How do you instruct a cleaner??!!

definitely leave a list of what you expect, that way there is no way the cleaner wont know what is expected of them!

Our first cleaner was also our babysitter, if she babysat on an evening she rarely showed up to clean as’I didn’t need the cleaning money this week’ soon got wise to that one.
Second cleaner used to take my ironing home with her, then a neighbour spotted her and her husband in our local market town wearing a particularly nice shirt..... yep it was my husbands! I confronted her and she seemed very sorry. I did my own cleaning after that.

If the person in question was young/fit/light on her feet, & you as the home owner consider yourself to be a tidy person, so that ‘the cleaner ‘ was not expected to move clutter before she could set to with her tasks, then no I don’t think you were asking to much at all.
I say this from personal experience as I have cleaned for the tidy homeowner & the untidy one, (back in the day)!

I used to own a cleaning company employing mums of similar age to me and it's true, some get it some don't even though all house owners themselves.always the ones who sound good were rubbish and vice versa.
I had cleaners when husband ill and they threw away my razor which I thought was a damn cheek, it was fine, well used but not for them to throw out so I cancelled them. Do it myself again now but have an ironing lady which is wonderful

I have had a number of cleaners over the years. My favorite one was taller than me and could reach shelves I needed a ladder to get at. she did each room thoroughly and knew how much time each took her. Then it was easy to swap jobs round when say visitors were coming and I needed the spare bedroom and the lounge doings not my office etc.

My current cleaner was made redundant from the prison service, she would prefer to walk dogs but took up cleaning so she could pick up her child from school. She is shorter than me so I am often on a ladder with her reaching things up to me, she has poor contrast sensitivity and uses reading specs. which means she does not see cobwebs and dust. So I am not happy. She attends reliably but has no programme of cleaning in her mind when she arrives. I'm not happy but have not managed to find a suitable alternative service. The last person could do half the house in 4 hours this one needs 6. Sadly if I do not give her enough work she strings out what she has to last the 4 hour period she comes for. I an hoping one day to find a reliable agency.

I have a wonderful cleaner. I have a four storey 4 bedroom Ed house which she does in 2 hours every week. The spare rooms she does as and when but she vacuums most rooms and my 47 stair She is wonderful and I would do anything to keep her. She is from Lithuania and I would recommend soneone from Eastern Europe any time over a local.

I have a list of what to do (colour coded). Weekly I add other things that need to be done. I pay for a set time, holiday and Christmas tip. She is quite good and always returns.

The only bit of housework I like is vacuuming and cleaning the bathroom. When everything is gleaming, fresh and sparkling it does irk me if anyone wants to use it? Shame they can’t diddle among the dandelions. As for the rest, it takes me hours to work up the energy to start. I’m looking over the battlefield at the moment and it doesn’t look good ?

Here in Italy, it seems that EVERYBODY has a cleaner at least once a week, except me. Years back, my daughter went for private lessons in a lovely villa in our area - a much more elegant, well-furnished house than ours. I was amazed later to find the mother of my daughter's tutor cleaning the home of one of my private students! Our next-door neighbours lady always arrives in a large Mercedes or Jeep (much bigger cars than any of ours). Here, there is a joke: "I work as a cleaner in order to pay for my cleaner who cleans in order to pay for her cleaner etc etc".

boheminan read every word and yes agree, two sides to every story. Like you the added extra,s were ironing, help clean the shed the out, and the straw that broke the camels back was being asked to 'help at a dinner party' to turn up and she was as drunk as a skunk, so dinner party was cancelled. She was married to a GP, who she informed me would send his patients round. She informed me I was number 23!

I would tell her to get off GN and Get On With It.

ps I am the cleaner round here.

Having been a cleaner, let me say that everyone who either is unable to do their own cleaning or just dislikes housework is welcome in my book to employ a cleaner.

OP was perhaps asking a little too much if one room has to be turned out thoroughly over and above the other things listed all in the course of two hours. To me turning out a room thoroughly is a two hour job on its own.

But there is nothing unreasonable in expecting skirting boards to be dusted and the entire floor, not just the bits that aren't under chairs or the kitchen bin to be washed.

If you get a new cleaner, keep an eye on her work the first couple of times, and ask her politely to remember the skirting boards or whatever else she forgets.

Yesterday I had new cordless phones fitted and my bed had to be pulled right out as the connection is behind it.
It was spotless and dust free. Well done B....a.

Impressed Ann, though I expect you would have kept it like that anyway!!

In your dreams kitty?

Barmey - really surprised when my old cleaner dusted the skirting boards - they were (still are) off my radar!

I do mine occasionally because I always remember Amy Turtle, the cleaner in Crossroads who said something about always dusting the skirting boards

I did manage to do a little bit of sorting/cleaning today then we went out. Now things are sitting in little piles all around me waiting for a proper sort.

I had a cleaner for about 15 years and she was lovely. I could never replace her and haven´t tried to. She had a system to her cleaning, which I will never have. Came once a week on a Thursday morning and I loved coming in after her, it all smelled lovely. I never gave her any instructions and was ever so grateful for anything that she did.

I find one of those fluffy dusters on a long stick brilliant for skirting boards., I so hate housework, except for the bathroom and vacuuming. If I was ever lucky enough to have a cleaner, I think I would love her more than I love my husband ?

That annoys me too Mesmoptop why do people want to use the bathroom when I have spent ages cleaning it. It's funny I'm not bothered about any other room just that one. ?

You have to keep and eye on people or they will take advantage of your good nature! And extra 30/40 minutes of graft would pay off with alot more cleaning

My cleaner pops round once a week and she charges £12 an hour for two hours. She’s been with me for about 6 years and is exceptional. She even gives my husband a weekly blowjob for no extra payment. This is really good as it means I don’t have to do this and my husband's more then happy with this arrangement, too. I don’t know what I’d do without her.

I'm sure your husband agrees.

Check your husband's bank account, Lottie You may find that he has been paying her a bonus and she could well afford to clean for nothing.

You hope you get your full 2 hours cleaning before she see's to your husband
Lottie1940