I’ve been wanting to start this thread for some time but was too embarrassed because people might think I have an unclean home. I’ve always cleaned our home well . Mainly because I never wanted strangers in my house. But now we’re getting up in years. And I still don’t want strangers in my house. I guess what I’m asking for is a little bit of conversation as to how you all handle it.
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I like to say I have a lady who “helps me clean” although I don’t really help very much. 
TBH, I try to stay on top of clutter, wash my clothes, and “clean up” the kitchen fairly regularly, not including washing the floor.
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Same. Cleaner comes every other week. Money well spent!
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My mother is the same way. She makes a list of what has to be cleaned and tries to divide the cleaning chores up into small daily little jobs.
So each day she does a little something and stopped doing a day of big cleaning.
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When we were both working, we did have a cleaner over several years, coming in once a week. But our last one became unreliable so we sacked here (tricky as she was an extended family member) and went back to doing it ourselves.
Not long after that, I took early retirement and took on all the cleaning and laundry duties. We went back to a joint effort when Mrs H retired a few years later. It used to be a Friday morning job. When Covid came along, she wanted to change that to doing one room per day - sort of having a focus of sorts when she couldnt go out. We’ve stuck with that. It does mean that she now does all virtually all the cleaning and I’ve become a “gentleman of leisure”. I wouldnt have any issue with having a cleaner again, if the situation requires it in the future. We are, of course, fortunate, that we are able to afford the costs. Many wouldnt be.
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Our cleaner is here every 2 weeks, she and her helper spend about 2 hours and does the first floor-kitchen, TV room, front room and small bathroom and the main bath on the second floor. Vacuums the stairs and upstairs hall.
No bedrooms or laundry.
We find we are neater and better at cleaning up after ourselves because of it.
DH works from home, so the house is seldom empty when they come around.
Can’t imagine not having her come around.
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We use a cleaning service every two weeks. We take care of laundry, incessant kitchen cleaning, vacuuming every couple of days on the main level.
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I’ve had a housecleaner in every place I’ve lived for the last 33 years (started when I was 24 and living in a country where you could hire help very cheaply). Once you cross that line into having someone else clean for you, there is no going back. There is just nothing like the joy of leaving a dirty house and coming home to a clean one.
Currently our housecleaners come every other week. They clean everything, but don’t do the beds or laundry. And I am pleased to say that these ladies are the unicorn of housecleaners, in that they (1) show up when they are supposed to, (2) do a very good job cleaning, and (3) do not steal or break things. Usually you can only get two out of those three characteristics!
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I try and stay on top of it, but it can get away from me. (I’m looking at you, hallway fan that’s not easy to get to to clean the blades!) Like you, I don’t want strangers in my home, so I’d have to be there while they cleaned, which would be embarrassing. So…I just deal with it on my own.
Although perhaps I should have someone come in to do a “deep clean”.
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Have you seen those long handle swiffer wand dusters?? They have a long handle version that extends quite a bit.
That might work for your hallway fan.
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jammy = cook, cleaner and bottle washer. I don’t need to go to the gym. 
As an aside, I can also handle a skidsteer pretty well.
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My PIC does a LOT of the cleaning around the house (vacuuming, dishes, litter box, laundry), which I appreciate greatly. I do a much better, but also much angrier job 
When we were on sabbatical in Berlin, we “splurged” on a cleaner who was amazing & ridiculously cheap (7€/hour, and it took her maybe 2.5-3 hrs to clean our apartment) every other week.
Unfortunately, I realized she was a kleptomaniac when a box of truffles that DEF had one or two more truffles in it were gone. A hair mask. A small bottle of flavored oil… but she never took any of my jewelry or money lying around 
We kept her anyway, and I can say it’s pretty damn nice to come home to a clean house, but since we are not a DI household ATM, we take care of it ourselves.
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We have someone who comes every other week. BF works from home, so he’s here working while they are here. We do our own laundry though.
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Ohh, no - these paddles need to be removed and scrubbed down in the tub. But to remove them, I have to get on a short stepladder, and I’m hovering over the stairwell. Freaks me the hell out without someone there to help steady me. So for now, they remain kind of icky.
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I understand… Yes, there are quite a few items I have to disassemble and scrub down to get clean, but they can wait for my “Spring Cleaning” event.
Case in point, I purchased a used freezer at Goodwill. I wanted a place for my food, when I defrost my big chest freezer. This used freezer looked really rough, and I almost didn’t buy it. I asked one of the workers about it and he said it worked great (he had tested it). So, I purchased it, brought it home, put it in the garage, tested it and yes it does work great.
So, yesterday, I tore it all down and scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed (scotch brite pad). I had to change the water in my bucket twice, but it came out perfect. It looks brand new, except for a few minor scratches. So, yes some items really do need a good scrubbing with some “elbow grease”!!
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My housecleaners are here cleaning in the next room right now. I’m not embarrassed! There are things that I’d rather be doing than cleaning, and it’s entirely legitimate for me to do those things while making an appropriate trade-off: money for time.
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My 84 year old mother had a cleaning service clean her 2 bedroom apartment for the very first time last month. Ever. In her life because she didn’t want strangers cleaning her house.
She has macular degeneration and fairly lax standards to boot. The cleaners did a deep clean of the bathroom, dusted, and cleaned inside of microwave, surfaces in the kitchen, etc. She loved it. Now on the regular 1x month schedule.
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I have to say that tackling a once in a while big clean item is much more palatable if the every day stuff is under control. Spending the whole weekend cleaning and then cleaning some more is not for me.
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We have had two such ladies in 35 years, each probably with us 15+ years, and both invaluable in keeping an eye on things when we are not there.
One of them even suggested a new baby sitter wasn’t a good choice.
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When it comes to issues of cleaning, I’m an ardent fan of Erma Bombeck: I sweep the room with a glance.
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