Fingers crossed

[lexin]

I think I have a cleaner. Fingers crossed the sheer scale of the problem hasn't frightened her off.

Comments

[jonquil]

Hang in there. As you know, I did the same thing earlier this year.

For your own peace of mind, call the cleaner and say "This is a very dirty house". Expectation-setting is key.

Good luck. The quality of life improvement for me was major -- it had been *years* for some of the rooms.

[lexin]

Too late, she's seen it. I keep expecting a text saying she's changed her mind...

[mandragora1.livejournal.com]

Is it the person I recommended?

Regardless, I hope all goes well with the cleaning and you'll feel happier with your house.

[lexin.livejournal.com]

It is, yes. As I said, I hope she's not put off by the scale of the problem.

Sparkle!

[gloria1.livejournal.com]

Good Stuff! And I would imagine a cleaner would welcome a big task, since she's got the option for a regular gig out of it, or at the very least a nice one-off invoice. In this economy, that's good going.

Re: Sparkle!

[lexin.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm starting her off with the kitchen and doing 2hrs of cleaning plus one of ironing a week. I detest ironing.

[pinkdormouse.livejournal.com]

Excellent news!

[lexin.livejournal.com]

I do hope so!

[shezan.livejournal.com]

I had a cleaner even when I was unemployed. Best allocation of resources I can think of. You come back to a nice clean tidy house, you feel BETTER.

[lexin.livejournal.com]

I'm a bit nervous about it all, but I'm hoping it will help. I think it will.

[shezan.livejournal.com]

The secret is taking on board the fact that she won't know how you like things in the beginning, so there will be a delay in which you'll be tempted to give everything up because it feels as if you CAN'T GET YOUR HANDS ON ANYTHING ANY MORE. But she's only the wrong person if she doesn't try to learn. I've always found it better, the first few times, to have mine come a day when I'm not working, so that we set to work together. I hate cleaning, but it's entirely different, even fun, when it's teamwork; you'll get more things done; and you can finetune things with her, answer her at once when she's looking for your cleaning things, etc. The other thing I've always done is to buy them the tools and products they want, within reason (none of Georgette Heyer's champagne blacking for Hessian boots, etc.) and unless you have a good reason to prefer something else (allergies, the cleaning fluid she likes STRIPS PAINT OFF YOUR THINGS, whatever.)

[lexin.livejournal.com]

Good advice, thank you. I hadn't considered the buying the products she likes thing, but you're right.