Honestly, I had the same worries! We just moved back in and the GC had a cleaning company clean before we moved in to the house. I must have gone over my instructions a dozen times. Finally I got down to Don't touch the marble with anything, don't use anything but a damp cloth on everything else, don't vacuum the hardwood just use a swifter ... then I went back to our temporary housing with a migraine and my understanding that I would not have anyone else clean the house for a long time.. Actually I don't use a cleaning lady any longer because A) I couldn't find one that did a thorough job, and B) it was too much of a stress getting the house "cleaning lady ready" the night before. Since then I've adopted the Fly Lady system so keeping the house clean really isn't that hard.

What is the Fly Lady system? Am I missing something that would make life easier?

I had the same worries. I have a good friend that cleans my house, but I do the kitchen myself. She does everything else. When she does do the wood floor, she uses my floor cleaner. Has worked out real well.

I prefer to clean my own house so no...not a problem here!

I have had no problems letting the cleaning lady take care of the new kitchen. But I do work outside the home some 40+ hours per week. If I didn't have a cleaning lady come in every other week, things wouldn't get done. Heck, when I moved into a small apartment during the reno, I kept the cleaning lady!

That said, she does use my stuff (mops, vacuum, rags, cleaning products, etc.), and I don't have anything that would qualify as delicate. You might want to discuss your concerns about their "attack" on your kitchen with them.

Other thoughts: Are you and the children going to be so enthusiatic about cleaning the house when the newness of the kitchen has worn off? Or when they get to be old enough to have other interests?

I definitely had/have the same concerns Morton. We had to temporarily suspend our cleaning service last December, right before the remodel (kitchen and new flooring throughout) began indicating we would start up again when the remodel was done. Well, the remodel was done in mid-January (three weeks later) and I have yet to get up the courage to hire her back (or anyone else for that matter).

I really need a housekeeper as I work full-time often putting in 12-14 hour days at the office. Maybe we should go ahead and hire someone and let them clean everything *except* the kitchen. :-)

Jodi-

You could always have to clean the rest of the house and she could do the kitchen. Maybe have her do select jobs in the kitchen, like the range or the inside of the fridge when it needs to be done. She could use the extra time she will have to do special projects that need to be done, like windows, etc. If she questions you tell her you like the new kitchen so much you enjoy doing it yourself or say you want the kids to learn to help.

I have the same hesitation. My house has a lot of special finishes and I am fussy about cleaning products. So, we don't have a cleaning lady and do have a dusty house.

I sent suzatwork a private email about fly lady but if anyone else is interested the web site is http://www.flylady.net/pages/FlightPlan.asp

OMG - too funny - I have been having these same doubts as our reno comes to an end. We're also in a temporary apt, where I've been holding my own. I actually hesitated to post something here because I know that having a cleaning lady is a luxury for some, especially in these hard times. DH and I travel quite extentively for work, so it has been a real necessity for us.

My plan is to go through everything with her, and switch out our products (she will definitely not like the fact that I don't want to use Fantastic with Bleach anymore). I like the idea of putting certain things "off limits".

The problem is exacebated by the fact that DH thinks something is clean only if he can smell the bleach :-). Eco friendly products have been a tough sell in my home. In fairness to him, he does more than his fair share and it was actually lifting a burden from his shoulders when we hired her. Time to start the instruction sheet!

BTW, Fly Lady is a web site that helps you organize, declutter etc. I registered to use it and get the email tips but I was too disorganised to follow through ...:-)

Eliz

Here is a link that might be useful: Fly Lady

Flylady looks like exactly what I need. I am going to really try to get organized in the new house. It's just so pretty I hate to let it get cluttered up. Cleaning lady?? No way. Too expensive and most cleaning ladies would not like my house doggie....Bailey the pit bull. lol!!

Cindy

LOL!!! too funny. I was just thinking the same thing today! I came home to find that our cleaning lady had used PLEDGE (argh!) all over our cabinets! Yikes. Thank goodness this is in our current home and not the new one.

I plan on having a very long detailed discussion and training session with the service when we move.

off to re-clean the kitchen :(

My cleaning ladies are 12 and 8, with occasional input from one who's 16. ;-) The youngest tends to overuse anything she uses (cleanser, liquid dish detergent), but we pretty much have finishes that can't be hurt. :-)

OMG, I went through the same thing. I gave the cleaning lady instructions to use only water on the granite. Six months later I caught her using PLEDGE!! she told me it makes it very shiny. I told NO MORE. Now I take out the granite spray cleaner and leave it out for her to use when she comes.

There have been some sad posts in past years about cleaning people who took steel wool to the new sink or cooktop, or destroyed the floor or the finish on the new cabinets with aggressive cleaning.

I think the lesson is that you have to walk them through the kitchen and explain very, very carefully, with a discussion of how to clean your new kitchen.

If you have a cleaning lady/service that you like, who is reliable, and who has been with you for a while, DO NOT LET HER GO. We just moved and it took me several tries over nearly a year to find someone I liked.

I agree that you should walk her through the kitchen and explain carefully what you want done and why. I would then reinforce it with written instructions, perhaps explaining why. For example, "Please do not clean the countertops with vinegar. It will damage the finish."

If she has been with you for 10 years, she knows how much this kitchen remodel means to you. I'm sure she will do all she can to make sure that your dream kitchen remains dreamy.

Yes!! It has only happened once, and we basically told them they could only clean with water and elbow grease. I want to figure out what works and what doesn't before I let them at it.

When my kids were very little, a had a great cleaning lady for one year. She left etch marks on 2 out of 3 faucets from some heavy-duty cleaner, but I didn't mind horribly, thinking of it as another reason to remodel. Now that the kitchen is new, and bathrooms will be done in Spring, I just can't ever let anyone but me clean the wood floors/granite/nickel faucets/marble. After all the expense and hassle of everything, I can't see it ruined. I rationalized this to my husband by comparing it to how he would feel if someone scratched/dented his new car or the TV, and he understood (maybe!)

I don't have a cleaning lady, but I am certainly nervous about leaving our 18 year old DS alone in my new kitchen when DH and I take a much deserved vacation to my brothers beach house in FLA next month. DS loves to experiment in the kitchen and I am so afraid of what I will come home to. I've already started making up a list of 'NEW KITCHEN RULES'. The granite goes in tomorrow and I'm already losing sleep over what he will do to it. He has a great respect for our 'things' and he knows how much work has gone into our new DIY kitchen, but he is an 18 year old BOY. Oh what to do!!!

This thread made me laugh! We used the same cleaning guy for 10 years, but after the remodel, he raised his price and I used that as an excuse to let him go. I was just too nervous to have them clean the new kitchen. I don't do Fly Lady, but I do clean up all the time so that I never have to really do a "big" cleaning. I'm glad I'm not the only crazy owner of a new kitchen (well, 1 year old, now)- lol.

I don't let my cleaning people clean the kitchen anymore. I love it and I clean it myself. They do everything else. I'm not sure their products are what I want used on my floors or counters and I'm not sure that they'll use my products even if I leave them out for them. As a result, they do something else such as clean the slider door window in/out (windows are usually extra).
Also, when we started this, I threw out all types of cleaning products that I didn't want accidently used and hid others that only I will use on certain things. I've also got notes on products stating just exactly what they are for. I know...anal...but I want to keep it nice. It cost a lot!

No, because I'm the cleaning lady!!!

I had a cleaning person until one fateful day when I wore a bodybugg while I cleaned. (It tells your calorie burn over time) The days I cleaned, I was burning 700 more calories from cleaning. I figured out I could save the $80 and eat a heck of a lot more food and drink more wine from my new kitchen. So, no more cleaning lady!

Also I wanted to recommend to all the people that want a piney clean smell but without the chemicals...Sal Suds by Dr Bronners castille soap. It is the only product I use to clean hardwood, furniture, glass, stone. You can get it from a health food store or organic market. On;y 2 tsp cleans my whole downstairs and it smells like a much more natural version of pinesol. If you like a peppermint clean smell, try Dr Bronners Peppermint castille. The house smells like a candycane for a few hours. These soaps are amazing and totally green. They come in other smells too like lavender, almond, tea tree too.

Okay, Cleo, I am going to have to break my GW addiction and get my butt in motion. Will also check out the Fly Lady stuff, and Dr. Bronner's soap. I read a lot about speed cleaning a few years ago, where you wear an apron that holds your spays in holsters, and keeps everything close at hand. The idea was no wasted motion. I adopted some of the principles, but never managed to totally get religion.

I want one of those cleaning ladies who cleans your fridge. It never occurred to me to redeploy the cleaning lady!

Have you ever checked out the cleaning forum? It's kind of inspiring. I wish I had the neatnik gene. I try to cultivate it, but it's going against my sloppy nature. When pressure hits, and it often does with 5 kids, I get messy.

Oh my goodness... there is a cleaning forum???????? and I thought my addiction would end

What's a cleaning lady? Oh yah that's me.

Like many here I used to have a cleaning lady, all the years that I worked. I was OK with it but never crazy about it. I only had three in about 25 years time -- they stayed for a long time. After the last one left I had trouble finding someone I felt comfortable with. The woman who was coming was very efficient but she just didn't listen. She used Pledge on the wood steps going up to the third floor even though I told her not to. My son's girlfriend slipped on the slippery steps and fell. Luckily she was fine but that was the end of cleaning ladies for me.

I am actually much happier now. My husband does everything outside and all the windows and vacuuming because I hate the noise. I do the dusting, kitchen, and we each do our own bathroom and laundry. With just the two of us here (and our two non-shedding dogs) things stay fairly clean. I find it is just much less stressful doing it ourselves, but we are fortunate to have the time now that we are retired. My husband really does more than his share because he doesn't want a cleaning lady, and because I've convinced him that grocery shopping and cooking are my major "chores" even though I love cooking!

Mine is not allowed to clean my Wolf range. I envisioned the cast iron grates being dropped on my granite and/or wood floors, or them scratching the granite or SS parts on the range while moving them to clean the range/top, or having the markings on the knobs scrubbed off, etc.

The rest I'm pretty much okay having her clean, although I do find myself reminding her about certain things from week to week. I am thrilled to have her clean the outside of my SS fridge--that thing is a b**ch to clean well easily (at least for me it is!), so I am just as happy to let her have at it. She does that really well!

My Great Aunts were domestics and my Grandmother ran a boarding house so while I could surely use one it falls a bit outside my comfort zone. My Mom always worked outside the home so when we had a cottage we went to on the weekends (prime cleaning time) she had someone come in and clean once a week - my memory is vague but it seems to me it involved a lot of cleaning up so the cleaning lady wouldn't think ill of us. I think it was a big relief for everyone when it stopped.

Cleaning ladies certainly aren't making any money off of me so I hope you keep yours.

Re the "night before cleaning" -- In our previous house, I put away things that had gotten out of place because my cleaning ladies wouldn't know where to put them, but I never actually "cleaned" before they came.

I had cleaning help the last two years, starting when my 90-year-old dad moved in with us on Hospice. I really appreciated them and asked if they'd come to my new house, but they said although they'd love to, the 8-hour commute was a deal-killer! I don't know how I'll ever replace them.

Incidentally, I think the people who bought our house kept them on!

Arlene

I just threw my hands up and gave up on ever having a cleaning lady who understands the proper care of everything from oriental rugs to brand new master bath flooring. The last two wrecked an oriental rug and our flooring on our master remodel. Not only do they not understand how to properly clean carpets, appliances, wood furniture and hard wood floors, they tend to totally slack off after the first few times and do lousy work.

I've been told I'm too nice and they take advantage of me which I think is probably true, but WHY don't cleaning people understand or at least learn how to care for a home AND take pride in their work?

I'm in north Texas and if anyone out there has an honest, dependable intelligent cleaning lady, she'd love to work for me.

well, we're in the middle of a new build. i'm letting her stay on while we're in the temporary house but will hire and agency for the new house. she's not that great anyway, and the new house will be too big for her to handle on her own anyway. i'm hoping with an agency i can request specific things and have them actually follow my directions. not like now when i ask that she use my dyson she uses her own cheapo vacuum because it's lighter...
the new house is much more than she'll be able to take care of, even if she brings a helper but i'll be happy to use her for laundry if she wants to do that as well as helping out with parties.

I have already had a bad experience, and our kitchen isn't even finished! I've only had this new crew since August, and they have done a MUCH better job than the last crew, so I thought I could trust them. I asked that they clean the appliances after they were installed, just to get rid of the installers' dirty handprints. I must have spent at least 15 minutes trying to clean off the film from the control panel on our oven. I was terrified that they had ruined it, but fortunately with an equal mixture of hot water and vinegar I was able to get it looking brand new again. They haven't been back yet, but I am considering having them leave the kitchen alone, or at least until I can thoroughly instruct them on how I want them cleaned. We have 5 kids so I don't have a lot of spare time to make my appliances shine!

We did our kitchen almost 4 years ago, and I feared the same thing...with our cleaning guy. My husband and I both work lots of hours and have kids, so reaslitically, I couldn't decide to just take back over the cleaning. Our cleaning guy is fine (and very reliable) but not great...and not great at remembering "special instructions".

So, what I do is pick up stuff the night before he comes, and also clean the Wolf range and SS dishwasher and SS refrig. Those are the things he doesn't do to my liking (yes, we have a lot of little scratches due to him picking up just one end of the range grate instead of picking it up with both hands and setting aside). It's not the ideal situation, but I don't mind too much that it "disciplines" me every 2 weeks to clean these 3 appliances the way I want them to be done.

--DJ

We've never had a cleaning lady before, but have the past 6 months while we're in a rental - didn't have time to keep up on everything, and didn't want to lose our cleaning deposit, either. They have done okay, but I don't think we'll keep them when we move back to our remodeled house. Partly I don't want to keep up the cost, partly I don't want them to mess up anything in the new kitchen :-)

I am also annoyed by some of the little things that they do. They always empty the garbage even if was just emptied the previous night and has almost nothing in it. They move stuff around when they dust and don't put it back in the right spot. Nothing major, but it annoys me, but I'm not usually there when they come, and DH doesn't say anything to them. I probably wouldn't either.

Of course, my last straw was when my 5-year-old spilled something on the floor, and I told him he needed to get some paper towels to wipe it up, and he said "No, just leave it. The cleaning people will clean it up." I can't let him grow up thinking he doesn't need to clean up after himself.

Anyway, lots of reasons, but I'm pretty sure we'll skip the cleaning people when it's done.

I went through this too, but will never let Katie go. She is more like a friend than a cleaning lady. My kids adore her. She was a doctor in Albania and came to this country and had to start over doing anything she could to make money, including waitressing, babysitting, and cleaning houses. Cleaning is where she found she could make the most money, but in the meantime she put herself through nursing school, while working fulltime cleaning houses. She graduated last spring and now has a full time nursing job but still comes to help me when she can. Some weeks she can't come at all and every week the day changes, but she always comes in the afternoon so that on that day my son can take his nap in his bed instead of in the car (since I have to pick my daughter up at 3 ).

She loves to cook like me. She brings me recipes and I share mine with her. She lets my son follow her around the house and gives him little jobs to do. When my daughter is around she does the same for her ... she'll have my daughter pick up her stuffed animals, etc or bring laundry downstairs. I like this, because I too worry about the kids thinking they don't have to pick up after themselves.

Anyway, post renovation, I researched different products and am using different things now, but it was just a one time short conversation about the new stuff we are using (most particularly, this Bonax wood flooring cleaning system). She knows that the new house is my baby and I did tell her that I would take care of certain aspects (like cleaning the Butcherblock counter).

She'll move on eventually. She is still cleaning because she is saving up money for her wedding next year. She is such an impressive young woman. So personable, hard working and caring. She is so there for me when I need her. She babysits in a pinch (or gets her sister to babysit for me). I hope I won't have to do without her until I am done with the classes I am taking because she is part of the infrastructure that is allowing this to happen for me.

sorry so long winded but I feel so fortunate for the situation I have and wouldn't give it up.