Do you have a cleaner?
How long are they there for (and how often) and what do they do? How much do you pay?
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Do you have a cleaner?
How long are they there for (and how often) and what do they do? How much do you pay?
yep - DH and I both hate cleaning. DH is a lazy cleaner and I am never satisfied that I have cleaned enough so it is safer to use a cleaner. :rolleyes: We have a new cleaner, he comes once every two weeks is here for about 1-2 hours and we pay $60. Our cleaner does the floors, vac and mop, dust and cleans the wet areas, so kitchen, bathrooms and laundry.
Yes twice a week because dh can't be bothered helping anymore! (he works king hours though)
One day the cleaner does the kitchen - wiping down the benches, stove, microwave and the floor us cleaned along with the loungeroom. The second day all the house is vacuumed, dusted and the bathroom, toilet us cleaned too. We 25 p/h and I think it's about 3 hours a week.
wow 2 weeks between floor cleaning? do you clean it in meantime?
i have thought about hiring some one to do the bathroom, toilet, floors and kitchen.. but i dont know if i can justify it to DH :)
Yep, its me :) I wish we had one though, i am not very good at cleaning and would love to pay someone just to show me how to do it and help me set up a routine i can stick too!
Yep, and I don't think I could ever turn back since I've had one. It took us awhile to find someone really good, but now that we've got her I'm never going to let you go.
She comes every fortnight and does 3.5 hours and we pay her $70. We were paying her $60 and she was only meant to be doing 3 hours but was always staying longer so I just started giving her more money. She basically does everything, dusts (including my venetians), cleans, vaccums, mops etc. I usually give the living area a quick vaccum the week that she's not here cos it does get a little grimy in between, but that's all that I do these days.
Mind you, it took us a long time to find someone good. We started off with a guy who had his own business and were paying him $80 for three hours, but he was a terrible duster and I hate dust. Then we got another woman who had her own business, she wanted to charge $125 but we talked her down to $100. She came once and then left after 2 hours cos her parking was running out (why she couldn't move her car), so we never had her back. And then we found the fabulous lady we have now!
If you're looking for someone I think it is best to go by word of mouth, at least that's what I've found. At the end of the day I see it that you are buying time. When DH and I were both working full time the cleaning took a big chunk of our weekend, we decided that it was worth paying for so that we could have that half a day iykwim? Since we've had DS money is a bit tighter, but we're not willing to risk loosing a wonder woman just so we can save a few bucks for a few months iykwim?
Not yet but when I go back to work we will so I am following this thread with interest, I hate cleaning and never really know what needs doing anyway we are very dirt tolerant :-) Two weeks between floor cleaning is not unusual here (since have had DD definitely clean more often but still not enough). The way I see it DH is going part time so can spend time with DD and is pointless if he is going to spend the time doing housework, and when I am back fulltime no way will I be prepared to spend any time on weekend cleaning - I put a dollar value on my time and then a cleaner seems cheap. Had a cleaner once in a shared house worked out 15 dollars a week each and she did all the ironing and then no arguments over cleaning either - was heaven.
Yep, DH insisted as our relationship suffered cause I have higher standards than him. To justify the cost I cut back on coffees at work and took a packed lunch every day. Now I'm at home but will keep our cleaner as I think I will need her more than ever!
We pay her $60 for 2 hours once a fortnight, she does the floors, vac and mop, dust and cleans the wet areas - kitchen, 1 bathroom, additional toilet and laundry. She also likes to move our furniture around when we are not here. It cracks me up when I can't find a bookcase or table when I get home and find it in another room in the house. She has better ideas than we do for furniture placement and if we don't like it we move it back again. If it wasn't for our cleaner we may never have cleared the study out to make our nursery LOL as she did it all cause she thought we were never going to get around to it. I pay her holiday pay every so often (2-3 weeks a year) and a Christmas bonus & pressy for her daughter.
She is a school friend of a friend and I've known her for years as she cleans 4 other friend's places. I recommend word of mouth recommendations, as cleaning companies IME can be a disaster - they just don't care and can send different people each time. I like that she is personally invested in our family and is as excited about Phoenix as anyone else we know.
Yes we do once a fortnight and costs $60 for approx 2 hrs. She does floors (vacum and mop), kitchen, bathrooms, changes lien on our bed.
We got her when DS1 was about 6 weeks old as I was struggling to clean as he was a baby who would only sleep lyeing on my knee and havent gone back.
I got her thru an agency and after about 4 times she suggested that i cancel her thru the agency as via them was $74, so was saving me money! Some times things are not as good as I want and I will do a bit more, but is awesome to be able to sit and relax 1 arvo a fortnight and not feel guilty!
Yep - I have a cleaner once a fortnight for 2 hours, She does the bathroom and vac and mop. I pay $54 for 2 hours. It keeps me sane. I find with work that I need the extra help - even though it is limited.
:redface: well we try to clean the floors inbetween, it gets swetp and vac'ed but the mop isn't our friend...
Yep we have a cleaner. She comes once a week, we pay her $25 p/hr and she is here for 3hrs cleaning. She cleans kitchen, floors everywhere (we have lots of tiles!!) and bathroom/toilets.... we have a big house so it definitely helps us out!!!
If you can afford a cleaner, get one!!! :D
I need one, and this thread has been really interesting to get an idea on costs, even to do all the floors and wet areas would make a huge difference...
if you have been thinking about getting one, Do it!
We finally did it at the end of a very hard pregnancy when I coud no longer stand up, then I had to go back to work earlier than I would want
We went through an agency as I didn't know anyone who had cleaners and we get the same lady for 2 hours a week who cleans toilet, laundry, kitchen and bathroom and vacuums or sweeps and mops the floors. She also makes our bed with fresh linen which is LOVELY!
It is time to spend with family or do some work and also the reality is that I would never be able to spend two solid hours cleaning so having a beautifully fresh clean house once a week instead of rotating the parts that are clean is lovely. I make sure to have people over that day or the next day! :lol:
We pay $57/week. SOmetimes its hard to find and we could pay that off our excessive debts but its two hours we get to cuddle/play/think and it is great for piece of mind and the soul!
We have one too and it's been one of our best investments since DD arrived on the scene!
I have super high standards when it comes to cleanliness and the presentation of our home and DH was getting sick of wasting our Saturday cleaning (not to mention seeing me so stressed trying to keep up with house work during the week) so DH organised her! She cleans DH's bosses house so she was highly recommended. We pay $30 an hour and she spends 3 hours a week at our place. She dusts, wipes, vacuums, mops, scrubs - the lists goes on! We are in a 4x2 so there is a fair bit of cleaning to do. She does a wonderful job and we are a much happier family because of her. If you can afford it then I say do it!
Indeed. We live in an apartment with two cats. Mitchell is not a great sleeper especially during the day. I'd have no time to clean at all. On the weekend we wanted family time so the place was getting pretty gross.
We pay $45 for 2 hours and she comes weekly. We supply the cleaning products. She is the best! She does floors, bathrooms, surfaces, kitchen stove and dusting. She is also able to do other stuff eg oven if I let her know something that can wait a week like the bathroom.
I too used word of mouth. I'm pretty sure she now cleans for most of my mothers group.
Every Friday night we look around our clean home and declare our love for our cleaner.
We have one once a week for 2.5hours and it costs $50. He does all the mopping/vacing, dusts and cleans 2 bathrooms. He also plays with the dog and brings in my washing and mail if necessary. We have come home to the odd job fixed as well - like leaking taps, doorknobs fixed etc.
I would definitely ask around as recommendations are much better than companies IME. This chap is a retiree who has a week full of jobs and is really keen to see himself as part of the family in terms of us getting out to work etc. It has been a lifesaver when I went back to work and we LOVE him!!!! xx
We have one who comes with two helpers. We pay $25 for each of them for an hour (so kinda like three hours equivalent, all at once - which is great because we don't have to stay out of their way for as long!), $75 in total. I get them once a week. They do everything they can fit into the hour (cleaning only though).
We got ours through a company but pay them directly, so no ongoing mgt fee. The company seemed more like a placement service. The first ones they sent around were dreadful and didn't follow my instructions at all. So we asked to change and got the ones we have now, who are great.
I'm pretty surprised by the range in responses, esp the price people pay. The private cleaner I had from the paper was cheaper but hopelessly slow and therefore inefficient. We then got a husband-wife team, but they whipped thru really quickly, no attention to detail so after 2-3 cleans the house was just getting dirtier and dirtier. Then we went thru the agency. Ok so it cost a bit more but the beauty of it is if you're not happy, you can let the agency know & they mediate with the cleaner. We've had some better ones and some not so good ones but the better ones tend to stick around. My last cleaner that I had in the ACT was fantastic, really thorough & hardworking, and plus I really appreciated the person she was.
I've got one booked to come next week...we'll see how that goes.
We had a cleaner until recently. We decided not to continue because she was more into tidying then actual cleaning. I would tidy the house before she came so that she could get stuck into the cleaning but then she'd turn up and reckon there was nothing to do and go. Hopeless...
yep, i've got one. and it is absolutely a must for my house, cause my dear pet dogs.
their hairs go everywhere everyday!
cleaner works well for dust. esp. if you have carpet in your house.
I do - I have two I use, one main one and when she can't come due to family issues or other, I use the back-up one, both of which are great cleaners. The main one can only spare 2 hours and brings all her own stuff for $25 an hour. She gets so much done for me, like bathroom, toilet, kitchen, all the floors. Makes me feel great as a single mum not having the pressure to do it all, so I feel like its just buying someone else's time and giving someone else a job - a mother herself. I also think I am worth more than that doing other things like working on BB or being with my kids for $50 a week. My second cleaner charges $20 per hour but uses my things. He will happily stay as long as I need or do other things. But its just a great thing to look forward to once a week.
Yeah that's what I was wondering too - my house would not remain clean for two weeks with just me here and I would take more than 2 hours to clean every week myself.:
I take longer than two hours too, but I'm nowhere near as efficient as my cleaners (and for some reason I can't seem to get more than 15 mins without interruption when I'm at home ;)).
I have to admit, we need the weekly floor clean, which is why mine come every week. But it only ever stays 'clean' for the first two days, max. I get my house cleaned at the end of the week, at least my visitors might see it clean then! :D
In the past when we had a cleaner every fortnight we all spent most of the week out of the house (both working f/t and DD1 at school & oshc). So if anything I would run over with the carpet sweeper once or twice in between and sweep the kitchen but no heavy vaccuuming or mopping really. Some of you young 'uns might not know what a carpet sweeper is, hehehe, but I love mine. Good for a really quick tidy thru, and when I only had a bad old smelly vac it wasn't as dust-making as the vac. Now I have a dyson, and well, gotta say the dyson comes out more often.
I was thinking about this thread today...with my hours at work increasing (:angry:) I am thinking it might be worth 'buying time'. I have to talk DH into it but I don't think I'll have to twist too hard.
lol MD - I remember carpet sweepers! Awesome things they are. Can you still buy them?
Yes you can, I've seen them at Big W and Target.
My granny loves her carpet sweeper! The best thing is they make no noise and are so light. :D
I have a housecleaner..... and a gardener. :redface: I'm not telling you how much they get paid because it's embarrassing. But the house cleaner comes everyday, does all the washing and ironing, cleans bathrooms and kitchen, mops most days and cleans up after the kids (and me)! There isn't much she doesn't do. I help, but she does most things.
It is total LUXURY. :redface:
JungleMum - where do you live - Africa by any chance....just curious....when we lived in Namibia and South Africa we had a gardener and housecleaner - housecleaner came everyday....very nice!
Papua New Guinea. :)
We're planning on getting a cleaner for a while after we have baby#2 to give us some relief as we don't have family here so we don't get much day-to-day help.
I was thinking I'd like an hour a week for a quick floors and bathroom go over... but everyone seems to have 2 hours a week or fortnight. Do cleaners not like to do one hour jobs?
When I booked it was min 2 hrs.
she sounds fantastic Miss E! If it's alright, would you mind giving me her details?:
Otherwise if there are other Melbourne mummies with fantastic cleaners I would love recommendations - I am in eastern subs - kew, balwyn etc
Thanks!!
Bahahahaha! DH cut up our mop handle about 3 months ago when I made DS2 a hobby horse to play with.... um, we haven't even missed the mop... people mop?! Crazy, crazy world.:
In answer to the question. Nope, we don't have a cleaner but I WOULD LOVE ONE. In fact I often tell DH that we need a wife! (a circa 1950s wife, preferably one who can cook well, clean, look after the children and make martini's)....