Hi
Just wondering what is acceptable to ask sitters to do?
We dont ask them to mow the lawn as our sit on mower has been broken several times in the past, but can we ask that plants are deadheaded, roses and geraniums, veg patch weeded (they get to eat the produce) long grass strimmed? We hand over our beautiful home to them in good condition and it would be lovely to get it back looking just as good. Also their sheets are ironed and crisp on the bed. A spare set in their room also ironed and clean. Can I ask that they wash and importantly IRON their used sheets to replace the spare ones? Thanks in advance for all replies.
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Errm, you can ask but you might not get many applicants.
Maybe imagine that a dear, trusted friend has offered to come and stay at your house and look after your pets while you are on holiday. Then imagine what you would ask them to do? I bet it wouldn’t be much more than stopping your plants dying and taking the post in…
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You can ask, but I and most sitters would pass on your sit.
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My thoughts on reading the original post exactly echo those of @Alicatorze and @Maggie8K: you can ask but you probably won’t get this, at least not from the most experienced and conscientious sitters.
For us, departure days include walking, feeding and settling the dogs / feeding and fussing the cats and cleaning litter trays; doing a last clean and check of the property; emptying and wiping the fridge; stripping the bed; washing the bedlinen; putting a clean set of bedlinen on (if available); doing a final clean of sinks, basins, taps and toilets and packing of the car.
Since we nearly always aim for a morning departure, do you seriously think we’d have time to dry and then IRON the bedlinen? Nope, nope and thrice nope!
As for gardening, include your requirements in your listing and you might get lucky, especially if the length and desirability of the sit warrants the work, and if applicants genuineky enjoy gardening. We only tend to do that stuff when it’s not specified in the listing though!
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I Googled “how many people iron their sheets?” and the answer was 20%.
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The sits I’ve done with ironed sheets have included regular house cleaners, who did that and made beds.
On most sits, I usually wash linens and reset the bed, travel time allowing, but would never iron my own sheets at home, much less anyone else’s.
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It’s acceptable to ask sitters to look after your pets and keep them to the same routine that you would and water any plants in the garden or inside the house. Whether the sheets get washed depends on the time the sitters have before they leave and your arrival. If you return home late at night and the sitters are leaving first thing the next morning it’s not going to happen.
I have ironed bedding twice in 99 sits, not because I was asked but because I was leaving later in the afternoon.
I might do a bit of weeding if necessary but off my own back, I wouldn’t expect to be asked. And I certainly wouldn’t want to be responsible for deadheading your roses.
As others have said, I’d pass on your sit if you were expecting the sitter to do these extra chores.
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Your crisp bedsheets would be burnt to a crisp if you let me anywhere near them with a hot iron!
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How long is this sit??
I think the garden work is acceptable for a long (month+) sit. 1-4 weeks, maybe scale it back a bit, and for a week or less, no. As others have said, make sure this is in your profile, and the folks who enjoy tending a garden can apply.
I don’t think it’s EVER ok to ask a sitter to iron sheets.
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A lot depends on the length of the sit. It also depends on the size of the garden and how much time would be required. I personally enjoy gardening and would care for a small garden for a longer sit (at least a month). I would need to see a lot of pictures so I could assess how much work it would be. There’s a big difference between 15 minutes a day vs a couple hours or more a day. If it looks like something that should really require a paid gardener, I wouldn’t do it. I also would not do the grass strimming, and I definitely would not iron sheets.
It would also depend on what other responsibilities are involved in the sit - number and type of pets. If a sit involves multiple dog walks a day, a sitter might be less inclined to take on additional responsibilities.
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I would definitely do the gardening bits and leave the house as I found it. But ironing…hmmm, not sure. HOWEVER, would it be possible for the sitter to drop off the bed linen at local cleaners for washing, drying, ironing and folding (at your cost)? Then you know it’s done to a high standard?
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I’m sure there is a sitter for everyone, and much would depend on what they are receiving in return. You can always put the request in your listing to gauge interest. I enjoy yard work and will wash sheets and remake the bed, but it would need to be a very special place for me to agree to ironing sheets. If these are very important to you, I would encourage you to be clear in your expectations to avoid a frustrating experience for you and the sitter.
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@Dolly Do you have any pets? You haven’t mentioned that. This would make a difference to the acceptability (or not) of extra tasks.
I think the amount of garden care you would like would probably be better entrusted to a gardener.
We’ve had a couple of sits where we were asked to do a little more than we felt was acceptable so we discussed it and negotiated a better arrangement. One host wanted us to use there big drive on mower to cut the grass of there huge property. This was in addition to caring for 2 horses, 2 cats several chickens and the pool! They were first timers- testing the waters I guess- but they happily made other arrangments for the grass cutting.
On our current sit with one cute, very low maintenance, cat the host asked if I could weed their stoney driveway- just whenever I saw weeds- as she’d weeded like a maniac before our arrival and was trying to keep it pristine. No problem at all- she was very friendly and I’ve been doing it happily. I also dead headed one of her rose bushes which was sorely in need (unasked)& swept up hundreds of fallen figs. i also washed some windows inside & out that were pristine on arrival, but too many flies had messed them up a bit, and I want to present the home back at the high standard we received it. I don’t normally do any of these extra tasks on a sit but in this case we’ve been here for a month & I’m just going with the flow.
We actually cancelled a sit last year -which we’d booked 2 months ahead- because 2 weeks before the sit the host suddenly made a new request. They wanted us to drive them to and from the airport (in their car) They said previous sitters had happily done that and had use of their car for the sit. We have our own car so that was no insentive to us. Their return time was 1.30am! And the airport was an hour away. We felt this request was very unreasonable for several reasons- the antisocial timings, the distance, the time involved and also the late request. They were only going away for 10 days so we felt they could easily have driven themselves to the airport and left the car at the airport parking (very cheap in Spain) but no- it seemed they just wanted a free chauffeur.
So, when asking for extra duties consider what’s in it for the sitter and if what you’re asking for is a fair exchange.
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What is an iron?
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Exactly.. polishing the silver and Home owners’ shoes.. sounds like you’re missing the butler, darling!
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the opening post reads like a sarcastic joke.
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I completely agree with this. Don’t ask sitters to do what you wouldn’t ask your friends to do. (And sitters should not ask homeowners to do what they would not ask their friends to do, if they were staying in their friend’s house. I would ask my friend for coffee, for example. But I would not ask to use their car. If they offered, fine - but I would never ask).
Who knows - maybe @Dolly is comfortable asking friends to iron the sheets when they’re a guest in Dolly’s home? I don’t know what culture Dolly is from, but in some African countries sheets (and everything else) have to be ironed to prevent a skin-burrowing parasite from taking up residence in the textiles. If that is the case, then sure - ask that the sitter irons the sheets, explaining that it is necessary to prevent skin maggot flies. Don’t be surprised, though, if there are very few applicants.
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Surely sitters can spend the last night sleeping on the couch, or not sleeping at all, to make sure that the bedding is nice and ironed and crisp the next morning?
They get to stay in such a beautiful property after all, and should be beyond grateful.
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You seem to be thinking of a sitter as hired unpaid help. If so, THS is not the platform for you. You have received some good advice above.
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I retired my iron in 1982 and not looking back.
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