House cleaner questions

[Charlotte91]

I'm looking at getting a house cleaner. I'm just so busy with 2 little ones!

How often does your cleaner come?
How long do they work?
What do you get them to do?

Thanks

[CKJ]

How often - mine comes weekly

How long for - 2 hours each time (this was after their assessment on how big my house is etc)

What she does - wash up, put away dishes, fold clothes, wash clothes, sweep, vacuum, mop all floors, tidy all rooms, clean bathroom (toilet/basin/shower etc), feed rabbit

Basically cleans every room in my house.

I go through a local company and have had them doing a weekly clean since before Christmas. Definitely came in handy working full time, studying, parenting DD and being pregnant!

Mine will also prepare meals, do grocery shop etc if I ask (for additional hourly rate as required)

[buffy1]

Ours comes once a fortnight. She cleans for about 1.5 hours, maybe less - we're in an apartment though.

She does the bathroom & loo (my most hated!) plus all other areas, dusts, cleans mirrors, vacuums & mops. Windows, oven and other big jobs are extra.

She's great, a godsend and really reasonably priced. Has been with us for 5+ years, including end-of-lease cleans when we were renting.

[Boo Boo]

Mine comes fortnightly...

She is usually here 2.5 to 3 hours - we have four bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, 2 living areas, playroom, study, 3 level house and she dusts, polishes all the wood furniture we have, vacuums, mops floorboards, changes DD and DS1's beds, mirrors, kitchen and polishing all the stainless steel stuff in it. I do a huge tidy up for it, everything is put away, so she basically just cleans only, no tidying needed. I have it fortnightly as I can manage to do odd bits and pieces, vacuum downstairs and do the toilets and bathrooms on the week she doesn't come.

[Cally]

She comes weekly and is here for 2.5 hours. She does all the floors, bathrooms, kitchen, dusting and ironing. Will do anything extra I ask as well as offering to do things (ie did the oven the other week and last week cleaned all the fridge shelves). I also do a big tidy up the night before she comes so it is just cleaning, not tidying.

I would suggest putting together a list of what you do and don't want them to do that you can go through with them when they come over to have a look. Finding a perfect housekeeper can be difficult, I have found a huge difference in standards between different cleaners.

[Floweryfields]

wash up, put away dishes, fold clothes, wash clothes, sweep, vacuum, mop all floors, tidy all rooms, clean bathroom (toilet/basin/shower etc), feed rabbit

I couldn't do all that in 2 hours she must be superwoman!

[crumpet]

Mine comes fortnightly for 2.5 hours, we have a 3 bed, 1 bathroom open plan house with 80% floor boards.

She mops all of the floors (3 bedrooms, bathroom, 2 x hallways, kitchen, laundry and loo), vacuums the whole house, dusts the whole house, cleans bathroom and toilet, cleans the kitchen, neatens the toy corner..... Basically does everything so that I only need to vacuum 3 times between her visits.

Best $70 I spend a fortnight!

[onthefly]

Mine comes once a fortnight for 3 hours.

[loulabelle]

Mine comes for three hours a fortnight. I pick everything from the ground up, then she vacuums and mops, details cleans the kitchen and bathrooms. She also sweeps out undercover paved area and if she has time she'll do windows too.

[LuluHB]

If I could ever find one I want her to come once a week for two hours. Vacuum and mop the tiled floors in the living areas and clean two bathrooms. I can't believe how hard it is to find a cleaner, even a bad one!

[human bean]

I don't have a house cleaner but would love to throw in another question - hope that's okay with you Charlotte!

For those that have cleaners - are you home when they clean or do you go out?

Do they have keys to your house or do you let them in? Come back after the time it takes them to do the job?

How does it normally work?

[crumpet]

I leave a key out, in a place that my cleaner is happy to get it from. She cleans while we are at work.
We met her before she started, and she was recommended to us buy a few ppl so we feel comfortable knowing she is in the house and things will still be here when we get home

[CKJ]

I also leave a key out, but now I'm not working I just tend to go out when she gets here. I've been here once while she cleaned but stayed in my bedroom and she just went around me.

I hire through a company so met all cleaners for my area and the owner prior to deciding on them.

[k4t]

Fortnightly for 3 hours (although I think she often leaves early). Vacuum, mop, dust, clean bathroom & kitchen, any dishes I've forgotten, changes sheets. Definitely does not clean as well as I would for myself but still well worth it. I'm sure she'd do a better job if we left less junk and clutter about.

[~Hestia~]

How often - once a fortnight. My previous cleaner came every week but I felt the house didn't need that thorough going over every single week if that makes sense? So opted for a good fortnightly clean instead.

How long - three hours.

What they do - 3 bedroom 2.5 bathroom open plan house, all floors including moping, both bathrooms and toilets, wipes down the laundry, cleans the kitchen surfaces, mirrors, dusting/wiping down furniture. I do a big tidy up so she just has to clean.

Are we home or out - it depends on the day, I often leave the house with the boys as it's hard keeping Moo from dragging all his toys out! Failing that I try to be outside, last time we were painting the window frames!

Key - I'm not comfortable leaving a key or giving ours a key but it's not an issue as she comes early, I'm always home to let her in. Nothing against our cleaner of course! She lets herself out and locks the door when she goes if we're not back.

[feeb]

Fortnightly for 2 hours we have a 3 bedroom 2 bathroom and lounge and kitchen area. She sweeps and mops, vacums, cleans bathrooms, wipes kitchen benches, will wash and put away dishes. Changes our bed linen.

I pay $60 was more $74 thru agency but after she had been coming from about 4 months she suggested I cancel thru agency and just pay her direct.

The house always looks so good and would look even better if I didnt have so much crap lying around! I spend evening before cleaning up crap off floor so she can mop and vacum!!

It took me probably 2 years to give her a key!! I started going to another room until she did lounge when DS1 was a baby and then got to point had to go out as he was trashing place!! And would then come back before she finished but got to be a pain. So I gave her a key and its great to come home its like the cleaning fairies came!!!

Best money spent!! started using her when DS1 was a restless irratible baby that wanted held all the time and I was getting down that house was a mess.

[MummyNaomi]

Mine comes once a fortnight for 3 hours.

Same - we pay $70 - she does the dusting, vacuums, mops, cleans the bathrooms, loo's, etc - we have a 4 bedroom/2 bathroom/Lounge/Playroom & Study so its a big house

Its a bargain!

[buffy1]

For those that have cleaners - are you home when they clean or do you go out?

Do they have keys to your house or do you let them in? Come back after the time it takes them to do the job?

How does it normally work?

Sometimes I'm home but I prefer to be out. I reckon it'd be a bit annoying having your client there, and feeling like they're watching you!

Our cleaner has keys, and we're pretty comfortable with it. She's been with us such a long time, we definitely trust her.