Do you have a cleaner?

[HeyWayne]

Well, we're gonna give her a go (she lives in the next street, so timing should be ok). £25 to clean all the floors, vacuum, clean the kitchen, bathrooms, and dust everywhere. Seems a nice lady, we'll see I guess.

Left LadyWayne to it, I felt a bit uncomfortable to be honest - but I'll get over it.

Thanks for all the hints/tips.

[Newbie]

We've been thinking of getting one too. We both work from home but find during the week by the time we've got all our work done, made the dinner, cleaned up, then our days are over and weekends are spent doing the cleaning. This means we get very little "quality time" together, i know it seems an extravagence (sp?) but as HW says - if we get more hours in the day & time to do other things. Just have to go about finding one now!

[deezyb]

hi - I had a cleaner and she was fab. I used to pay her £10 (for 2hrs)per week. Each week she'd alternate between (1st week - cleaning downstairs and doing the ironing), (2nd week - upstairs and windows or something else that might need done). I loved getting home on a Friday to the smell of bleach/cleaning stuff! Fantastic! Unfortunately she gave up due to ill health at the time....saw her today actually, might ask her again! I think I was better at tidying up when I had a cleaner. Not that I cleaned up for the cleaner coming, just better at not leave a load of stuff lying around!

Recommendation - get your cleaner in on a Friday - leaves the weekend for more enjoyable things!

D

[Waffler]

Definitely Fridays (though they're less easy to get as they're so popular). For that brief time that we had a cleaner, I used to love coming home to a clean and tidy home and plumped cushions etc.
I REALLY want to get another cleaner now. Does anyone know about insurance etc. say if they did steal something or damage/break something?

hi - I had a cleaner and she was fab. I used to pay her £10 (for 2hrs)per week. Each week she'd alternate between (1st week - cleaning downstairs and doing the ironing), (2nd week - upstairs and windows or something else that might need done). I loved getting home on a Friday to the smell of bleach/cleaning stuff! Fantastic! Unfortunately she gave up due to ill health at the time....saw her today actually, might ask her again! I think I was better at tidying up when I had a cleaner. Not that I cleaned up for the cleaner coming, just better at not leave a load of stuff lying around!

Recommendation - get your cleaner in on a Friday - leaves the weekend for more enjoyable things!

D

[zazen999]

Hi

Haven't read any of the above - came straight to answer; but we have a cleaner. £12 per hour. Does 2 hours once a fortnight [she came today as it happens].

bloomin marvelous.

i made sure I had her address by dropping the key round hers rather than giving it to her when she quoted [I said I wanted to get another one cut]. But has has been fab; no worries there.

Just get one in. it's so worth it if you can afford it.

[HeyWayne]

We're going to get a key cut and she'll have to know how to operate the alarm. We can see her house from ours so should be ok.

She starts next Wednesday - she said if a Thursday or Friday becomes available she'll bump us up as it were.

Fingers crossed.

[smallblueplanet]

Hi
Haven't read any of the above - came straight to answer; but we have a cleaner. £12 per hour. Does 2 hours once a fortnight (she came today as it happens).

How much an hour!!? Christ, it wasn't worth going to university! Unless of course your cleaner has? No wonder I can't afford one.

[piskieinboots]

.... £25 to clean ....

that is the average hourly rate for a VA (virtual assistant) loike what I is - between £25 - £35 per hour, but that involves lots of hard work for that - I may become a cleaner

[NOG]

I have a cleaner, Mrs NOG......ya ya ya....

she costs me a fortune and I cant sack her.

[HeyWayne]

that is the average hourly rate for a VA (virtual assistant) loike what I is - between £25 - £35 per hour, but that involves lots of hard work for that - I may become a cleaner

I reckon it'll take her longer than an hour to get through that lot. You wanna come clean our house then piskie?

[piskieinboots]

when I think of the stress I get for £25-35 per hour - yeppyyio laddie, I'm ya scrubber

[zazen999]

How much an hour!!? Christ, it wasn't worth going to university! Unless of course your cleaner has? No wonder I can't afford one.

Worth every penny; I can't stand cleaning. I enjoy it much more now that she does the hard work; strange but I'll live with it.

[MrsC]

no we don't have a cleaner, we do it between us, doesn't take us that long each week

[Alice]

When we both worked full time I had a cleaner. It worked wonderfully well. We're clean and tidy people and like the world in order. She came in 2 hours , three times a week. We had a plan and rota so that everything got done. You need to tell your cleaner what you want done.
Basically
Day 1)
Go round the whole house with hoover and duster
Clean bathroom and toilets
Leave note if you have washing to hang out or whatever.
Day2)
Do the ironing
Clean bathrooms
Check the house is tidy.
Day3).
Clean bathrooms.
Do quick tidy round the house.
Spend the rest of time in one room. Move the furniture, clean the skirting boards, clean the windows, wash the ornaments etc.

That way the whole house got thoroughly cleaned in rotation.
Worked well for me.
TIP You get much more work done for 2 hours three times a week than six houre for one day.
One day you are paying for tea break and lunch break and cleaner who has run out of steam. For 2 hours you get 2 hours work.
Hope it all works out for you. For people who are working it's definitely the way to go.

[Pumpkin Becki]

Hmm, an ex-boss of mine had a cleaner to 'do' the flat over the shop once a week. I once made the mistake of offering her a cuppa. I expected her to take it with her and continue her work (just a I was going to), but no! She promptly sat down at the kitchen table and stayed there for half an hour telling me all about her ailments. Therefore not only was my boss paying her to do nothing, but me too! I felt so bad I always avoided the cleaner after that.