The House Gets Cleaned or It Does Not: Decide Who Cleans Before You Hire Anyone

The day sheet has a box for the house, and most husbands fill it in only when the bathroom gets bad enough to notice. Cleaning is a job like any other on the 24 hours. You can do it yourself, have a hired hand do it, or bring in a cleaning service on a schedule. Decide which one before the first visit, not after the first bad week.

Local option: New Plan Care gives families in the St. Louis area in-home help so a parent can stay home: companionship, help with bathing and dressing, meals, and overnight care. Call (314) 405-0887.

Sort the house into three piles

Write every cleaning job on a sheet and put each one in a pile. The first pile is weekly work such as floors, the bathroom and kitchen surfaces. The second is occasional work such as windows, the inside of the fridge, baseboards and the top of the stove. The third is daily spills and wipe-downs. Then mark which jobs you can do with her in the room and which need you out of the room or two people. A dry mop in the hall can be done while she sits in her chair. Moving the couch to get under it, or stripping a bed with her still in it, is not a job to do alone, and it is not a job to hand to someone who has not met her yet.

Know what the cleaner may and may not do

Ask the agency or the person for a written list of tasks. A fair list names the rooms, the surfaces, how often each task happens, and whether bed linens are changed. It should also say what the cleaner will not do. A non-medical cleaner can dust, vacuum, mop, clean the bathroom and kitchen, and change linens. They should not lift or move her, and they should not touch her medicine, her pill box or her bottles. Put that in writing next to the task list, and keep the medicine where the family keeps it. If something is moved or looks missing, the cleaner tells the family, and the family decides whether the doctor or pharmacist needs to hear about it.

Check the house before the first visit

Ask each of these questions and write down the answers. Who has a key or alarm code, and who changes it when the arrangement ends? Does the agency bond and insure its people, and what happens if something breaks? Who brings the supplies, and where do they live between visits? Cleaning products belong up high or in a cabinet with a latch, because a confused person may drink or spray what she finds. Will the cleaner move a chair, a rug or a rolling table, and who puts it back? Who is the contact if the cleaner is sick or late? If she follows the cleaner from room to room or wants to help, who steps in, and what do they do?

Compare doing it yourself

Add up the hours your own sheet can give to cleaning in a normal week, then add the hours the house truly needs. The gap is what you are paying for or going without. Compare two options on paper. One is a recurring visit for the weekly pile, with you keeping the daily wipe-downs. The other is a deeper clean done on a longer schedule for the occasional pile. Do not decide on price alone. Compare what you still have to do after the visit ends, who is in the house while it happens, and whether the same person comes back each time. A cheaper visit with a different face every week can take more of your attention than the time it saves you.

Put the line on the sheet

When you decide, draw two columns on the day sheet. One column holds the cleaning you keep, and the other holds the cleaning someone else does, with the day and time for each. Keep the written task list with any agreement you sign. Review both when her needs change, because a house that worked when she was walking around on her own may need different work once she is in a chair or needs more watching. If you are still working out who can come into the home at all, start with Local Help for Husband Caregivers.