How to decide what your cleaner should prioritise

The quote form asks for the three most important areas on purpose. A two-hour visit in a three-bed house cannot be a full spring clean. Something has to come first.

A useful way to choose: what would you be embarrassed for a visitor to see? For a lot of households that is the bathroom and the kitchen, not the spare bedroom. Another test: what do you dread doing yourself? That is often the right place to spend paid time.

Write it down. “Bathrooms and kitchen, then the landing if there is time” is a better brief than “the usual”. There is no usual until we have been a few times — and even then, the week before visitors is not the same as a quiet Tuesday in February.