've been too busy to tidy or you've left the bathroom for a few more days than you'd ordinarily do. When you pay a cleaner to do these jobs for you, it's to liberate you a little, not to make you feel guilty.

I've got a [STRIKE]neurotic[/STRIKE] house-proud friend. He can't even bear the thought of the window cleaner thinking he has an untidy house. One time when the windows were being washed he rushed to the kitchen when he saw them arriving, and shoved all the washing up in the oven and kitchen cupboards. He couldn't cope with the window cleaner seeing dirty plates and making a judgement about him. When you value yourself by what you think the window cleaner might think of your washing up regime, you've got a problem frankly.

After he took it all out of the oven, he left a plastic spoon in there that melted the next time he stuck the oven on. Made a right mess

tea_lover

I would love a cleaner. It was great when I lived on my own and the house was always spotless but I didn't appreciate just what a messy git OH is until we moved in together. You'd think about 6 years together I'd have noticed!

Got a fun afternoon of housework planned and really not in the mood.

Maybe it would be cheaper to kick OH out rather than get a cleaner:D

pinkteapot

^^ Agree re it not being a source of stress. I'm always happy the day before the cleaner comes. We only have ours fortnightly as our place doesn't get grubby enough in a week to justify it (just the two of us and we work). After two weeks it's ready for a clean. I get happy and look forward to coming home to a sparkly house the next day.