I know complaints are usually about a house not being clean enough be it by sitters or hosts but I often wonder if I host might feel offended if they come back to a home that has been cleaned more thoroughly than they left it or than their usual cleaning level.
I usually do a bit of extra cleaning or tidying like organizing a kitchen drawer where everything is mixed up and difficult to find or cleaning some dusty corners but I don’t want to overdo it, I don’t want the HO to feel indirectly criticized.
Are there any HOs here that feel this way?
I have always left homes cleaner than I found them, and no homeowner has ever complained or criticized me. They sometimes mention it in the reviews, but I wonder if many homeowners don’t even notice that things are cleaner. After all, if the carpet stains didn’t bother them before I arrived, would they even notice that they were gone when I left?
I would draw the line at rearranging things, unless they’re obviously a mess. As a homeowner, I have things arranged the way it works for me. If I came home and somebody had rearranged things, I would be a little irritated
Cleaning, go for your life, I know that is not my superior skill. I would of course work hard to have everything nice for a guest, better than the way I usually live. But if you find a corner I’ve missed all power to you.
Reorganise my stuff? That would be a no no for me, I am very organised and it’s exactly how I like it.
I think the only risks could be to clean something delicate, like real hardwood flooring, which can be damaged by harsh cleaning products. Or use strong-smelling chemicals.
Overcleaning, no.
Reorganising without permission or miscleaning with the wrong products is what I would be worried about.
We call out sensitives in our house guide e.g. cast iron items, being sparing with water on the hardwood floors (and using water/vinegar only), not washing wooden tools in the dishwasher,… we also don’t really keep a lot of chemicals in the house…most of our cleaning products are basically natural mixes, etc so folks would have to go out of their way to buy something harsher/toxic.
But yea, if someone goes the extra mile to clean out corners that have been missed, I don’t mind; worry is if that ends up damaging something irreparably but past that, I would love it if folks cleaned more than what I did.
I’ve been in some pretty grubby homes and in order to get it to my standard, I had to do more. It was stuff like the stove range clearly hadn’t been cleaned, carpets covered in pet hair that then retained odours, sticky door handles, rotting/expired food in the fridge,… things that clearly were about hygiene as opposed to organisation, I would just do to get to my comfort level. When it comes to rearranging though, I only move things if it’s a clear blockage to me being able to get around and live comfortably. I would then often return it to how it was before HO returns home e.g. clearing floor space to be able to work out or piles of something blocking pathways, stuff left on surfaces that mean I couldn’t properly use them.., in my experience, HOs don’t get upset about this as often times they either weren’t thinking or were in a rush and didn’t consider prepping for me more than anything else.
I’ve never had a problem so long as I stay in those lanes and usually get comments about how great it was to come home to such a clean and tidy home (consistently received that type of feedback)
I appreciate it when a sitter cleans up after themselves. I tell them not to worry about washing the sheets and towels, just take sheets off the bed and towels on the floor.
I do not like when they rearrange my kitchen! I’ve had one sitter rearrange utensils in drawers and another sitter even moved everything on the counters. It was crazy. I didn’t mention it in their review. I just let it go.
We sometimes organise a cutlery drawer or fix the odd door handle etc, but we sat for an HO, where past sitters had totally re-organised his kitchen without asking. He’s elderly, but totally ‘with-it’.
His home was full of eclectic curiosities and his kitchen was full of a lifetime of home ownership and memories, he obviously rarely threw anything out.
The sitters probably thought they were giving him a hand. In reality, it was terrible for him, he felt it was a huge intrusion of of personal boundaries. He was left not knowing where his usual go-to items were, as they’d arranged it the best practical way as they perceived it, not based on the items HE actually used/favoured, he’d managed to live a very long time with it the way it was. It’s stressful returning from vacation to a home that’s no longer YOUR home.
I think sitters should accept people for who they are, and don’t try to fix what an HO doesn’t perceive as being broken, especially when it forms part of their personality, and memories of Christmas dinners of old.
Making the odd repair here and there is one thing, and cleaning a little more thoroughly is fine, but trying to organise someone else’s life isn’t on.
Exactly the same. We use water/vinegar on floors and most surfaces (because of the pets) so if sitters bleached the living life out of the floors or other surfaces I wouldn’t be happy about that. I wouldn’t call it out either, I would just clean the floors again with water/vinegar (it is in my welcome guide but some don’t feel its clean unless they can smell the bleach - which is not safe for pets).
Also reorganizing anyone else’s home/drawers is really going too far. Leave it as it is. I know where it is and if I wanted to ‘organize’ it to other standards I would have done so already - we’ve loved at our home for 10 years. Don’t reorganize without at least asking to do so first. Of course if you want to organize for yourself go ahead, just put it back as you found it.
Exactly. If a picture gets knocked over, straighten it. If a light bulb goes out, replace it. Don’t reorganize, it’s very intrusive!
This is a really interesting question, and one I have thought before. As sitters I balance my COCD with a general sense of the HOs cleaning standard and to date we seem to have hit the mark and more often than not we get compliments. One thing we regularly do is sharpen knives but we warn the HO that we have done it. If we repair things we just stay quiet and see if the HO notices. So far 50/50.
Sharpening knives would be a huge favor to us LOL. Can’t get to it often enough. That, I would thank a sitter for, definitely! And do mention it as I would definitely want to say thank you for that!
Thanks everyone for your answers.
I’d like to clarify one point, when I said
I was referring to a couple of homes where the tea towels weren’t folded and they were mixed up with other stuff like grater, the odd knife, spikes and chopsticks. All I did was clean the drawer, fold the tea towels and group them together on one side and put the other stuff on the other side so that I could get access to it safely. I didn’t want to be intrusive, I just thought it would be ridiculous to try and get it back to the original state. In both cases they mentioned the cleanliness and tidiness of the house in their reviews. One said I left the house spotless, which was true, the other said the house was clean and tidy on their return. I am afraid it wasn’t; they would have needed an army of cleaning staff and some replacements to get the house in a decent state.
Would anyone find this kind of “reorganization” intrusive?
Hubby got bored on a long Xmas sit and jet washed their patio- it was black after winter storms dislodged roof moss detritus etc. the HOs were very happy as was hubby….at the result which was very satisfying.
That’s made me very sad reading that. I can completely understand why he felt it was such an intrusion.
I think reorganising to the level you describe is fine - especially if it’s going to stop you being ‘spiked’ when reaching into the drawer for something.
I once spent a lonnnnng time cleaning a filthy internal panelled glass wall. The difference in light levels and general “feel” was huge. In their review, the HOs thanked me… For leaving them a pint of milk.
Edit: I also cleaned out their chicken coop, despite being told I didn’t have to. By the end, I didn’t have a mountain of guano - I had an entire range. AND, while I’m here, let me mention that it had a broken door, so I had to take the roof off and lean in to shovel and scrub. My back will never be the same..
Pint of milk, schmilk!
My mum always says, don’t clean it to well because the owners will get offended. I haven’t had that issue yet. In fact the Ho’s are usually very grateful for it.
So over Christmas I want you and your hubby looking after my home haha 
I wpuld love it if a sitter overcleaned my house!!! Sadly never happened…
One of our previous hosts told me about a previous sitter who reorganised her kitchen. It really upset her which i found totally understandable. I also think its a really odd thing to do- just leave things as you find them!
