Guilty Wish: Hire a Cleaning Lady

Throughout the last year that my husband and I have been living together and the almost three years we've been together before we were married the one topic that still isn't quite perfected is the housework. I'm sure this is the case in many a modern day home where both people work full time jobs. We tried different methods in the past such as planning a cleaning schedule, and it worked for a day or two and end of the day fatigue or a movie on TV would take precedence over the plan. I even gave up at one point and nominated myself the "domestic maintenance representative" and charged my husband one hundred dollars a week to everything from dishes to laundry to cleaning. That was probably the longest running trial of them, however after about four months of doing it all on my own and being exhausted I retired my title and went back to going dutch on the chores.

As it stands now I still dictate what has to be done and try to distribute about three to four weekly tasks to him including bringing out the trash and the recycling twice a week. It usually takes a few days but ninety five percent of the time he gets around to it eventually.

Dare I consider it?

After hearing this week that two of my colleagues (both men of course) regularly employ cleaning ladies to take care of the bi-weekly deep clean of their places I started toy with the idea of it myself. I was raised in a 'roll up your sleeves and do it yourself' kind of family. We didn't hire people to do things for us, we didn't even go to restaurants - you get the idea. So even considering the idea of a cleaning lady is very foreign to me, and if my mother found out she'd probably be slightly shocked, and maybe even a little jealous I suspect.

A stranger alone in my home?

Everyone I've ever spoken to assured me that it's perfectly safe. I guess it depends on the person. I make up scenarios in my mind where I'm actually at home while she's cleaning; I'm usually on my computer working while she's taking care of the boring regular cleaning. According to Ruthie Appleby on Twittermoms.com she prefers to join in part of the job:

"..I used to work right along with my girl... and if we got done early I'd still pay her and have coffee etc...with her. I would ask her to come for 4-5 hours each week. We had lots of fun -- I think the key is finding someone you personally enjoy be their equal and have fun together then you not only have your house cleaned but you look forward to it working with a buddy- but that was me :) I just needed a helping hand I still wanted to clean.."

Cleanliness is next to..HAPPY!

As I was driving to work this morning, I scowled at the dust on my dashboard and my next natural thought was "I'm due for a visit to the car wash!". And then I stopped and asked myself, "Why do I bring my car to the car wash when I could technically clean it myself?" to which I logically answered "Because it's a big job and would take me forever to do myself". And then I suddenly felt less guilty about the idea of a cleaning lady..because logically cleaning our four bedroom apartment is one heck of 'big job' and it does take me forever when I do it on my own - actually I VERY rarely get through the entire job in one day. Maybe this guilty wish just might become a reality after all.