[Closed] Are you paying your cleaner?

If the Romanian twins needs some extra work on Zoom, I'm listening......

Currently looking after 86 yo Mum in Scotland (came up before lockdown/pitchforks). Cleaner used to come in for a couple of hours each week. I am now doing the cleaning and have asked cleaner not to come & of course still paying same amount each week. Just seems the right thing to do at the moment.

Our cleaner works remotely via Zoom now.

PMSL

Absolute quality.

Our cleaner works remotely via Zoom now.

PMSL

Absolute quality

Our cleaner works remotely via Zoom now.

Very insecure, literally anyone could be cleaning your house 😉

We've paid ours for a month, she did say we didn't need to, but we felt a month was a decent enough notice type period.

Only in for an hour a week anyway as we're really rubbish at keeping the house clean, as were becoming very aware of now! Certainly helps remove one of the burdens in an autistic household.

So, not always just for privileged folk.

That world where both of us have busy jobs and would rather spend some of our disposable income on something that adds to our quality of life and someone earns a living off it? Bit like buying bikes and kit or owning a dog for example. Presumably you live a sack cloth and ashes lifestyle and no frippery or non-core expenditure is indulged.

You’re inadvertently just making my point for me. Utterly clueless as to how a lot of people live. Good for you that you have enough disposable income to afford a cleaner.

Yes. Paramedic and Uni lecturer both on full pay (and even if the Uni puts us part time 60% of my salary is paid externally). Cleaner and her husband (a plasterer) both self employed with kids (and both haven’t been running their business that long so don’t think they will benefit that much from the government scheme). We can afford to continue to pay them, and it might make once families life slightly less shit and put less pressure on social services.

So, not always just for privileged folk.

Or in our case, both work very long hours (having worked up from the bottom), have no kids, and don’t really go out and socialise, and realise this is something we can afford that adds to our lives (my very dyslexic head goes into melt down if the house isn’t clean and tidy)

Or in our case, both work very long hours (having worked up from the bottom), have no kids, and don’t really go out and socialise, and realise this is something we can afford that adds to our lives

Snap (although my hours have dropped a little bit over the last few years, one of the pluses from ptsd).
Apparently you’re utterly clueless as to how a lot of people live. (I know I’ve no idea about your life, background etc, but a big hitter said it so it must be true) Good for you that you have enough disposable income to afford a cleaner.

Big hitter, me? You must be thinking of somebody else. If you can’t see how this thread with its title could be seen as funny or perplexing then, well I don’t even have the words. Strange that for a big hitter such as myself.

The fact that 99% of the responses have been people taking the piss should tell you all you need to know. It’s just such a very middle class thing. No offence meant.

Me and the wife cleaned our house this morning following the cleaners lay off and my god, it takes bloody forever! The 20 quid a week we spent on her and her mate whizzing round is now officially recognised as the best money we've ever spent. Bugger off covid.

If you have time to mtb you surely have time to clean?

We have twin Romanian sisters as our home helps. Both are on zero hour contracts so we don’t have to pay them anything if we don’t want to thank God. One does the cleaning and the other does the laundry/ironing. We’ve agreed to keep them on at half pay as even though the wife is off work at the moment, she doesn’t like getting her hands dirty. £3 an hour isn’t bad in these uncertain times though, and they both seem really grateful to continue the work. It’s difficult for us all but it’s good to keep the economy going…

Heh. Subtle 🙂

I forgot I'd put this on. Obviously I don't really have a wife...

Did someone say £10/hour, that seems very low for a SE bod.

Ours are still coming in. They wear gloves and disposable shoe-covers, we stay in the back garden, or a room they don’t enter (the office, they never do the office anyway) with the door shut, until they leave. They offered to not come if we weren’t happy with that approach, but we figured there was no (well, very, very little) harm in it.

Presumably you’re staying in the office for a decent time after they’ve left, to make sure that airborne viruses that they might have breathed out have gone? And then wiping down every surface with a suitable cleaning agent to make sure that they’ve not infected anything inadvertently, for instance by wiping their nose with their gloved hand and then using your taps?

A bloke delivered a veg box to us a few days ago, and instantly told me proudly about his PPE. He’d been wearing his gloves driving his car and his thumb was poking through. He took my money - I didn’t ask for the few pence change - and drove off still wearing his ‘PPE’.

I wouldn’t trust anyone in my house at the moment. And the veg box was crap!

monkeycmonkeydo
Member
If you have time to mtb you surely have time to clean?

Well, getting a cleaner in used to free up a bit of time to do things like mtb. Now we have both spare time and no cleaner.

We'll be getting our cleaner back quick sharp as soon as we can, as i will a gardening bod, oven cleaner and a fluffer.

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This thread is hilarious... no need to defend your lifestyle to the forum.

While I could afford it and it would be nice to have a cleaner I can clean up after myself, plus the extra money is spent on the kids (beer)

. If you can’t see how this thread with its title could be seen as funny or perplexing then,

Apologies for the delay, was going to find a keyboard to reply on , but phone will do.

I agree that the title does appear to suggest everyone has a cleaner like that. I did think for a while about phrasing it differently, eg: "Do you have a cleaner and are you paying them?" But thought it looked very clumsy and the first question made the second one redundant. I'd just have got some smart arse saying " No I don't but yes I am, ho ho ho"

Anyway. I fully appreciate that some people have cleaners and some don't. I'm very aware of what I have and am grateful for it. I'm not so stupid to think that everyone has a cleaner etc etc.
I just went for he simplest way to ask my question. Got loads of helpful replies and some top notch piss taking, which is as it should be.

🤗

The piss taking has been great to be fair. Couple of people getting very defensive amuses me too. I don’t have the spare cash for a cleaner and if I did I wouldn’t have one. Two young kids just makes the idea seem laughable. I’d need a cleaner to be available on demand and that would mean I’d have to fire the gimp to make room.

Made the Sunday Times....

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That's an appalling piece of journalism.

That article is seriously shoddy. "Perfect Cleaning Company" can furlough its staff.... unless they were being less than perfect and making their cleaners work as self employed contractors...ho hum.

My cleaner is genuinely self employed, I asked he not to come once lockdown was announced and I am of course still paying. I am WFH and being paid so would be ethically quite bad not to pay her!

Most of my friends have cleaners and all are still paying. I bloody hope my cleaners other clients are still paying as well.

Did someone say £10/hour, that seems very low for a SE bod.

£10.00 - £13.00 about right for a solo set up. More if you use an agency. Lots of competition in London.

If you have time to mtb you surely have time to clean?

But I would rather MTB. Or do any number of other activities that don't involve cleaning.

It isn't a moral high ground to clean your own house. Just like you aren't morally superior if you service your own car, tile your own roof, wash your own windows, or extract your own teeth.... 🙂

I actually cleaned at the weekend. Took me about 3 times as long as the cleaner to do half as many rooms. To be fair, I think I did a better deep clean but she wizzes round and does a beaut of a top-up clean in two hours. I miss her 🙁

Refused to accept any payments from us, so we'll be giving a big Christmas tip.