Does anyone have a cleaner?

I love things clean. I'm in my element when I can clean the kitchen, or attack the house with furniture polish, but I'm just not well enough to manage the house anymore I don't have the energy, and I'm often finding that I'm overdoing it and end up hurting myself. I have a carer who comes in and does food prep for me a few days a week, and she helps me with grocery shopping and we have a lot of social time, but she's not paid to clean (although she does tend to help me with the laundry and that sort of thing if she's around when it needs doing).

My OH tries, bless him, but I don't quite think he understands why it frustrates me so much, and even when he's home all day, he's usually too busy with his computer and with the dogs to clean. So I'm thinking about paying someone to come in once a week to clean the kitchen and bathroom for me, hoover and mop the laminate floors.

My only real concern is the animals. Is it normally expected that someone will be home when the cleaner is there? When I was living at home, Mum had a cleaner from Molly Maid a few times, who came out during the day when we were at school/work, but things started disappearing and we once came home to find our JRT had been shut in the garden in the snow all afternoon so Mum decided that it just wasn't worth it. We don't really have anything valuable in the house and rarely leave even loose change lying around, but the idea of someone shutting the dogs in the yard, or leaving doors open and letting the dogs in rooms that are off limits bothers me. I did think about seeing if my carer would come and do a bit of extra around the house, but she just doesn't have time.

I'd love to read the experiences of anyone who uses (or has used) a cleaner, especially if it's someone that you don't know.

I have acleaner who I didn't know when she started.She is fab and I wouldn't be without her as she keeps me sane.

She is fine with Fudge if I am not there but Fudge has grown up with her being here once a week. I think that would depend on your cleaner tbh. Can You put the dogs in one room and tell her not to clean in there? That way you have only one room to clean and sfae animals too.Good luck.

I pay £6 an hour but often give her a little more. She generally does my 4 bed semi in about 3 hours. This includes floors, windows and dusting. We have two bathrooms to clean within that.

The one I have now is my OH

But seriously, many years ago I had a cleaner for about 2 years. It was fantastic! I'm not the tidiest of people (definitely not the sort to clean before the cleaner comes!) but I used to love going home on a Tuesday evening - the place was spotless

It was a fairly small house (two up to down) and she came in for 2 hours every week. Sometimes (particularly if I'd been away and not made a lot of mess ) she'd do my ironing. If I did leave a note about anything particular I wanted done (rare), she would always do it, but usually I just left her to her own initiative (which often included doing my washing up!)

At the time I didn't have a dog, but I did have two cats - she was fine with them, though I suppose they could easily get out of her way if they wanted to.

I chose my cleaner purely by word of mouth - I asked around my neighbours and someone knew some of the clients she worked for. I never asked to see any written references and I trusted her completely - she had a key to my house. Must admit, I didn't really have anything valuable in those days (not much has changed) but I never had any concerns that she might be stealing or even snooping - I think she was just one of those wonderful workers who was completely reliable, honest and hard working.

But do you know, I only met her the once, when I first employed her, for the next 2 years, any correspondence was all by a weekly note left in my kitchen!

I was gutted when I moved away, really missed her help - I had bought a bigger house and could really have used her but (1) she was too far away (2) the increase in mortgage meant I couldn't afford a cleaner anymore.

With the right cleaner, it really is a joy

i would love a cleaner ( and hate it too - as mu house is a tip quite literally and i think any cleaner would run screaming)
I have just spent the day gutting my living room, hall and bathroom as i have 11 kids coming here on friday for luca's birthday so I had to make sure there was nothing awful lying around ( loose pennies, fluff, chewed up bones, raisins dropped by luca months ago etc etc - the usual!!)

I hate cleaning and neither me or OH are particularly tidy and some days I come in the house and i feel like we have been burgled....its such a mess.

luca will be back in half an hour from his grannies and will destroy my tidy room in about a minute so I dont know why I bother anyway !!!

however if I had the cash I would pay for a cleaner but its whether they would want me not the other way round !!! lol

My carer I have for mum also does all the cleaning while I escape every day for 3 hours, and I have to say, although it's deemed as a menial job (cleaning that is!) in a way, you DO need somebody with at least one brain cell! Not only so that they clean the place properley, but also enough brain power to know that dogs are escape artists, so they need to be made aware of what not to leave open etc. I can trust my carer explicity, I even go as far as to leave the driveway gates open after my escape, but I make darn sure I TELL her that the gates will be left open (much easier for me to just drive straight in on my return ). SO, the only help I can give you is pay someone over the odds (you get what you pay for nowadays), and make SURE they have half a brain and are 100% trustworthy both with your dogs and your valuables, otherwise it can be a nightmare, coz I've been through 3 of them in the past year!!! The one I have now gets paid £10 an hour, but she's a fully qualified carer, which in turn means she does have a brain, so knows HOW to clean a house properly, plus she's trustworthy with my old mum and my dog, not to mention my valuables (of which I have none!).

Don't opt for a young one who thinks she can earn a bit of money cleaning somebody's house, coz I'm sure you wouldn't be happy with her. You need to get a more mature person who has spent a long time in this field to get the job done properly, and then of course, when you interview her make sure she's got all her marbles! Good luck, it's quite a minefield getting a good one of these, and if you do, you'll treasure her like a piece of gold!

Like you, Sez, I just can't cope with the cleaning.

I have an angel of a cleaner - Margaret - who lives around the corner from me. She does two hours a week and I pay £15. Money well spent. She makes the house look really good in that time, is as honest as the day is long, and completely reliable.

She's also my dog-sitter (moves in!) and will walk my lot if I get stuck at work.

As I said, she's an angel!

When I lived in South Africa I had a full time maid/cleaner/housekeeper/cook She was great and kept everything absolutely spotlessly clean and shiny.

Then I moved to the UK and realised how hard housework was I hired a cleaner to come in a few hours every week but it didn't work out so I gave up and have done it myself ever since. She would wipe down the tiles in the bathrooms and kitchen and then leave them to dry resulting in water marks all over them Once she went home I would run around with a cloth getting rid of all the marks she had left behind

My house is never spotless, but is well lived in

I think the thing to remember with cleaners is that "they do a lot, you do a little" - it stops you freaking out when you find bits they've missed.

My sister taught me that, and it's kept me calm...

Wish I'd though of that, it just about gave me a nervous breakdown

I know exactly how you feel.

I sacked my first lot of cleaners - two women who did the job in one hour. They constantly left their cleaning stuff lying around, and some money went missing....... I was always running my finger along the surfaces to find out if they'd cleaned - and often times they hadn't.

If you get a good cleaner, hang onto them for grim death!