How do you instruct a cleaner??!!

Yes as bohemian says we all have different priorities. My daughter has a small cleaning business and discusses with each employer what their needs are. Then she gives each room a good clean and has a routine for keeping on top of things. Some employers try to add tasks such as ironing etc but she has to be firm and say time is limited if they want a good job done. She has a waiting list of customers.

I'm sure there are 'employers' who do take the p but there are those of us who are happy to have someone who obviously cares about what they do, does it well and us up for a friendly chat as well.

Our cleaner has been with us over 10 years and also cleans for our son and, until she moved, one of our daughters. I think we must be a happy fit.

I've mentioned before one cleaner we gad who always left the kitchen chairs in the window seat - to prove she had done the floor!! Unfortunately, when we tried to move the kitchen table it was stuck to the floor.

Surely having a cleaner (unless you are disabled) is the very definition of being rich, if not posh.

I have never had a cleaner but if i had i think i might be the type to go round the house prior to cleaners arrival. Generally i dislike housework and only go for it when visitors are about to descend.
Having said that i sometimes wish for someone with a fairy duster to whip round and give it some magic sparkle.

varian, we are neither rich nor posh but have a big family, a biggish house and lots of outside interests.

That is a very sweeping statement if I may say so varian.

I work as a cleaner, I have been with each of my ladies for a few years and had a couple other long term ones before (sadly passed away) and each one wants different things.
One spends at least half an hour chatting before anything even gets started - and then says what she wants done which is usually a "quick flick around the bedroom/ensuite" and vac/dust living room. So I choose what that means re skirting/windows etc. Occasionally do dining room. If windows or polishing silver is her choice then something else doesn't happen. We also have a cuppa when I finish and usually spend another half hour (sometimes more) talking.
Another has so much stuff, on every surface/wall it takes ages to dust and vac so that hour and half is easily filled with little time over for doing much else.
My third house, lovely clear of clutter downstairs so that's easy to get around. Each week an extra thing done with the general clean - windows one week or doors washed down another etc. Upstairs has teenage sons room which is usually a bomb site so that's a "do what you can get too" in there lol. Her room is easy and then her study another clean what is clear. If I have a bit of extra time I sometimes iron a couple bits.
To give a room a deep clean something else would have to not get done in all of them. It takes longer than some people think.
I chat with all of them as I go, including the cats!
I went to have a try out for one family a few years ago and what she wanted done in a couple of hours was amazing, so I told her I wouldn't be taking the job and she phoned a couple days later asking me to reconsider if she gave extra hours (as many as you need) but I declined as I knew she would be one who would expect more and more. One of my ladies lives a couple doors away so I know she hasn't kept a cleaner for more than a couple of months.

varian I dont think you would class yourself as posh by employing a cleaner at ,anything that makes your life easy is
well worth it,I have a lady who comes in but not every week
she will come in every few months to change curtains and wash all the paintwork for me it is my present to myself and well worth it,I also have an ironing fairy where I send bedding and it comes back creasefree as if by magic.

I think five rooms plus hallway plus two bathrooms plus two floors to steam clean is rather a lot for two hours. It depends on the size of the rooms, small rooms being more difficult to clean than large ones, and the amount of 'stuff' that is out.
It also explains why it is so difficult to find cleaners.

I grew up with a Mum who worked and had a housekeeper five days a week, but there were very few labour saving devices in the 1950s.

When we lived in the far east in the 1970s, we had a live-in amah but it was very hot and humid and we had a baby and a toddler. Our amah made it clear, as all amahs did, that she did not do windows or wax the wooden floors, we had to pay others for these tasks.

Living in this country now, I would say a cleaner is a luxury. We have a big house and enjoy having family and friends to stay. I continued to work into my seventies but my OH is retired and can operate a hoover. He's even managed to learn how to do the washing up. I do the rest as and when I get round to it, although I really enjoy cooking.

If you are very old or disabled or looking after someone whof is, then of course you would have one if you could possibly afford it.

I once needed a cleaner one day a week for two and a half hours.She was a Mum my own age.Found that if I wasn’t there she took off after an hour and a half ( neighbours alerted me) she admitted that she did sometimes when I asked.Didn’t do a good job really either, but improved after that!
Another time I needed a cleaner I employed a woman much older, and she was fantastic.
Experience in being a cleaner ( as a job) I found was essential.
So look for that, and give them a written note, not just verbal of the jobs you need done, in order of importance to you i.e.
Bathroom cleaned including floors and window and sill
Kitchen floor cleaned and all surfaces including window and sill
Vac carpets downstairs
Dust furniture.
Etc.

Depending on your lifestyle or circumstances varian you do not need to be only old or disabled to require a cleaner.
I don’t need one at the moment, but certainly did at a much younger and busier stage of my life.

In any case, it it only as much as a luxury as say a holiday.

Boheminan has described life as it is. Some houses are filthy and others are cluttered. I haven't Bo's experience but have done some paid cleaning work. People have different priorities for cleaning. When I was disabled with a broken wrist I paid a temporary cleaner who was keen on polishing but polishing was invisible on my personal list of priorities.

I wonder if there is any way to generalise about prioritising tasks, for instance 1. food hygiene 2. bathroom hygiene 3. bedroom and general laundry 4. living room sofa covers laundry and floor. 5. high dusting 6. exterior windows.

I have a friend who worked as a cleaner, and earned an absolute fortune at it. She would work to her own methods, and told customers it could take up to six weeks before things would be as they both liked it, and it always was by that time.
She was able to strip, wash, dry and iron their bedding, get on her hands and knees and clean floors, match up odd socks, dust door tops and clean windows inside and out, clear out cupboards, and so on.
In short, she ran peoples homes for them, but she wouldn't be instructed, because she knew that everything would be covered once she had got everything round to her way of working.

This is very relevant to me. For the past 7 or 8 years I have been cleaning for my DDiL. I used to do the ironing too but not for a couple of years. I do it out if love, and no money has ever changed hands. She has often bought me book, flowers and taken me to cinema/theatre. They lead very busy lives and I have been happy to help. I have pleased myself about how and what I clean. Since my 70th birthday she wants to make me redundant, and I am very happy about it. So she will be looking for a cleaner. They live in a large 4 bed country cottage with a conservatory. I think 4 hours would cover everything that's needed but I have a question. As a mum/mil, I have no problem with cleaning the hair trap in the showers. There is always long hair/scum. Is this something that you would e pect a professional cleaner to do?

I have a cleaner who has been with me for about 6 years.
She had been cleaning for my neighbour for several years before and I knew she was good.
She used to have a partner but she comes on her own now.
The first week they spring cleaned upstairs. 4 bedrooms, bathroom ,large landing.
Next time downstairs, kitchen, utility, dining room, lounge, conservatory.
Now one lady does 3 hours and any extras she comes again and I pay her accordingly.
She is a treasure.

Annsixty you are definitely not common if you have a "treasure" to do your cleaning

I don’t think having a cleaner makes me rich or posh.
It’s just a choice I have made about how I wish to spend my own money, and a choice about how I want to spend my time.
I talk to my cleaner when she arrives and then let her get on with it. I make her some coffee when we have ours.
I agree with Kath the extra money you pay for going through an agency removes a lot of the anxiety about what is included and what isn’t, whether holidays are paid or not etc.
My cleaner gets paid holidays and employers’ NI contributions paid for her which means she’ll get the State Pension in due course. Another reason for not just paying cash in hand.

When I was working I had a cleaner, via an agency. The first one was excellent, but left to start a “proper” job. The rest were mostly ok but some were awful. I probably had about ten over a number of years.
The last one I sacked because she did not put in the hours, arriving late and disappearing early.
I always left a list, in order of priority, with additional items “if you have time”.
Mainly I wanted kitchen, bathroom and living room, hall and stairs done in two hours. Sometimes I omitted bathroom and stairs and asked for a bit of ironing, if they had agreed to that.
For the most part I was grateful to come home to a clean house, but with some I often felt nothing was done thoroughly. Others would ignore the list and do what they fancied. One opted to polish some brass, totally not on my list.
I did not feel I was rich for having a cleaner, or posh. Yes it is a bit of a luxury, but when you are working full time it is money well spent, and helps give someone else employment.
I have not had a cleaner since I left work, but if I become decrepit, I shall.

I can't relate to 'how do you instruct a cleaner?'
I once had a lovely lady who did our ironing and a bit of cleaning on a Friday. I was working fulltime, with a family of 4 teenagers. I paid her, of course.
But she was more of a family friend.
Eventually we trained our children to do those jobs.
But as above 'if I become decrepit, I shall'. Not a cleaner though, maybe a home help.

My friend that earned a fortune cleaning told customers "I don't come to where you work, telling you how to do your job. Stick to what you know how to do, and leave me to stick to mine!"

Petra....That made me chuckle!!

I always had a cleaner before I retired both from a company and someone I found myself. I always had a chat before she started working for me, outlining what I wanted done, and the agreed time in which it was done. If I wanted something different I always left a note outlining what I wanted done differently that week and what need not be done as a result.

I stopped as soon as I retired as I quite like pottering around the house, and it also helps towards being active which I think important.

It wasn’t because I am posh, but merely a survival tactic when working, as I frequently got up at 5am and drove to France returning a day or two later. Other days I usually drove to the adjacent counties or London and back again . Long and busy days.

When I was a very young mum, I worked briefly as a cleaner at the local GP surgery. However, I got the sack for not being good enough. This, from the doctor who I’d seen wiping his nose on the tea towel in the staff area.... ?