Today for the first time since we lived in Spain 12 years ago and help of the kind I am currently experiencing was $20 for 4 hours, I have experienced Nirvana. Bliss.
Chalk it up to the excellence of living Alone and Making my OWN decisions....
Today, the Housecleaners/maids/helpers - call them what you want - they showed up. And as I am typing/blogging/quasi working-from-home- my house is becoming blissfully CLEAN.
Why yes I have worked ridiculous hours for the last 7 years and never had any housekeeping help. I was not allowed to. Ex would not hear of it. We fought about it - I even said, "FINE if you won't hire help and want to clean instead of spending time with the kids, you clean and I'll pay YOU." He actually did pick up most of the slack. But I was miserable with a dirty house (not messy - we are pretty neat people. But worse - DIRTY). Oh and folks out there? We could afford it - while not "rich" we certainly had excess income although we were never certain exactly how it all magically disappeared every month. (Um wait, kids, boat, cars, tuition, mortgage, yep that about says it all)
I have paid the kids - mostly Daughter - at various times to clean the house. And she's pretty good. But not really reliable, particularly with her full school/activities schedule.
So the other night when I was really cleaning off my desk, I came upon the cell phone number of people my neighbors use, and I. Called. Them. And They Are Here. Cleaning. Chatting. Being wonderful. I think I am In Love.
For now I am only hiring them 1x a month. The kids are only here every other week. We can vacuum and clean in between. And if I need them 2x a month, we'll try that.
Seriously, I didn't know having help could feel this good. Almost makes working 16 hours yesterday worth it....
And as Dear Abby used to say, "Confidential to Broccoli": When you come this weekend, you'll get to sleep in a clean house - Please take time to NOTICE! Haha.
13 comments:
Oh, I'm so jealous!! I've been saying for years that I was going to start hiring a cleaning lady. Oh, hell, who am I kidding? I need a cleaning CREW! Especially now that I work 3 freakin' jobs!! My house is a disaster most of the time! It's always been a bit on the cluttered side (I think that's a school teacher thing. We tend to be pack rats, "Cuz you never know when you'll need that!") but now it's starting to get to the point where there's dirt under the clutter. Ick! My problem is that there's no room in the budget for such a "luxury," obviously, or I wouldn't be working 3 jobs!!! Ah, someday...in the meantime, I'll live vicariously through you ;-)
We've been talking about this for some time now since my husband has been gone for 7 months and with 3 kids, I struggle to keep up.
Of course, he'll be home in another month so now there's almost no point. :-(
You should have done this ages ago. You work too hard and too long to come home and worry about housework. Believe me the minute I get a full time job, I will have Hazel, or maybe Alice here weekly. Hell, maybe both.
:)
Enjoy!
Now I am trying to remeber the Jefferson's cleaning lady...Florence? Maybe I'll get her too!
I have a lovely lady named Linda who comes to my house once a week to clean. It is heavenly. I will eat macaroni and cheese every night to keep this privilege. It keeps me sane, and it's much cheaper than a therapist.
I told FCB that I would mow the lawn if we could use the lawn service allotment on a maid. He guffawed and said no deal. Yet he still complains because the baseboards are dusty. His fault. I don't do baseboards.
(I think I am wearing him down though, I have started using a fresh cup for every drink and am leaving the empty ones all over the house as psychological warfare.)
That is one of the first things I am doing for my mom when I start working. I will hire a cleaning person twice a month. She spends so much time cleaning that she deserves and needs a break. Oh and don't think I don't help out. I may at times be lazy but I do help out and well she has very specific ways of doing things and of course the house is never clean enough.
Yay. To you for a clean house and being to do what you want.
Woohoo! For us, it was the mow-and-blow yard crew, and a similar epiphany. I'm still at the "train-the-minions" stage so I don't want to demonstrate outsourcing until they all know how to vacuum, dust, scrub, wash dishes, do laundry, etc. But a girl can dream, can't she??
Good for you! I love that feeling. I don't think I'll ever get used to it.
Good for you! One by one, my SAHM friends down here are surrendering to the lure of the cleaning service, but I can't justify it on our current income and level of sloth. But heck, if anyone deserves a cleaning service, it's you.
Enjoy that nice, sparkling house.
AWESOME for you! You deserve it! (What's that phone number again?)
Without even meeting him I'm going to agree that your ex was a jerk.
I was a SAHM with 4 kids and my husband supported having a cleaning lady twice a month. I was the idiot that gave her up once the kids got old enough to do a good job--I am all about the teaching "responsibility and life skills."
When I go back to work full-time? My first act will be to find a cleaning lady. There's nothing like the sweet aroma of Pledge applied by someone else!
Ohhhh, good for you! Would love to partake...
I'm sure there are cleaning ladies over here, but IF any of my students have one, they're not telling....~~sigh~~I'm just going to go and cry now....and...no really...I'm happy for you...sniff sniff...oh great...now i'm homesick for the stupid smell of Pledge (thanks jenn!!)
Post a Comment