First-week checklist for a new helper

Free and printable. Tick items as you go: your ticks stay on this device. Print it and stick it on the fridge.

Print this checklist

Before she arrives

• Her room or sleeping space is ready: bedding, a fan, a place for her things
• Wi-Fi password written down, phone charger point sorted
• Emergency numbers on the fridge: your mobile, a second adult, the nearest clinic, 995 ambulance, 999 police
• Settling-in Programme booked (see the MOM quote below)

Day 1

• Walk her through every room and say what happens in it
• Show the main door, keys, gate and how to lock up
• Show the gas, the water heater and the main power switch
• Show where the first-aid box and medicines are, and whose medicine is whose
• Agree how she reaches you during the day: call, message, which number

Days 2 to 3

• Show each appliance once: washer, dryer, oven, rice cooker, vacuum, iron
• Label cleaning products and say which surface each one is for
• Say what she should not touch or clean (altar, artwork, devices, a child's room)
• Write the weekday routine down, hour by hour
• Write down food rules: allergies, halal or vegetarian, what the children may eat

Days 4 to 7

• Write the weekend routine and how it differs
• Agree her rest day and write it down so nobody has to remember
• Go through the children's or elderly family member's schedule together
• Ask her what is unclear so far, and fix the written routine
• Put everything above in one place she can read in her own language