Yes, we too leave the homes extra clean, spending several hours cleaning is our gift to those that trust their homes and pets to us.
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As a HO I’m not a clean freak and don’t have a cleaner — the house is the cleanest it ever is when the sitter arrives because I’ve spent days (sometimes weeks) clearing clutter and thoroughly cleaning. “Leaving it as you found it” shouldn’t be a huge chore. All I expect is for the floors to be swept, kitchen counters clear and wiped down, bathroom surfaces clean. I bought a small wireless hand vacuum for clearing up dog hair caught in odd places when bringing out the big one would be overkill. This old house has a lot of spiders and dust — I clean up all that before the sitter comes but after a week you can see webs and dust creeping back. I don’t expect the sitter to stay on top of that unless it bothers them.
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I think you need to go easy on yourself! You clearly go above and beyond to ensure the house is clean for the home owners upon arrival. I have no doubt they will be delighted at how well you’ve looked after their animals and house, and probably wouldn’t notice areas like the toaster (which, as you say, is their mess anyway).
I say this as I recognise myself in your words, I’m hard on myself when it comes to cleaning and making sure areas are perfect, but it’s not always necessary or possible, especially when looking after animals that require more attention than most. We do our best, absolutely no need to be anxious or panic if it’s not perfect 
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You sound like the perfect home owners to sit for! And yes, totally unacceptable that a sitter would make no attempt to clean, and leave you to return to a neglected house (unless they were ill, for example). Like everything, it’s about balance. To clean and make the house presentable is great, but I do think that cleaning for hours and hours is unnecessary and sets an unrealistic precedent.
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I’m feeling so seen in this topic! So many other people who feel as I do. And the reasons they cited are the same for me.
In case it wasn’t absolutely clear from my original post: I know this is my choice. I want to do a little too much rather than do too little. But on the other hand, it feels like there’s no other option. If you do too little, you’ll get a bad review.
As for paying someone to clean the house… I actually raised that question with one of the first sits I did, because it was for 3 weeks with a shedding dog, but the owner was firm that she didn’t want anyone “strange” in her house even if I supervised. She did all her own cleaning and she was fastidious. So I had to clean it to her standard.
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I’ve only had 2 sits where that was true and I had to pay for one of them, as I said. All my other sits are people who do their own housecleaning. I’m starting to think I might only sit for people who have house cleaners!!
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When I do a sit with my spouse, I do all the cleaning and he tells me I’m doing too much. 
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Sorry to hear about your current sit! And I relate to doing some cleaning when you arrive just to feel OK about staying there. I’ve only had to do that twice, but it was really not pleasant.
Worst was a sit in a small apartment where we weren’t told ahead of time that there was no hot water to wash dishes in the kitchen (and no dishwasher) and the shower ran out of hot water in 5 minutes. We ended up working with the apartment building manager to get the kitchen sink fixed as the couple hasn’t bothered to deal with it for months! And that was on a 4 day sit.
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That explains why I get “our house was cleaner than when we left” in mine!
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I don’t feel taken advantage of. It’s more that it’s the only part of sitting that I don’t like. But I also don’t see a solution, as I tried to explain in my original post.
The sit where I was asked to pay was a complicated situation. It wasn’t through TH and we had a personal relationship. So I just threw down the money for it, also because I was so startled and the option she offered me was to cancel the cleaning and do it all myself. And I knew how much pet fur was all over that house! So I preferred to pay.
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I’ve mostly sat for people who have immaculate houses, do their own cleaning and have high standards.
So simply to ‘leave it as I found it’ requires more than just wiping up after myself and emptying the trash. For example, I don’t just rinse the kitchen sink out by running water and then run a sponge over the kitchen counters. I clean both with some product so they look freshly cleaned, with no trace of food, soap, etc. Because that’s how they were when I arrived.
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Yup. I’ve also done some cleaning right after I arrive because there’s things I feel uncomfortable with. A dirty kitchen is one of them.
And I am far from an obsessive house cleaner at home! We keep things relatively tidy and clean but again, we just have someone once a month come and do a thorough cleaning. In between, we keep it under control but our house is far from immaculate. So it’s not like I have a cleaning compulsion!
Oh man, I so relate to everything you said! Including cleaning stuff that you didn’t make dirty just in case you might get blamed for it, and also the pets being upset. It’s really not how I want to spend the end of my time at a sit, either. And it can really cut into your time to do other things.
I more often sit alone, too, and I wipe up as I go. But are you really saying you don’t: Clean your spit off the bathroom mirror and toothpaste etc out of the sink, wipe down the bathroom counter, clean the toilet with a brush, clean the kitchen sink and counter, run the dishwasher and unload it, scoop the catbox and sweep up the litter on the floor?
Oh yes, cleaning off the stove top after I arrive. Have had to do that kind of thing on a few sits.
Thanks for your comment – I find much to relate to!
And I know there are some horror stories from owners coming home to a mess. That would be awful!
I would, too, for sits of at least a week!
Yes to what you said! And I also limit what rooms I use if at all possible. I usually sleep in a guest room which helps. I don’t even go into the owners’ bedroom or bathroom unless I’m looking for a pet who might be in there. Ditto for their office if they have one. Just makes it easier.
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I don’t understand why an HO would require that. Why would they care whether I was vacuuming every day? Or whether I had kept the kitchen counter picture-perfect clean and uncluttered during the sit.
I agree, I don’t apply to such sits either.
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I definitely look to see if listings have a housekeeper now. Always a very big plus when they do.
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Why would I spit on the bathroom mirror ? Yuk.
I clean as i go so I wipe the bathroom sink/ toilet brush daily, as i do at home. Takes 2 minutes.
I wash pots daily, I don’t use the dishwasher so the counters are wiped down when I wash the pots after a meal, daily, again takes 2 minutes. So i have no need to load and wait for a dishwasher to finish to unload it. I only have a cuppa in a morning, im not a breakfast person so only the cup to wash and put away.
I did say I hoover round, or sweep the floor as you say to get any bits off the floor.
Any cat litter again done at least once daily, depending on the cat. I didn’t realise everyone didn’t do this. So yes if its been used that morning I scoop again.
None of this takes hours.
I finished a sit yesterday and got a message from the HO to say they couldn’t even tell I’d been because the home was exactly as they’d left it.
Reading some of the comments on here about how long it takes I have wondered what would happen if the HO returned home early for some reason or the sitter had to leave in an emergency leaving the HO with hours of cleaning to do.
How much mess do some sitters make ?
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