i work from home (most of the time) and i keep the house clean and tidy and end up not working as much as i want to ........ i'm going to try and get a cleaner sorted out next week ..... some useful info here !

I'm not tidy enough to have a cleaner.. :P tho that might actually make me put stuff away after myself.. far to good at staggering in from work or the lottie or shops or wherever, putting a bag of stuff down so I can flop and have a cuppa and then just walking around it rather than putting everything away properly... :-/

Wouldn't even consider it, we both work full time so although we don't have much time to clean, we're not there making mess much either. If you keep on top of it and do it as you go along it doesn't take long and regardless of how trustworthy they were I'd still hate the idea of somebody in my house when I was out.

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Some of us live in the past, always talking about back then. Some of us live in the future, always planning what we are going to do. And, then there are those, who neither look behind or ahead, but just enjoy the moment of right now.

Which one are you and is it how you want to be?

All this talk of cleaning has made me go and give my kitchen a good clean instead of the quick clean it gets everyday. Didnt do the cooker though get OH to do that tomorrow.
I have persuaded him to take some time off soon so that we can have a good clear out far too much stuff comes in and nothing goes out we need to be ruthless this time.

I have a cleaner, but she's rubbish at cleaning....! She the mum of a friend of ours, and when I was struggling with everything (I was totally crippled/bent double for 18 months) OH suggested that I get her to come once a week to help out. I pay her for 3 hours, but these days she doesn't turn up til 10.30 and leaves at 11.45
But I know she needs the money, so I haven't had the heart to tell her to stop coming. I'll have to soon though, coz I need the money too!

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Sarah

http://wixypixies.blogspot.com/

“Tell me one last thing,” said Harry. “Is this real? Or has this been happening inside my head?”
“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?”

I'd always have a cleaner, so long as my hourly rate was more than theirs. In other words, if I can earn more per hour in my office than I'd pay per hour of cleaning, then it makes sense to hire someone to do it. I do have the luxury of choosing what hours I work though.

As it happens, one of our lodgers is a cleaner, so he does it as part of his rent. The other lodger is a security guard - how perfect is that?!

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Resistance is fertile

I actually enjoy cleaning. What I hate is ironing, if I could afford it I would definately have somebody to do my ironing.

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Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons for you are crunchy and good with ketchup!

I do cleaning AND ironing I clean 2 houses on a Tuesday, and iron for another lady every other week. I enjoy doing it for others, but when it comes to my own.....
I think it does all come down to trust..on both sides.
One lady I went to about a year ago was a terrible gossip....she's in her 90's and totally slagged off another lady that came in 2/3 times a day to help with meals/shopping etc so I gave her up. I simply couldn't work for someone who was so openly nasty, and knew darn well I'd be the next person she'd be talking about

I used to have an ironing business but gave it up about 3 years ago to do something different, but it fit in with the kids and I could do it from home as and when.
I'm considering another cleaning job, but to be honest don't know how to fit it in with the others along with the lottie, caravan, and my main job. (but my porch needs replacing!)

and I don't charge anywhere near some of the prices on here....perhaps I need to up my rates

We have a couple of ladies that team clean once a week! It is great, as we both work full time and want to relax a bit at weekends. The big bonus is that the kids have to tidy up their rooms in readiness for them, so the pigsties are less disgusting these days

We also have cleaners - a family team of three. Nelson does everything high and all the hoovering, Vanusa does all the ironing and their daughter (whose name escapes me) does a fantastic job on the bathroom and kitchen including washing up and a full wash of the floors.

They come once a fortnight and cost me £40 for two hours but the house sparkles!

And yes - it does make Hazel tidier! (Pity it doesn't work on TOH)

Hmmm... been watching this with interest as I've been thinking on and off to get a cleaner for years and have finally decided to conceed tot he fact that I'm not a tidy person by nature so it's worth it to stop me getting stressed about the mess I leave behind etc..

Anyhow, I've got MollyMaid coming round to quote me this Wednesday - anyone know roughly how much they charge?

Am also wondering if it's worth having a 2 hr good clean up once a week and a second 1 hr wash floors and bathroom once a week or that might be complete overkill....??

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Shortie

"There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children; one of these is roots, the other wings" - Hodding Carter

If it's any help Shortie, the lady we had quoted us £25 a week, which includes cleaning 2 bathrooms, kitchen, vacuuming all upstairs (3 bedrooms) and the stairs. Sweeping and cleaning all floors downstairs (lounge, dining room, kitchen, study, utility room), dusting everywhere upstairs and down. If we want anything else, we leave a note and she'll charge accordingly.

We're going to give it a go for 4 weeks and see how it works out.

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A simple dude trying to grow veg.

http://haywayne.blogspot.com/ - UPDATED - 8th May

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Mr Sheds has a cleaner.
I don't.

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I came, I saw, I planted

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Veni, Vidi, Velcro.
I came, I saw, I stuck around.

we had a cleaner for a while but the teenage daughters didnt like them going in their bedrooms so they werent done i used to tidy up (not clean) before they got there and they used their own hoover (not as good as my dyson) i suppose i started getting a bit picky about it and let them go what i really need is to be cloned so that i can go to work but stay at home at the same time and clean the house!!

i phoned molly maids after we had a lot of work done in the house to quote for a spring clean she gave a rough estimate over the phone and admittedly they were going to do absolutely everything but the cost was £200 !!! so i got up at 6.30 and went through the house as if on a mission and by the time i finished at 8pm i was chuffed that i'd saved myself the money mind you i was totally knackered but there you go !!

Although we don't usually do domestics, we do take on cleans after building works. I think that sounded like a fair price if you ask me (which you didn't!! LOL) The last one we did was just before christmas. It was a 400 year old 5 bedroomed, 3 storey farmhouse with 3 bathrooms, 3 reception rooms plus kitchen and utility. I charged £350 + VAT & they didn't even blink an eye (which makes me wonder if I should've charged more!!)

i suppose when you work out the hours they were going to spend and what they were going to do it was a fair price but i didnt feel i could justify spending £200 on getting the house cleaned!! i know the going raye is about £10 an hour now for a cleaner and i think they are quite hard to come by a good one tends to be snapped up

Well, cleaner was booked in for yesterday, so I drove home with some trepidation, opened the door and noticed that the post was still on the doormat. Ok I thought, maybe the postie didn't deliver until late in the day (as can often be the case). I deactivated the alarm, opened the door to the dining room - money was still on the sideboard. I thought maybe she'd forgotten it. Walked through to the kitchen, nope, she hasn't been - the hob still had some splatter on it from the night before's cooking.

At ten to six, the doorbell rang. Two ladies stood at the door armed with sawn-off vacuum cleaners, bucket grenades and all manner of chemical warfare items. She looked apologetic and said/asked if it was a bit too late. Given that I had just started to wind down, and that I was about to start preparing dinner, it was a bit late yes.

She said she should be able to fit us in today - not the best of starts. However, if she does manage to squeeze us in today, it means it's nearer to the Friday slot we'd originally hoped for.

Here's hoping.

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A simple dude trying to grow veg.

http://haywayne.blogspot.com/ - UPDATED - 8th May

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