HIRING A CLEANER. THE GREAT DEBATE
Mrs Woog would rather give up coffee, air and chocolate than give up her cleaner. But Wendy Harmer? She couldn’t ask anyone to clean her loo.
MRS WOOG
Years and years ago, before we procreated, Mr Woog and I were working our butts off growing our careers. We would toil away all week before punishing ourselves all weekend out on the razz and start the cycle again. We were indeed partying like it was 1999, which in fact it was.
Every Saturday we would wake and spend some time cleaning our little 2 bedroom place.
It was one particularly nasty hangover Saturday when I stood in front of the toilet, bleach in one hand and brush in the other, when I spied a lonely public hair stuck to the rim in a drop of dried urine. After I recovered from my mega-chundering, I looked around at the filth that was our house, noted that my parents were due for lunch in less than an hour and decided then and there that I was not taking it anymore.
I did some sums and worked out what I was roughly earning an hour at my publishing job. And I did the same for Mr Woog. And then I gave him a short presentation, justifying that the money we spent on a cleaner was well worth it compared to us spending THE ENTIRE SATURDAY doing it ourselves. For some reason it did take us an extraordinary amount of time. We lacked enthusiasm for the task.
And also, the cleaning was becoming between us.
We threw some money at the problem. We got a cleaner.
A few years later we were fully-fledged breeders. When you add kids, and a bigger house and an extra bathroom the filth certainly multiplies as well. We have Super Lilly who comes every week. And as a bonus, Lilly gives me fashion and parenting advice and always tells me how nice my hair is looking. She is part of the family and we all LOVE Lilly.
I would rather give up coffee, air and chocolate for Lilly. There would only be the shadow of a whisker of a hair on a bee’s dick between Lilly and a cold bottle of wine. But to be honest, I think even Lilly might win that as well. Because when my kitchen floor is not crunchy and I have not attended to it, my happiness is guaranteed.
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61 Responses to this article
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Bern Morley August 21, 2012
I’d just clean for the cleaner making the whole idea redundant. We both work 5 days, have three kids and the house is often a bit of a brothel but engaging a cleaner just doesn’t really cross my mind a) because I’m a bit tight and b) I have a husband who is anal about cleanliness and therefore, cleans like a champ. I think I need to stop now before I make another reference about brothels or anal. Great points of view both of you
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moiby August 22, 2012
Bern Morley, you gave me such a giggle!
I also had a cleaner for a while but also felt the need to clean for the cleaner. Also, my husband is picky about standards and the cleaner we had wasn’t very thorough.
I shut our bedroom door and constantly have stuff on the bench and there is a bunch of books, magazines, articles, toys and musical instruments around our loungeroom.
I figure it’s only a few years that I have to live with the mess, and when it gets really bad I ask someone over so that I am forced to do a proper cleanup.
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Judy August 21, 2012
I cannot agree with mrs woog more. Our cleaner saves many arguements and who wants to clean up on a Saturday after working all week? I would rather go bike riding with the kids
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Benison O'Reilly August 21, 2012
Yes, yes, yes – with Mrs Woog all the way. I have had the same cleaner – male – for seventeen years. Many marriages haven’t lasted that long. He started when I was a working mum with a baby and now that baby is an adult.
He comes once a fortnight and in all the time he’s been coming he’s never been late once! I’m a reasonably tidy person anyway but knowing the house will get a good thorough clean once a fortnight, no matter how busy I am, is essential for my psychological well being. I do clean the toilets in between (and just before!) visits, however.
Cleaning is part of ou service economy – embrace it!
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Benison O'Reilly August 21, 2012
‘our’ service economy, I mean.
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SawHole August 21, 2012
Team Woog. I have been outsourcing ever since I lived with The Philanderer and only stopped when I was a single girl living by myself. Now I pay for four hours once a month and it is so worth it. The big jobs that you put off get done. Love it.
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Meggsie August 21, 2012
I am with you Mrs Woog. I recently dropped back from weekly cleans to fortnightly cleans in the interests of frugality (I blame the carbon tax for the hefty price increase necessitating this move), but really only do the basics in between. I foolishly thought with teenagers they could help. rookie error
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Ingi August 21, 2012
When I was working full-time, with 2 kids and a hubby who was well-trained by his mum to have everyone else look after him, hell-yeah, I had a cleaner! At least once a week the place was clean. It forced my to “tidy up” and put crap away so she could do her job. Now I’m working casually and the economics and my time at home don’t support my pleas to have a cleaner, but a girl can dream.
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KJ August 21, 2012
I live in Asia where about 80% of Expats have a live-in maid, (who is called a helper to ammeliorate their guilt) who works 6 days a week. We didn’t go down this route as I have a passion for slobbing in my nightie sans bra and I just couldn’t do that with a helper in the house.
But it’s Thi Thi day today! By dinner time tonight our bedrooms and bathrooms will be clean and soarkling and the ironing pile will be no more. The happiness a weekly cleaner has brought to our house is immense and I wouldmgive up,sex before I gave up Thi Thi.
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cate August 21, 2012
I’m with Bern, I’d spend so much time cleaning up before the cleaner came so they wouldn’t know how messy we are, that it wouldn’t be worth it.
Have never had a cleaner because I’ve not worked outside the home since having kids so I’ve always done it, and we’re not anal cleanfreaks so it’s not a big deal if the house isn’t totally spotless. If somebody else has a problem with it, it’s their problem, not mine. -
Lou August 21, 2012
I used to clean up before the cleaner came. And make excuses for their flaws. I also kept a gardener on for way too long – even though she was hopeless and didn’t seem to understand the basic gardening principle of removing weeds by their roots – as I was too nice to sack her. Now I work only one day a week or from home so I can’t really justify having a cleaner. But I don’t let it worry me as I know the dog hair, the dirty dishes, the washing will all still be there after I have had coffee with my girlfriends or gone shopping and quite frankly it can all wait.
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Anon August 21, 2012
‘a husband who was well trained by his mum to have everyone else look after him’. Ingi – that’s exactly what you’re teaching your own children – that you don’t have to care of your own messes, even in your own house, you can just pay someone else to do it for you. We had a cleaner intermittently before kids, but now we have kids I want them to learn how to take care of their house and be responsible for themselves, and they help us with the cleaning.
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Kerri Sackville August 21, 2012
Ha! Wendy you know my position on this (as do you Woogsie). I think women (and men) should get as much help as they can afford. We don’t think twice about buying takeaway food instead of cooking. We don’t think twice about buying clothes instead of making our own. We hire handymen and painters and removalists and to do all the things we ‘could’ do ourselves but would rather outsource. Why not cleaning????
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Jane August 21, 2012
I have a cleaner because,basically, I’m lazy. And I didn’t want to develop major resentment against my husband (who spends what seems like 90% of his awake time at home prone on the couch. But he does work long hours so has an excuse).
I do tidy up a bit (knickers off the floor mainly) before she comes, and leave her “sorry the place is such a tip” notes. But yesterday she hung out my washing (which I ran out of time to do) so gained yet another tick. I don’t care how my loo gets clean, as long as it is cleaned regularly & not by me.
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Sarah August 21, 2012
To answer Kerry ‘stupid female guilt’ is the answer. Let yourselves off the hook my friends.
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Miranda August 21, 2012
I have had a cleaner for 10 years, well actually she is more than that, she has become a part of our family. Its like having my whole house recalibrated every week, if I can just get to Tuesday……everything will be ok….!!! She is our nanny, ironing lady, cleaner, and is like a wise aunty….our family therapist at times!!! She is the only person who has been in our house each and every week for ten years and I we really value her. Also on the other side of things….we absolutely know we make a difference to her life through paying her and the regularity of the contact and $$. And yep…I try and pick up the stuff first, she works bloody hard on Tuesdays!
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lynda August 21, 2012
Its a nice job on boh sides, but do you pay your cleaner sick and holiday? I know one who works for 3 people and sometimes doesn’t get anything in school hols particulary, and she is chef ,cleaner, shopper, babysitter,ironer, driver,all for $20 p.h. and expected to do it in a morning.!I had a cleaner when we were both single and working, once a fortnight – divine, when you really need one with kids you can’t afford it, now I can afford it but am only working part-time so can’t ‘justify ‘ it – I hate housework. PS oh only puts rubbish out – if I leave note HaHa”
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deborah August 21, 2012
I clean myself – sense of self satisfaction…and besides, my house is also known as a shoe box.
My girlfriend is a cleaner and makes a decent living out of it. Is also agony aunt, ironing lady, therapist and is often invited to her clients family events as is considered part of the family. She has moved with families, looked after the family pet and is loved by the various families kiddies. So I can see both sides of the cleaned coin! -
MsMalaprop August 21, 2012
We’ve had our cleaners (2 sisters) for 5 years, and they are fab! My mum is like you Wendy, she just can’t get her head around the notion of having someone else deal with her filth. I would never leave my knickers on the floor, or dishes for them to do, but floors, loos (we have 3 boys), bathrooms and my husband’s shirts for ironing – you bet! My husband is no domestic god and he works long hours, so cleaners mean harmony in our home
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Kelly Exeter August 21, 2012
My cleaner is coming at noon today so I think we all know whose side I am on!!
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Alice Shaw August 21, 2012
I would have a cleaner in an instant if only I could afford it! I work full time, I have two young children and I am single. My closest family live a 7 hour drive away so I pretty much do everything on my own. I am knackered ALL THE TIME! I work in a very stressful job which I love but which is often very draining. The LAST thing I feel like doing when I come home is cleaning.. on weekends I am so exhausted I just want to lay down and cry.. oh and also drink wine.
I suppose if you have a nice partner who understands that both people need to help out around the house that might be okay but when I was married, he felt housework was “women’s work” so it was left to me then as well.
Back in the day, pre kids, I did have a cleaner and I LOVED her. I used to leave a nice morning tea for her and in return she ironed shirts and left the laundry neatly folded ready to go away on top of leaving a sparkling clean kitchen and bathroom (I paid her as well of course). It was fabulous darling! I am with Mrs W, why spend a large chunk of Saturday cleaning if you can outsource?? I dream of having a cleaner, oh the time I could spend doing absolutely anything else. Can’t manage it right now but one day… one day…sigh…
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Jess August 21, 2012
Without my fabulous cleaner I would be insane and divorced! I’m with you all the way Mrs Woog and admire you Wendy for taking it on yourself… I tried and failed miserably. Jx
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Julie August 21, 2012
I would have a cleaner in a heart beat if I could afford one. I’ve worked as a cleaner in the past, cleaning nightclubs, to bowling centres and houses. Prefer house cleaning by far. I still clean my Bed buddy’s place every few months when he can afford it.
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Erika August 21, 2012
I tried having a cleaner BUT found I’m far too much of a control freak and can’t abide having things moved/out of place, even inadvertently. I would spend an hour putting things back the way I like them (ornaments, furniture, dog beds….)
I do a quick tidy of the house before I go to bed, I try to deal with things immediately and I’m comfortable with the house only being swept once a week.
It definitely helps that I don’t have children and spouse confines his mess to HIS study and the garage. And that we have a list of regular chores split between us.
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Giving Back Girl August 21, 2012
The arrival of the GFC meant a swift departure to Flora our brazilian cleaning goddess. Now whenever I have a whinge, loo brush in hand, cleaning up after everyone who seems to be sitting watching TV while I do it, my husband always plays the “what would you rather have more” game – “a cleaner or a trip to an exotic beach location with pina coladas”. I always choose the pina coladas.
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Quiet August 21, 2012
I have a little crappy old house, but I do own it outright, and am very proud of that. But the cleaner I had didn’t want to clean my little old house she wanted to clean big fancy houses, to wipe imported marble benches, to look out at the 180 degree ocean view from the lounge as she vacuumed it, to mop architecturally designed floors and not to worry the paint will peel off the old bathroom if wiped too vigorously. It was not about the money, she charged the same per hour whatever the house, but it was about her working in a beautiful environment – who’d a thought there was that sort of divide in the cleaning industry – but then again, it is not fun for me to clean my little old (fully paid for) house…
The next cleaner I had took her time to read my rubbish in the bin in my bedroom.. she didn’t last long either… -
sam August 21, 2012
I grew up hating saturdays. Saturday was the day mum would clean the house. She was the main bread winner of the family and worked really hard five days a week. My father was a freelancer and was often home. Every saturday ended the same way with them screaming at each other about who should do what job and eventually mum would be in tears and the the whole family would feel like s**t. I vowed that I was going to get a cleaner or learn not to be botherd if the house is untidy/dirty. At the momnet we are cleanerless and the house is a pigsty, but my family are all smiling on a saturday night.
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Rachel @ The Kids Are All Right August 21, 2012
Woog wins. But I am respectful too – I wouldn’t leave a disgusting toilet for them.
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sami August 21, 2012
Gosh I would LOVE a cleaner! I hate cleaning more than anything in the world. If I didn’t have a dishwasher I would eat off paper plates, I hate it that much. I buy clothes that don’t need ironing! The toilet is actually my favourite thing to clean because it takes about 2 seconds. I don’t mind vacuuming so much now I have a snazzy Dyson but prior to that it was hell.
The only reason I don’t have a cleaner is that I don’t use chemicals in my home. I am a bi-carb and vinegar girl (I even have a special washball that means I don’t need to use detergent when washing my clothes, plus it lets me be lazy- it just stays in the machine). If there is a cleaning service in Perth that only uses happy, eco-friendly, non-pet-poisoning products I’d love to use them but I know of no such place
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Jen August 21, 2012
Jo is the name of our cleaner…shes coming today…i love her. She loves chemicals as much as i do. I always check the toilets before she turns up. Best money i spend each fortnight. xx
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Jade August 21, 2012
Ok I’m a SAHM of four and I generally tend to the mess myself while trying to instill the values of tidiness and cleaning up after yourself in my little darlings. So that being said having an outsider clean up our mess would just seem weird to me. Though I might reconsider my stance if I was working full time away from home, because what woman wants to do it all? Bugger working all day then coming home to work all day.
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Marnie August 21, 2012
I don’t mind housework and when a friend and I competed for the same job in our smallish town and she won, she asked if I would come in once a week and do her housework for her, (which she hated with a vengeance) so we would both have a job. There was just her, her husband and young son and it was a small cottage so I thought, “No problem”.
Then she bought extra pots, pans and dinner sets so she could use them all week and when I arrived on Thursday morning, my first job was seven days worth of washing up. The clothes (that I had washed and hung out the previous week) would be piled on the chair waiting for me to fold and iron it and this week’s was waiting to be washed and hung, plus the usual change the beds, vacuum, clean the bathroom and loo etc… you get the picture? For this she paid me the princely sum of $2 per hour, but expected me to be finished and gone before she got home from work. When I eventually told her I would have to come two days a week if she wanted all that done, she said “fine, but don’t expect me to pay you any extra just because you can’t get your job done on time, you’re only a cleaner”.
I felt so belittled and unappreciated that I never went back and our friendship came to an abrupt end. So please, if you have a cleaner, remember she (or he) is doing a job that is just as important as yours and doesn’t deserve to be looked down on because of it. -
Nikki @ Styling You August 21, 2012
I seriously would have a cleaner if my husband did not take on this role each weekend to fulfil his OCD obligations. Previous husband did not have OCD tendencies. Needless to say we had a cleaner.
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Dianne August 21, 2012
I’ve never had a cleaner…I’ve been the cleaner and it’s a crappy job. In my experience people expect a months worth of filth cleaned up in 2 hours and for a pittance. Circumstances forced me to put up with that for some time until I came down with gastro after cleaning a disgusting loo splattered with vomit. That was it for me. I’d rather do with out the money than clean up messes like that. Believe me, most people don’t clean up for the cleaner! Good on you Wendy for cleaning up after yourself.
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RES August 21, 2012
I couldn’t live without my Jenny who comes every Saturday morning to our place. She’s seen me married, divorced, remarried. I’ve seen her bring up her granddaughter while her daughter was in Indonesia waiting to get approval to come to Australia – heck, I’ve even loaned her the money to help her daughter come out here. She’s like my second mother, telling me when my sheets need changing, and picking up after my two kids even when I ask her not to. She’s the one that notices when I am so exhausted and tells me to lie down and have a nap, she will shut the door quietly when she leaves.
There is definitely no boss/worker relationship here, we have a good laugh together and while she’s doing the yucky stuff like the bathrooms, I’m doing the stuff that is always left to last like cleaning out the wardrobe and tidying the shoe cupboard.
It’s a no-brainer – Mrs Woog wins!
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BabyMacBeth August 21, 2012
I am a clean FREAK. I wear Spray & Wipe like Chanel No. 5 so needless to say, I am on Team Woog with this one. That way she can do the hard yards and I can pick up the slack in between her fortnightly visits and my OCD compulsions are met.
Right now she had the audacity to get knocked up so I am without a cleaner. It’s not ideal, but I’ll get by. BECAUSE I AM A FREAK.
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Lisa Aherne August 21, 2012
I enjoyed a three year stint in Asia, with a weekly cleaner. She was a treasure called Rose who cleaned brilliantly and also cooked at her home for my dinner parties, snuk the food into my kitchen up the back stairs and fronted up again in the morning while I was still asleep, letting me surface when I was ready to find a sparkling kitchen. I arrived back in Oz to find myself back at work, sans cleaner, with a horrible growth on the end of my right hand – an IRON, no wonder I cried when I left Brunei. I’m with Mrs Woogs.
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Liz August 21, 2012
I pay my teenage daughter to do it. It’s not perfect but it’s way better then me having to do it myself
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Kris August 21, 2012
I’m with Mrs Woog on this one. I work full time & would give my right arm for a cleaner. I hate cleaning the house – hence why it usual looks like a brothel after the tornado went through it! But with hubby doing shift work & working different shifts week to week, its just not possible for someone to come at the same time each week. Ah well, maybe one day…
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Caroline Baum August 21, 2012
I once witnessed one of the worst arguments between a married couple I have ever seen over this topic. (She wanted one, he didn’t, surprise surprise)
My own thinking (always had a cleaner, grew up in a home with a daily housekeeper!) changed after I went to Copenhagen last year to interview my girl crush, actor Sofie Grabøl, who plays Sarah Lund in the The Killing. She’s a single mother with two kids, no agent, no manager, no PR person and no cleaner.
I asked what that was about and she said ‘ well, it keeps me humble’ and I liked that answer so much that I thought ok , if she can do it, so can I.
Came home and told my husband. He agreed. We have been doing it together every Saturday morning and it is quite a pleasant ritual, takes about three hours, involves a bit of exercise, but I’m lucky, he does all the yucky bits.Just recently, work has got so full-on he suggested maybe we could hire a cleaner again for the short term; we have found a local person who comes highly recommended by a neighbour. I liked that she came to check us and the house out first to see if it would be a good fit, and asked about what kind of products we like to use. She starts tomorrow.
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Elisha August 21, 2012
I had a good laugh at your story Wendy, but I’m with Mrs Woog all the way on this one. I actually wrote a blog on this very issue not long ago. Our cleaner has also become part of the family and she’s a deadset honest to god fairy.
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JoJo August 21, 2012
Team Woog! There are only the two of us and my husband really is helpful, but with us both working fulltime I decided I wanted our weekends to be about enjoying time together. We have a cleaner come in for 3 hours per fortnight and I do bits and bobs in between to keep the house the way I like it. This suits us perfectly and provides income to our lovely Maria: really as long as we’re all happy it’s no one else’s beeswax !
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the*sparrow August 21, 2012
Team Wendy for me. I have never had a cleaner, not when I was single and working long hours, not when I was a SAHM, not now with husband, labrador, 2 boys and a part time job. What’s so hard about cleaning a house? Although I will admit to be being the opposite to a clean freak, my standards are pretty relaxed!
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lisa August 21, 2012
It’s a personal decision, some people hate the cleaning way more than others and for the sake of putting some or even all of the discretionary spending towards not doing it, is well worth it. I’m more of a Wendy bent, we live much of our lives divorced from the reality of our survival these days, meals and creature comforts come to us so easily, when the reality of life for eons and for most of the world includes some pretty hard graft that puts 4 hours on a Saturday having a clean up to shame. I connect with my foremothers via laundry perhaps LOL
Not sure what the going rate for cleaners are, but if you spent $50 a week on average, that’d make a huge dent in the mortgage over years and get that weight off your shoulder much earlier, which floats my boat way more than skipping housework.
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Amanda August 21, 2012
I live in Asia, work full-time and study distance ed part-time. A wonderful lady come in five days a week to do the washing, ironing and cleaning – she even turns out the occasional cooked meal. Having a cleaner/housekeeper is BLISS!
The irony? We still tidy up every single night before bed and again before we head out the door in the morning. In my little mind, I somehow relate this to ‘keeping it real’ when I know my situation is anything but ‘real’.
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Sara August 21, 2012
When I was in my early 20s and living in a share house with 2 other women we had a cleaner come in every fortnight for a few hours, to do those jobs that no one wanted to do – bathroom, cupboards etc. It was GOLD. Eliminated arguments before they happened. i stay at home with 2 children now, so housework is part of my employment
. But if when i go back to work, you better believe I’ll get a cleaner. -
Cathy August 21, 2012
Every second Friday I love my cleaner more than my husband and the 3 teenage male slobs who share our house. They cant be my children, because the last time I looked my children were all adorable cute toddlers……can they?????
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Alice August 21, 2012
Cleaners are awesome! Not tidiers or put-away-ers, cleaners. I also worried about the kids growing up expecting someone to clean up after them, so we compromise on once a fortnight so on the ‘off’ week the kids help.
It is also clear that the cleaner is there to help me not them, so if their room isn’t perfectly tidy on cleaning day, they miss out. It perhaps helps that I have allergies to dust, cockroaches and mould, and cleaning makes me ill, so I have never really had to think about my decision to get a cleaner on anything other than a health basis. -
Megan August 21, 2012
We have a cleaner in to clean. We tidy, she cleans. Thursday nights my husband and I spend about 45mins tidying up, putting things away and generally pulling our own weight. Kim arrives on Friday mornings, 9am sharp. She vaccuums, cleans bathrooms and toilets, washes floors, wipes down surfaces and dusts. That’s it. We have two little kids and if I had 2 uninterrupted hours each week I’D DO THE DAMN CLEANING! but my kids are at the age where I can’t even pee alone, so I think Kim is here to stay for a few more years.
I fail to see how having someone in to do the cleaning is any different to having a mechanic fix my car, or any other professional do a job I either can’t or won’t do. I don’t like to mow lawns either – but no one criticises us for getting “Jim” in to do it for us.
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Kyra August 21, 2012
I recently had a cleaner and it was bliss, but she returned overseas, so I offered my 16 y.o. son $50 a week to clean the house. That’s half of what I was paying, easy money for him and it had to be done properly. It takes him just over 3 hours, he’s saving for a trip to NZ, and it means that when. Get home from work on Tuesday the house is clean. He does a damn good job & now nags his younger siblings to pick up after themselves. Priceless.
. I’m determined that each of my kids will be domesticated when they leave home -
Ellen August 22, 2012
As kids my sister and I were paid pocket money to kelp clean. I feel I have had enough clearning experience so now as an adult and for the sake of our sanity (mine and the Workaholics’s) we have a cleaner once a fortnight.
I go over the bathrooms inbetween just to keep the hygene up but I bless every second Thursday when the floors are cleaned, the furniture dusted and the shower screen scrubbed.
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Tracey August 22, 2012
Great discussion! I’m really stubborn on this one – we’ve never had a cleaner, because I don’t want to become hopeless at performing simple tasks! I have this ridiculous fear that I’ll become out of touch with domestic chores. It’s silly, I know. However, it’s working out well now because we force the kids to do most of it, to teach them a good work ethic. Child slaves – woo hoo! (kidding!)
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sami August 22, 2012
Haha Tracey! Good plan but it may backfire- my parents made my sister and I clean EVERY day. We did the dishes, swept and mopped floors, cleaned bathrooms, walked and picked up after the dog, cleaned our rooms, made our own lunches, helped with dinner, washed windows and helped with spring cleaning. Since spending the majority of my life cleaning I am OVER IT. As soon as I can get a cleaner I will. The thought of doing the damn dishes makes me want to set the house on fire. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it.
My work ethic is clearly in the negatives. Thanks mum and dad!
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Amanda August 22, 2012
I’m with mrs Woog all the way, my partner and I both work greater than 50 hour weeks. Weekends are for relaxing, not for spending half of Saturday doing the cleaning( of which I did most as he has severe domestic blindness ) my cleaner comes twice a week and she keeps me sane. We tidy and she cleans. I feel no guilt at all, get over it everyone, as long as its a respectful relationship you are creating employment for someone,I see no difference to any other service provider. If I could outsource more domestic tasks I would, life’s too short to do things you don’t enjoy and don’t have time for.
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Brik August 28, 2012
Mrs Woog with a rocket. I hate cleaning and to top it off am allergic to dust and cockroaches – the latter psychologically as well as physically. I just have a cleaner 2 hours a fortnight – she does the general cleaning – vacuuming, mopping and god bless her – oven cleaning (1*month). But we also clean after ourselves – don’t leave her dishes (my kitchen is not allowed to be messy – did i mention the cockroaches!), make our own bed, rarely wet laundry in the machine (I use cloth nappies and wash every second day) and always clean the toilet before she comes. We had a tussle about products – compromising between my bicarb and vinegar and her chemicals. A little bit of tidying up everyday + laundry versus 2-3 hours every weekend – no contest!!
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Rhoda August 29, 2012
My mother is an elderly pensioner and is able via government subsidy to get a cleaner in once a fortnight. She does the floors, vacuum/mops, and cleans the bathroom. That one hour, once a fortnight, really makes a difference because my mother lives independently and floors are a big deal for her to clean. The lady who comes is welcomed with a hug and is allowed to offload and we all think she’s wonderful.
I often think of getting a cleaner myself but can’t justify the expense. Would rather save it for a trip somewhere.
I have a rellie who is one too and the stories she can tell! !! It’s people you least expect to be who often have the most filthy habits – and I mean filthy.
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Gareth September 17, 2012
Hi,
We have a 9 month daughter and my husband works long hours and I spend my free time starting up a business from home, cleaning the house is ok it’s the washing of clothes that I can’t see to get around to doing, can anyone assist on costs to have someone come in and do this , we are in croydon Victoria
Thanks
