Cleaning News, Views and Tips Blog

Over the next weeks we will be giving you cleaning tips for different parts of the house. The areas that we will concentrate on are the living room, kitchen, bathroom, floors and also other general cleaning tips such as getting rid of bad odours.

Making use of these tips can make this most arduous of tasks more bearable if you do the cleaning yourself and do not employ a cleaner to do so. It will also make the cleaner’s life easier.  

Cleaning Tip No 1.

Schedule your house cleaning, from cleaning the oven to taking out the trash.

Everyone has his or her own idea of what ‘clean’ means. If you take a look in a number of different homes, you will probably see different degrees of cleanliness. A person’s house that does not seem to be as clean to you, may seem to be spotless to them or to someone else. Different people tolerate dirt and mess differently.

Once you have an idea of how clean you actually want your house to be, you can decide just how often each task will need to be done. Set realistic deadlines. If you work forty hours a week and take care of a family, you may not be able to wash your floors two or three times a week. Although, the more family members that can contribute to the household tasks, the better your chances of having the clean home you desire. But, having more family members also means having more cleaning to do.

To decide how often you will need to clean, you need to decide how clean your home will be. Do you want it to be tidy, clean or absolutely spotless?

Tidy: Things are picked up and look neat.

Clean: Everything is clean and ready for unexpected guests.

Spotless: You could eat off of the floor.
Next time: The household cleaning schedule in detail.

* Honesty

So, the applicant is allowed to work here. Next thing is you want to make sure that when you come home form work, all your treasured possessions haven’t disappeared.

You do not have access to criminal records. So you must take up:

 a. Proof of ID (Passport or Birth Certificate), so you know WHO the worker is;
 b. Proof of Address (utility bill, rent book, etc.), so you know WHERE they live;
 c. Two written references to gain background information on all cleaners you do interview.

As a result, you can then virtually guarantee honesty because anyone dishonest is not going to come forward with the above documentation.
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For information from the main website on vetting a cleaner and other step that are taken.

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* Reliability

Obtaining reliable staff in any field is always difficult. It is no different with cleaners. To many prospective employees cleaning work is perceived as unattractive. Because of that, some may prove unreliable even after all your checks. In most instances if someone has withstood the rigours of your vetting procedures, you will end up with a worker you are happy with and, in London, the relationship will last for months before a replacement is required. Sometimes the association will stretch for a few a years but do be prepared for it to be less than that!

However you must expect problems. Then you won’t be too disappointed. We are not saying that this is the norm but these things can and do happen.  A cleaner may:

 1) Agree to attend interview and then not show up;
 2) Attend interview and agree to start and not show up;
 3) Start and then quickly decide it is not for them;
 4) Start off well and then gradually detiriorate;
 5) Start but not do the full hours you are paying for;
 6) An otherwise good worker misses days through sickness
or holidays.

* Using a Cleaning Agency

It is only when you start seeking to employ staff that you come across the difficulties. Private householders are often unaware of the problems that can arise. That is why people use an agency. An Agency’s function is to take the hassle out of the unreliability element by putting forward workers who have been vetted for honesty (eliminating the risk of theft) and who, to date, have not caused any problems. Even then problems can still arise. However, a good cleaning agency can resolve any of them provided they are notified.

In the next article we will show you how to get the very best out of the cleaner you have taken on and the money you are paying them!