Secret life of a housekeeper: ‘My wealthiest clients are the stingiest – one poured cheap soap into a Jo Malone bottle’

My mum suggested I become a housekeeper . It’s a job that has very much changed since the 1920s when you’d have lots of staff and everyone would have an area of expertise – whether that’s food service or laundry. Now I do the housekeeping and the nannying and work a bit as a PA.

I’m based in Manchester and I work around there. It’s a completely different job in the North and in the South. Down in London, you have a lot of Russians who are looking for housekeepers.

Those clients are used to being treated like princesses. They’ll have a household with a nanny, a housekeeper, security and cleaners. In the North, it’s different.

The clients tend to be footballers and wealthy businesspeople. Being a housekeeper up North is more of a rounded job, I think – you just kind of muck in. I started off working for one client, just one day a week, and then through word-of-mouth it spiralled.

I’ve been a housekeeper for 12 years now and I’ve had five clients..