Does Anyone Else Clean Before A Cleaning Lady Arrives?

natalie_ca

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Tomorrow is my day for homecare to come and clean. They don't do certain things like vacuum furniture or move the cat litter box to wash the floor underneathe. So the day before she comes I try to get the furniture vacuumed, clean the cat litter box and mop the floor under it and do some general tidying up and putting things away that I've left laying around.

However, I usually get carried away in the process. I just finished cleaning my kitchen. I started out vacuuming the furniture. The turbine tool on the Dyson makes it so much easier and faster than conventional furniture tools. Anyway, the next thing I know I'm vacuuming the hard floors in the living room, kitchen and hallway.

Does anyone else clean up before their cleaning help arrives?
 

skyecat0117

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Man I wish I had a cleaning service. There's 3 of us in the apartment and I guess you could consider me the help
I would love some outside help. But most likely I'd give things a quick tidy job before hand. Just so he/she didn't think I was a complete slob.
 

glitch

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I use to have a cleaning lady that came in once a month and I always cleaned the house before she got there!! GUILTY!!! You dont want them to come into a mess... then I saw HER house! OMG!! I dont think she could possibly think Im a slob! She does such a good job cleaning though... so nice!
 

theimp98

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me no. But back when i was kid. Mom and dad had a maid that came twice a week..

the day before the maid was always clean day lol.
 

rapunzel47

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We are basically untidy, so I pick up enough of the mess so that they can do their job. I'm not going to do it for them, but I will do my best not to put obstacles in their way. The only actual cleaning I do is stuff I would do any other day of the week, e.g. wiping down counters when we're done with breakfast.
 

ryn

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I could never hire house help because I could never let them inside the house without scrubbing the place clean myself before. So, the whole service seems unneccessary to me, unless you consider cleaning motivation worth paying for.
 

kelicat

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LOL, That's so funny you mention this, I was just thinking about it the other day!! We don't have a cleaning lady, but my sister has one, and one of my co-workers cleans as a second job, so that's what got us talking about it. I told him, it would be even more work for me, b/c I'd have to make sure to get the house clean before they came!

DH is used to hearing odd things from time to time from me, but that one really got me a strange look!
 
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natalie_ca

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Originally Posted by Wesley's Mom

I don't even have a cleaning lady!! Wish we did!!
I wish I didn't need a cleaning lady! The only reason I have one is because of my health. Right now my "job" is to spend whatever energy and time that I have on physical rehab so that I can get back to my job.

Prior to getting homecare help for cleaning I just couldn't manage it. All of my energy was going into trying to clean my apartment and failing miserably. I'm ashamed to say that if I managed to get my sheets washed and changed every 6 weeks I was doing well. It was all I could do to get groceries and cook and tidy the kitchen daily. It was taking me all week to vacuum one area rug, a couch and love seat, the living room, kitchen and bathroom floors, and clean the cat litter. My bedroom never got cleaned nor did anything in my bathroom except the inside of the toilet.

The week in between homecare cleaning visits I do what I can. Which is vacuum the furniture. Since I got the Dyson that task is much easier because of the turbine furniture tool, and the hard floor dial that allows me to go from carpet to floor without changing attachments. And of course daily I do dishes.

I'm so looking foward to the day that I can actually do all of my cleaning on my own.
 

tari

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Always. In fact, that's what I'll be doing tonight.

The first time they came I was such a freak that I couldn't stop myself from cleaning while they were there. They kicked me out of my own kitchen.
 

beck4582

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Growing up my mom always used to say "Clean your room so the maid can come!" It always made me laugh...


As far as weird cleaning habits go, though, I make the bed right before I get into it...
 

jack31

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The family I nanny for has a cleaning service. But I do all the babies cleaning (laundry, bedroom, bottles)--and the parents and I do not clean before the cleaning people come.

The family I work for are actually so happy I'm there when the cleaning people come because they know they can't slack with me watching there every move. I get to report how the cleaning service actually does when the parents get home.

Oh and they are getting ripped off, there is a specific place I've been watching that needs dusted and has yet to be--I want to see how long it takes for them to notice it. They also dust around things they dont move them.

Leslie
 

butzie

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We have had maids since we have been married. DH is a slob. I sort of clean up before their day.

We have had some great maids and some not so great. Lara, our current housecleaner, is awesome. If I don't have time to clean up first, I leave her extra money. The first time I did that, she cleaned and straightened out our son's closet.


I guess I pay well and am nice to the maids. That may be because I cleaned house for the Catholic chaplains my senior year at college. UGH! A princess is to cleaning house as a cat is to cleaning a litter box.
 

cheshirecat

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I am in kind of in the same boat so to speak. Although I do still work full time there are things I just can't do very well on my own.

My help comes in twice a month and one of the things she does that I can't is take out the trash. I live in an apartment and the dumpster is not accessible to me. One thing I do is make sure anything that needs to go out is stacked near the bin that I put the paper stuff in.

Other than that I try to clear away the extra clutter and/or dishes that might still be in the sink.

I feel that I am so lucky to have this person to help. It is so nice to come home to a clean apartment!

Not only is she very good she also cleans and refills Chester's water dish! She will move the litter box to clean the floor in his bathroom and will scoop if necessary.
 
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