Do you have a cleaner?

maman

avogadro wrote: »

I think this pretty much sums it up, really. Although I can understand someone who works long hours in a stressful job might not want to start mopping the floor when they get in at 11pm.. So (for able-bodied people) I suppose it depends on your job.

Funnily enough my DH does find it therapeutic to be mopping and vacuuming as a switch off from work. Not at 11 pm though.

System

maman wrote: »

Funnily enough my DH does find it therapeutic to be mopping and vacuuming as a switch off from work. Not at 11 pm though.

One of my relatives is a doctor in A&E. I think she works 4 x 12 hour days per week, and every third weekend is 'on-call'. I don't know if she has a cleaner but I wouldn't blame her if she did.

Mojisola

Robisere wrote: »

Both my wife and I have disabilities

I am 72 and have a list of problems including spinal damage, a Parastomal hernia, Hiatus hernia, Reflex associated with something called Barretts Oesophagus, a skin problem and scarred lungs. My own hips are painful, but I am keeping that to myself for now. My left knee is also a problem: the cartilage is almost destroyed, but again that is something I want to ignore until my wife has had her operation.

We don't qualify for any Benefits: although we are light years away from being wealthy, we have just enough to keep being refused.

Attendance Allowance isn't means tested. You can't get it for mobility issues but, if either of you has problems with daily care, it's worth applying.

The money can be spent on anything so you could use it to pay a cleaner.

lobbyludd

I had cleaners when I first separated from exH: I work full time, and at that point had a 5yr old and a 0yr old, so was exhausted. It was great initially, but slowly over time the cleaning became less good (I employed a firm, a team came in and cleaned, so they may have switched people, no idea - I never saw them!). My standards are pretty low (!) and I was glad of even a badly cleaned house once a week until I moved the soap dish on the side of the bath and found black mould underneath it, at which point i questioned whether they were doing very much at all and in a hissy fit cancelled the contract, rather than tackling the issue.

I'm working through some renovations at the moment but once that's done I'll look into getting someone again.

dawyldthing

Robisere wrote: »

This has become a worry for us lately. Both my wife and I have disabilities, although until recently my wife's problems were not severe. Now, at 71, she has developed a problem with her hip and often struggles to walk. She is waiting for an operation: the GP had X-Rays done and states from the results that the wear is very serious. I am 72 and have a list of problems including spinal damage, a Parastomal hernia, Hiatus hernia, Reflex associated with something called Barretts Oesophagus, a skin problem and scarred lungs. My own hips are painful, but I am keeping that to myself for now. My left knee is also a problem: the cartilage is almost destroyed, but again that is something I want to ignore until my wife has had her operation.

I really don't know how we are going to be able to cope without help, but cannot afford to employ a cleaner. I am going to ask Age concern for help, but am worried about Means-testing. We don't qualify for any Benefits: although we are light years away from being wealthy, we have just enough to keep being refused. This annoys me when I see a drunken layabout of a neighbour, who has every benefit going yet has never worked for years.

Have a look into attendance allowance as then it can help with stuff like this

river_storm

Ronaldo_Mconaldo wrote: »

I'd definitley not look down on it, I'd consider it but would pretty much come unstuck on the practicalities. Would they have a key to let themselves in and out during the day when you're at work? What could they get done in their time? Change the beds? Clean the bathrooms? Put all the washing on?

Would you be able to totally trust them? Another problem I'd have is that nobody would be able to do as goid a job as me.

Might think about it though as it would be time saved that could be spent doing more important things.

This is the exact same dilemma we have !


Both my husband and I work full time, but just to make things a bit more interesting, I do a 100 mile round trip commute every single day, which on a good day takes 1.5hr each way !


So not only do a I do a 38 hour work week, I also travel for a minimum of 15 hours a week.


Needless to say, at the end of each day we are both too knackered to do anything, so consequently our weekends are filled doing all the chores (cleaning, washing, shopping, gardening etc etc) which never leaves us with any time to actually do some enjoyable things or to just relax a bit after a tough week.


So I've been toying with the idea of a cleaner, but have come up against exactly the same issues as you:


* I am not willing to essentially give a complete stranger a set of keys to my house.


* Trust is a big issue for me. How do I know they are not rooting through my stuff or stealing things ? How do I know if I've paid for them to work for 2 hours that they actually did work for 2 hours ?


* I am VERY precise about my cleaning and don't think anyone would be able to clean as meticulous as me. Yes, yes I know.... I have tried 'not to care' and not be so an*l about my cleaning, but I can't help it. I think I'm a touch OCD when it comes to cleaning.


So round and round we go. We both agree that we want to free up some time on the weekend to actually have a life instead of just constantly doing chores, but at the same time, I can't get past the above hurdles, so for now, I keep on cleaning every weekend :-(

SuzieSue

river_storm wrote: »

So round and round we go. We both agree that we want to free up some time on the weekend to actually have a life instead of just constantly doing chores, but at the same time, I can't get past the above hurdles, so for now, I keep on cleaning every weekend :-(

We had this problem so I stopped cleaning as much. You just don't notice it after a while. It is just the 2 of us so it is much easier than if we had children. We just try not to be messy. I no longer deep clean the kitchen and bathroom every week. I do it when I have a free weekend.

river_storm

SuzieSue wrote: »

We had this problem so I stopped cleaning as much. You just don't notice it after a while. It is just the 2 of us so it is much easier than if we had children. We just try not to be messy. I no longer deep clean the kitchen and bathroom every week. I do it when I have a free weekend.

Hi Suzie,


I think you might be on to something. I am very funny about keeping a spotless house and can't bear the thought of not having an almost sterile house and feel like I will be judged if I don't !


BUT, I fully appreciate what you are saying and maybe that is the solution. Keep the place clean and tidy, but not have to deep clean the house every single weekend which is what I do.

SuzieSue

river_storm wrote: »

Hi Suzie,


I think you might be on to something. I am very funny about keeping a spotless house and can't bear the thought of not having an almost sterile house and feel like I will be judged if I don't !


BUT, I fully appreciate what you are saying and maybe that is the solution. Keep the place clean and tidy, but not have to deep clean the house every single weekend which is what I do.

Yes, you need to fit the cleaning around your life, not the other way around. Otherwise life will pass you by and all you will have done is cleaned the house.

Also, we try not to invite people round to the house.

LameWolf

My husband has said he'd be happy to employ a cleaner, as I am disabled and struggle with a lot of the household chores; however I have declined, for two reasons. Firstly, I have a real phobia of having "other people" on the premises (and I'm one of those people who would scrabble around tidying and dusting before the cleaner arrived, as I wouldn't want them to think I was a lazy mare) and secondly, I'd feel that it was giving in to my illness to pay someone to do tasks I should be doing myself.