Anonymous wrote:How much do you put into cleaning up your house before your ap arrives? Ours is clean, but we could certainly stand to get our carpets and couch cleaned before she gets here. Just curious bout what others do?

If your carpets and couch need to be cleaned, do it for yourself.

I remember being an AP in a pigpen in MA a few years ago ...
The host mom didn't do any clean up before I came or when I was there. When I got there I noticed the linen in my bedroom had obviously not even been washed for a long while ...
Anyways, I took a couple of hours on my time off every week to clean up the main area.
The only time she cleaned was right before she left for her vacation because she didn't like coming back to a ... pigpen lol

We have a twice a week service but it’s still a pigsty

I start it out at the level of clean/organized that I expect the AP to maintain. So, pretty seriously organized and clean. But nonoaint touch ups or carpet replacements!

Nothing special. Just the regular upkeep.

Do as you would normally do, day in and day out, otherwise hosting APs will be exhausting and frustrating.

Anonymous wrote:No Au Pair expects to find a spotless house
So, I wouldn't worry too much about having the whole house cleaned up before she gets there.
Just do what you always do and you'll be fine
Former AP.

We are not a super clean all the time family.

We do have a weekly cleaning service.

I do try to clean the couches and carpets prior to our au pair arrival just so they aren't sitting on a yogurt stain and thinking gross the from the first moment they come into our home. I feel like people feel more at ease when a place is clean when they arrive.

No Au Pair expects to find a spotless house
So, I wouldn't worry too much about having the whole house cleaned up before she gets there.
Just do what you always do and you'll be fine
Former AP.

Anonymous wrote:About the same as having friends over. Nothing over the top. Ap will live with you and get to know your mess anyway...

+100, the first PP is way over the top

About the same as having friends over. Nothing over the top. Ap will live with you and get to know your mess anyway...

Anonymous wrote:we have our entire home cleaned weekly by a service, and we are very clean during the week. So we may be over the top.

We use new AP arrival as home cleaning reminder; actually. so we have everything professionally cleaned prior to arrival. Carpets/couches/painting as needed.

We replace AP's carpet for their area every 3 years - it gets heavy traffic.

This year (after 6 aps) the entire room will get new paint/carpet/furniture.

Wow! Thanks for sharing

we have our entire home cleaned weekly by a service, and we are very clean during the week. So we may be over the top.

We use new AP arrival as home cleaning reminder; actually. so we have everything professionally cleaned prior to arrival. Carpets/couches/painting as needed.

We replace AP's carpet for their area every 3 years - it gets heavy traffic.

This year (after 6 aps) the entire room will get new paint/carpet/furniture.

How much do you put into cleaning up your house before your ap arrives? Ours is clean, but we could certainly stand to get our carpets and couch cleaned before she gets here. Just curious bout what others do?