Ten minutes
well spent.

Clear the surfaces

Every minute Astrid spends moving your things is a minute she isn't cleaning. Clearing the kitchen counters, the coffee table and the bathroom vanity helps more than anything else on this page.

She'll clean around your things, but she can't clean a counter covered in mail, chargers and school forms without deciding where it all goes, and she'd rather not guess.

The rest of the list

• Get the dishes out of the sink, since a full sink can't be cleaned.
• Pick the toys, shoes and laundry up off the floors. They don't need to be spotless, just clear enough to vacuum.
• Tell her where the pets will be, so a dog coming round the corner isn't a surprise.
• Point out anything delicate, like a surface that can't take a certain product, furniture that shouldn't be moved, or an heirloom you'd rather she didn't touch.
• Tell her your priorities. If the kitchen matters and the guest room doesn't, she'll spend the time on the kitchen.
• Sort out access ahead of time, whether you'll be home, leave a key, or give her a door code.
• If you're in a part of Sterling, Ashburn or Brambleton with permit parking or narrow streets, tell her where to park.

What you can ignore

• Don't pre-clean. If you wipe the counters first, you're paying her to clean counters you already cleaned.
• Don't tidy the whole house. Clearing the surfaces is enough, and the cupboards can stay as they are.
• Don't apologise for the state of it. She has seen worse this week.

After the first visit

Tell her what you thought. If something was missed, or you'd like more time on the bathrooms, or the bins done differently, the first visit is the easiest time to change it. After two or three visits she'll know the house and you won't need to say anything.