How do you instruct a cleaner??!!

Yes you are expecting too much for 2 hours work a week enough said

I have had a cleaner for one year for two hours alternate weeks--up one week down the next. 3 bedrooms no clutter.
She is from an agency. At first I was irritated as she doesn't clean windows, skirting boards, dust anything high etc. However I have now adapted and accepted that my home will never be as squeaky clean as it used to be. It is lovely to have all the carpets vacuumed and kitchen/bathroom floors washed. I struggle to manage that now. If I am honest in between I just use an electric sweeper for the floors and I polish and dust. The windows and "spring cleaning" are left for when the family can give me a hand. It is comforting to know that my cleaner knows me and is reliable and will be there if I really need her.

I used to clean a teachers flat when my kids were little she first said the usual things living room! Kitchen, and bathroom which I did and then I noticed she was leaving plates from dinner the night before and the breakfast bowls.
Saucepans and grill pan to clean. This was once a week for 2hours but in the end I just got fed up with it and gave the job up. I often think cleaners are taken for granted.

No, only four rooms - 2 bedrooms, one of which mainly unused, lounge/diner, again mainly unused, garden room and hallway. Plus tiny ensuite and bathroom.

No you are not being unreasonable - sounds like she couldn’t do the work because she wasn’t working the full 2 hours she was being paid for - you were right to get rid of her.

When my children were still at home I had cleaners, I work full time and found this an essential. I had one cleaner for 5 years. She was excellent in her 2 hours she managed to clean kitchen, bathroom sitting room and dining room as well as hoover halls and stairs I did not ask her to touch the teenagers bedrooms?. She often ran out of jobs and without prompting would clean the oven or do some ironing. She always left on time (never early) and I could trust her to get on with things without question. Sometimes I would ask her to swap one job for another eg please can you clean kitchen blind don’t worry about hoovering hall etc she would let me know if she hadn’t had time. I was sorry to loose her. She went when her husband got a job in another area, I had recommended her to two friends so we were all sorry?
After that I had one cleaner who used to spend most of the time on the patio smoking! As reported by eldest DD at home on study leave! And one who came for 3 weeks then just didn’t turn up again! Finally I used a cleaning company and they came out once a month with 3 cleaners and did a top to toe deep clean of the whole house! It was lovely to come home to this?

As a student I cleaned for my brother and sister in law as they had dismissed theirs as she sprayed the ornaments with cleanung liqud.

I was extreemly efficient. Wednesday upstairs, Friday downstairs and washing done and hung on line and open fireplaces cleaned and ready to be lit.
Since then I always wanted to be the same for myself but in 40+ years have never achieved it
Cleaning for someone else is a job to be done and for yourself a chore.

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.... ?

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.

Petra....That made me chuckle!!

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!"

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.

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 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.

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

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.

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 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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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 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.

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.