House Deep Clean - Advice needed please

I keep a tidy house and that's all that's expected.
I remember my cleaner told me it can take over an hour to tidy some houses before she can start cleaning.

I’ve just remembered a woman I used to see at work, that shortly before one Christmas, when she was working, was already tired, and had hordes of family soon descending, that her dh paid for a whole-house thorough clean - inc, windows, insides of kitchen cupboards, oven, etc.

She said it was the best present she’d ever had!

I'm trying to follow the flylady system for cleaning. Dont always keep up with all of it but its slowly making a difference here
Might be worth a look for anyone overwhelmed with cleaning or keeping it up together after a deep clean. Flylady is on FB and online if anyone is interested.

I would remove ornaments and clean them myself, as I would not want to risk china or glass that I value getting broken, or wooden objects washed that should only be dusted.

Put papers (documents not newspapers) away before they come, or at least pile them somewhere and request the cleaners to leave the pile alone.

Hang clothes away, or put into the dirty clothes basket. If you want them to vacuum and turn mattresses, strip the beds - that saves their time.

I was thinking about something similar myself yesterday. It would be lovely to have the house really clean and fresh. Good luck - let us know how it goes.

LovelyLady

Dusting around ornaments is not cleaning. It’s rearranging dust.
I have over many years had cleaners.
I prefer 1 cleaner regularly cleaning.
The price used to be minimum rate or slightly more. Not now in SE England.
The usual is £15., I know some agencies charge more but a decent one person cleaner will do a good job for £12 - £15
I feel a good domestic cleaner is def worth £15.
Domestic cleaners were usually mums who’d want a few jobs when the children were at school. These were really good and did their best. I’m sorry cleaners now think deep clean is not regular cleaning. All cleaning should be deep or it’s not clean at the end of the ‘clean’ If a clean is not deep then what is it?

I think it depends where you live. Our city has lots of tourists and loads of Airbnbs. There is high demand for cleaners and you’d be really lucky to find one for £15 ph.

Remove items from the areas you want cleaning.
Make sure you make it clear what you actually want cleaning and what you don't want cleaning.
Some cleaners come with there own products and equipment.
If you have any particular products, (say to clean a wooden floor) you want use provide the products.
If carpets are being cleaned make use they rinse after cleaning, leaving products in attracts dirt.
Check if they are pulling out furniture, I have a dresser I move out for cleaning and have many books on it. If you have anything like this you will need to move books and ornaments so they can do a good job.
Think about curtains do these need taking down.
I have a lovely lady who does light cleaning for me twice a month but she doesn't clean like I do so don't expect miracles.
You are paying so make sure you get the finish you want.

I have loads of ceramics all over shelves and window sills. I always ask cleaners to leave these - I can dust them myself. But I think that a deep clean should always include vacuuming all the soft furniture and curtains.

Dusting around ornaments is not cleaning. It’s rearranging dust.
I have over many years had cleaners.
I prefer 1 cleaner regularly cleaning.
The price used to be minimum rate or slightly more. Not now in SE England.
The usual is £15., I know some agencies charge more but a decent one person cleaner will do a good job for £12 - £15
I feel a good domestic cleaner is def worth £15.
Domestic cleaners were usually mums who’d want a few jobs when the children were at school. These were really good and did their best. I’m sorry cleaners now think deep clean is not regular cleaning. All cleaning should be deep or it’s not clean at the end of the ‘clean’ If a clean is not deep then what is it?

MayBee70

Stansgran

It the underside of black plugs that obsess me. And the chain. i probably need therapy.

But the good thing about chains is you can pull the plug out after you’ve dried your hands. With these fancy new sinks and plug holes I keep having to go back in to press on the plug after I’ve dried my hands. And how do people with long talon like gel nails flush toilets with those little metal things on top of the cistern? Why can’t everything just go back to how it used to be? How much time do designers spend thinking up new ways of designing plugs just to confuse and annoy me?

The little metal flush buttons on top of the cistern are a cinch compared to the flush in our ensuite. The cistern is built in behind the toilet and the flush is on the rear backing panel. It's really hard to push and gets worse the older I get.
I might see if the plumber can change it for a proper, rather old-fashioned, handle.

Jaxjacky

Send them here when they’ve finished please yogitree 🙂

Oh yes!

I don't know. The plugs are both large - I assume so that more water can be released than if they were smaller - and neither lifts up by much, so I don't think either a ring or a goldfish would get through.

I've just googled to see if I could find a photo, as my plumbing vocabulary is limited , but can't. What I did find was a photo of the complete kit, which definitely suggests that I'd need a plumber to get involved if anything broke. I don't suppose plugholes go wrong very often though?

Sorry, yogitree. This is taking your thread off topic.

I’m always worried about eg losing a ring down one of those plug holes. And I think back to a time when I was treating one of my goldfish in the sink and it slipped out of my hands. One of those new fancy plug holes and it would have been farewell to him.

Yes, I know what you mean. I've got a new bathroom, and the plugs are fancy. The bath has a circular thing in the middle of the tap end, that you move one way to open the large plug and the other to close it. The sink has a 'press down to pop up' one, again quite large.

They both work fine, but they are new. If/when something goes wrong, it won't be a case of pop down to Woolworths (or wherever) and get a new plug. I'm not sure what we'll do.

Stansgran

It the underside of black plugs that obsess me. And the chain. i probably need therapy.

But the good thing about chains is you can pull the plug out after you’ve dried your hands. With these fancy new sinks and plug holes I keep having to go back in to press on the plug after I’ve dried my hands. And how do people with long talon like gel nails flush toilets with those little metal things on top of the cistern? Why can’t everything just go back to how it used to be? How much time do designers spend thinking up new ways of designing plugs just to confuse and annoy me?

- or my mother-in-law's cleaner, Stansgran!

It the underside of black plugs that obsess me. And the chain. i probably need therapy.

Baggs

*polishing the cupboards*

OMG! One's supposed to do that?!? 😱

😂😂😂😂😂

Glad you are pleased with your clean house!

Speaking of plugholes, my bathroom basin plug keeps getting stuck, not popping up as it should, so I am left with dirty water. I have to make sure it is very loose before I push it down.

I have visitors due on Friday, so I am saving the dusting till Friday morning. That’s my excuse anyway.

ExDancer

Do you mean plug holes as in sinks and baths?

Both. My partners house has those plugs that pull out and get covered in yucky stuff. Then a plumber changed one of them to a plug that I thought couldn’t be removed for cleaning ( it could, though, as we discovered). I don’t understand all these new fangled sink and taps and plug holes. Especially sinks that are weird shapes. I’m the most cluttered untidy person in the world but I have an obsession with some things being clean! I do actually like cleaning!

Pleased to hear that yogitree

MayBee70

Cleaners never seem to do plug holes. I’ve got a thing about dirty plug holes!

My mother-in-law's cleaner is a wizard and seems to do everything - yes even plughole. And she does the waste trap in the shower drain every 2 (I think) weeks... and does the thing on the washer drain thing that I hate doing!

Do you mean plug holes as in sinks and baths?

Are you willing to say how much this cost? Not obligatory, of course.

That sounds like a great job, you must be so pleased.

We are going to organise a professional deep lean for my mum’s flat once the building work is finished, so this has been a really useful, and optimistic, thread, thanks.