does anyone have a cleaner or gardener?

[pigletwillie]

A friend of ours cleans for us on a saturday for 4 hours and we pay �35. It is great, beds are changed, stuff put away and all shiny when she has finished.

A cleaner every time.

[Newbie]

We have a cleaner & i think they are worth their weight in gold. It is actually done through a local franchise of a national company and we pay �50 p/w - which sounds like a lot but they clean the whole house (4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms) incl. changing beds, towels, emptying bins, the cooker, inside windows - the whole lot. They charge depending on the size of your house, not how long it takes them - they stay until they are finished. The privacy / trust thing isn't an issue for us as we work from home, plus they are all local anyway.

As we have a large garden which OH isn't interested in except for cutting the grass, i would rather be spending my spare time out there than cleaning. However saying that, if there is heavy digging to do in the garden (which i can't do because of my back) i get a local guy to come do it for me & pay him by the hour as & when.

[piskieinboots]

I have a cleaner and a gardener - they both answer to the same name as me, oddly enough

[binley100]

I have a cleaner and a gardener - they both answer to the same name as me, oddly enough

Bet you don't even get minimum wage for it either like me

[piskieinboots]

My brother stayed here for the weekend, he saw me washing dishes, he said 'where is your dish washer?' I showed him my hands - he couldn't believe I didn't have, or want, a dish washer

[lizzylemon]

J - the going rate seems to be 8 for an agency and about �10 private cleaner round here. Private cleaners should always, I think, be recommended by word of mouth - that way you know they're honest, discrete and good workers.

An agency cleaner should be 'checked out' by their employer and any damage should be covered by their insurance, so you have peace of mind on that side.

I started with an agency and then got a few clients by word of mouth - all were vry disappointed when I had to get a 'real' job (OHs words not mine). for the 1st couple of cleans I normally suggested that the person of the house was there as most people feel a bit weird having a stranger in the house without them being there.

I also had a laminated schedule for each house. It was split by rooms & tasks and then according to frequency. So for instance, the living room had hoovering every week, skirting every 2 weeks, picture frames monthly. I also wrote the date next to non-weekly stuff to keep stuff ticking round.

Good communication is also pretty important - I used to leave a notebook at each clients so if they wanted something out of the ordinary or there was a problem, it went into the book and everyone was literally on the same page.

Before anything else though, I always explained that if they wanted 4 hours worth of work but for 2 hours pay, they should expect a lesser quality of cleaning.

[Caro]

My brother stayed here for the weekend, he saw me washing dishes, he said 'where is your dish washer?' I showed him my hands - he couldn't believe I didn't have, or want, a dish washer

You only think you don't want a dishwasher! Or maybe it's just me ... I'm a confident, capable, intelligent, educated lady ... BUT my dishwasher does a far better job than I can do, and I think I'm a lousy cleaner too. My efforts leave smear marks everywhere. Probably hygienic, but not great looking. So I'm willing to acknowledge my shortcomings and employ a cleaner.

My (agency) cleaner costs about �9 an hour, my gardener (who really just does the lawn and hedge, plus occasional other tidying) charges �7 per hour.

To me, they're both worth it!

[kirsty b]

I clean for an elderly lady for 1.5 hours per week and get paid �9. I do miss the occasional week because of work shifts, but she's a lovely old dear and its a nice little job.