Having a cleaner was once something reserved for the rich, with many people unable to justify the expense. But now, with long working hours and greater demands on their time, many people are outsourcing their domestic tasks to professionals, allowing them to focus on work, family, or hobbies and freeing up weekends from chores. As of 2024–25, approximately 17 per cent of UK households employ a cleaner. Despite the cost of living crisis, the use of domestic cleaners has grown significantly, rising by around 70 per cent between 2018 and 2023.
We spoke to five Britons about how much they pay their cleaners and how the arrangement benefits everything from their mental health to relationships.
‘I pay £480 a month, but would get someone cheaper if they raised their price’
James, 44, who lives in a four-bedroom house in south London with his partner, five-year-old twins and a cat, pays £480 a month for two cleaners to work for four hours each week to tidy the house and deal with everything from recycling to laundry. He sees no issue with how much he spends on the service. “If the cleaners took a week off, the house would be an absolute disgrace, between the cat hair, crumbs and kids’ fingerprints everywhere. I don’t cut my own hair or fix my own car, so why would I have an issue with paying for professionals to do a better job at cleaning than I ever could?”
One cleaner focuses on washing and ironing laundry, which James sees as vital. He admits that he doesn’t know how to operate his own washing machine or tumble dryer. The hourly rate comes to £15, which James admits is low for the area. “I know people who pay a lot more than me, and if my cleaners put their prices up, I would look for someone cheaper, because cleaners are really easy to come by in London.”
‘Clutter makes me anxious, having a cleaner helps with stress’
Sarah, 49, who lives in North Yorkshire, pays £40 for a 2.5-hour weekly clean, and considers it vital to her wellbeing. “I am a single mum, working full time, and I suffer from anxiety,” she says. ”I view having a clean house as essential for my mental health. I can relax and breathe when I’m not surrounded by clutter.”
Sarah’s cleaner blitzes the kitchen, bathroom and bedrooms, then mops hard floors, hoovers, empties bins and changes bedding. She cycled through more than 10 cleaners before she found her current one three years ago, sacking previous cleaners who didn’t turn up on time, or left jobs half done.
“My current cleaner is one of the most valued people in my life. Last Christmas I gave her a £100 cash bonus because I want her to know how much I appreciate her. She’s now in her late fifties and talking about cutting back on jobs because she finds the work physically exhausting but I hope that by treating her well, she’ll want to keep me on as a client, because I don’t know what I’d do without her.”
‘A cleaner saved our marriage’
Fiona, 38, lives in Worcestershire with her husband Shane and pays £18 an hour for a cleaner to come round to their two-bedroom house every Sunday, and credits the three hours of weekly housework for saving her marriage. “I have ADHD, and my husband is a neat freak, which was always going to cause issues when we moved in together. We fought constantly for the first year of our marriage because no matter how much I tried to tidy up after myself, the house was always a mess,” she says. “During one fight, my husband threatened to leave me if I didn’t unload the dishwasher at least once. We thought about going to marriage counselling, but a friend suggested we get a cleaner instead.”
Fiona credits the cleaner with not only helping her relationship – noting that the couple barely fight now – but also with alleviating the task overwhelm she often feels. “Before we hired the cleaner, I felt a lot of shame about the mess I lived in,” she says. “When I got back from holiday, my suitcase used to lie for weeks before I unpacked it, but now, the cleaner helps me sort it into piles and deals with the laundry right away rather than let it sit in a corner gathering dust.”
‘I have a secret cleaner’
Annie, 33, from Manchester, blames working-class guilt for lying to her husband about employing a cleaner two years ago. “When we got together, my husband talked about getting a cleaner because we both work out of the house five days a week, but I told him I could never employ one, because my mum was a cleaner and it would feel wrong. I insisted that I’d clean the flat myself, despite the fact I loathe cleaning.”
It took a year for Annie to crack and employ someone to come once a fortnight to help out, at £14 an hour. “I told my husband that the £56 that comes out of the bank account every month is for Pilates classes, and he’s never questioned it. I know it’s stupid, but I am too proud to admit I was in the wrong. Oddly, my husband has never picked up on the fact that the house is cleaned to a much higher standard than I could ever manage, or that our bed linen is now ironed. I caught the cleaner hoovering the top of our books once, which I thought was a bit much, but I’m so glad to have her.”
‘I gave up takeaways to keep my cleaner’
Rhiannon, 37, from Glasgow used to pay minimum wage for a cleaner and now pays £20 an hour and truly believes you get what you pay for. “When I paid £10 an hour, I had a series of unreliable cleaners. One lost the spare keys to my house, meaning I had to spend over £100 to change the locks. There was a lack of attention to detail, and the work always seemed to be rushed. I realised the low wage was attracting a poor quality of work, so I asked for recommendations from friends, and the best cleaner I’ve ever had turned out to be the most expensive.”
Rhiannon’s cleaner comes round for two hours a week, and she admits that she gave up other luxuries to be able to afford her. “I used to love eating out or getting a big takeaway at the weekend, but with the cost of living rising, I just can’t justify it anymore. But I won’t give up my cleaner. The service she provides isn’t just cleaning; she’s giving me back my time. I love that when I come home on a Friday night, I know the house will look and smell amazing, and my bedding will be fresh. It’s the best night’s sleep I get all week.”
‘I can’t afford my cleaner’
Sarah*, 46 and based in East Sussex, has had a cleaner for 10 years. “I can’t really afford a cleaner but I am so rubbish at doing it myself that I want to hang on for as long as I can. I know that it’s a luxury most people have given up, so I tend to keep quiet about it amongst my friends,” she says. “That said, I do work longer hours than most of the other mothers I know. Funnily enough, cleaners have never come up in conversation with any of the dads.”
A decade ago, Sarah was paying £8 an hour. “That rose quickly over the years, until I recently found myself paying £25. I have now found someone for £19.50, though I know she is charging my friend £17,” she says. “I am supposed to have her booked for four hours a fortnight, so it would be around £156 a month, but she is always rushing off somewhere else so I don’t get the full four hours, which means I’m happy to pay less.
“She will do different tasks if and when asked, such as changing the bedding or doing the skirting or windows. But of course I hate asking.”
*Name changed