> It's a Percy Jackson fanfic she and Isaac are writing together! Just the thing to remind me not to despair about my parenting techniques.

I love this.

I have a question for those of you that have a cleaning person come in to clean your house. Do you usually schedule it for a time you're there? Or a time when you're not there?

Being here while she's cleaning seems like it would be awkward, but then again trusting a stranger in the house while we're not here also doesn't seem like the best thing.

I do it while I'm home, but up in my office (which I don't have her clean). I have a multi-level townhouse, so I'm way up on the 4th floor on a teleconference while she does 1-3 (...that makes my house sound HUUUUUGE, which it is not. Just a lot of stairs). (ETA: I work from home when not traveling, so it's usually just a matter of scheduling when I'm in town, which isn't a huge deal)

But I think most people do do it while they're gone...if you get a cleaning company that is insured and bonded, in theory you would be covered? I think some people also might plan to be home the first time or two and then be gone?

I try and leave to get out of her way.

I find my cleaning person prefers to work when the house is empty, whereas my DH likes to hang around while they clean. This difference of opinion may be one reason why we no longer have a regular cleaning person. ;-)

awkward, but then again trusting a stranger in the house while we're not here also doesn't seem like the best thing.

One summer in college I worked for a maid service that sent teams of three around to people's homes. Some were present while we were there, but many were away at work. You do whatever is comfortable and convienient for you. If the cleaning service is licensed and bonded, then they have insurance to cover potential losses. I suppose if one of the cleaners were dead set on stealing personal information for the purposes of identity theft, that might be less easy to protect against - but unless you are planning to follow the cleaner(s) around and watch every move they make, you will just have to trust that to whatever privacy and security measures you habitually take. I never felt particularly awkward about cleaning when someone was home - and in one place, had a lovely experience: I was cleaning a room with lots of artwork, pottery, sculpture - lovely stuff and I was very nervous that I might break something. The woman who lived there noticed my discomfort and graciously eased it by talking to me about where she had gotten each piece and showing me that ordinary care in handling it would be sufficient.

Snarl. I'm having one of those mornings where everything is planned a little too tightly and so I'm just a bit late on everything.

When I had a cleaning service, I did as meara and stayed in my office while they cleaned. I didn't have them clean the office, but they usually vaccumed anyway, which was nice.

I miss having a cleaning service. Once my car gets paid off, I might hire one again. It's really nice having the whole house clean at the same time, which I never seem to manage on my own.

We are sometimes here, sometimes not, but our cleaning person has been cleaning for us for about 5 years now, and is our ex-nanny's sister, so we were comfortable with her from the start.

I'm always here when the cleaning service is working, but that's because I'm paranoid that the cats will get out/do something unfortunate/have problems.

My Mom's maid worked for her for over 30 years and became a family friend who house sat when Mom was out of town.