Why Hiring a Cleaning Lady has made ME a Better Housekeeper!

I know there are SuperMoms out there who manage to keep a sparkling clean house while working full time and also while on maternity leave – kudos to all of you!  Sadly, I am not one of those moms.  Call me lazy or what-have-you, but I don’t like cleaning, period.  I love the end result, but I certainly don’t love scrubbing floors or putting my hands in dirty toilet bowls – GAG. 

It seems ridiculous, even to me, that now that I’m home all day I have even LESS time to clean the house than I did when I was working full time.  Babies are demanding!  And I want to be able to answer his every demand and sit on the floor and play with him and take him for walks and swimming lessons and all kinds of other fun stuff.  When he does take a nap (which are rarely more than an hour), the last thing I want to do is clean the house.  I want to relax, surf the net, watch a little Corrie or another show that is filling up the PVR or just BE.  Is that selfish?  Probably, but there aren’t very many selfish moments for a mom and we all need them.  I also don’t want to spend those precious weekends with my family cleaning the house or have my husband spend his weekends doing it.

So when we decided to hire a cleaning lady (that sounds so old fashioned, I’m sorry, April), I heard fireworks go off in my head and felt this great sense of relief.  I stress about the state of the house all the time, so much so that it will prevent me from having anyone over.  When guests are coming I am a frantic, bitchy mess (sorry hubs…). 

Speaking of hubs, he does most of the cleaning around here (I can hear those jealous “tsks” right now, ladies).  I can count on one hand how many times I’ve cleaned the bathrooms (other than just a spot clean with a Lysol wipe…).  He is also on fur patrol every week and vacuums the entire house to get up those cat fur tumbleweeds that accumulate in what seems a matter of minutes after said vacuuming has occurred.  Yes, I married the world’s perfect husband.  Amen. 

We’ve only had a cleaning person come a few times now, but it has made me much more  conscious of keeping the house tidy.  Not only do you not want your cleaning lady to think you are a complete slob, you want her to be able to clean without stuff everywhere.  I’ve heard others joke about cleaning before the cleaning lady comes, and it is so true!  Before she comes it forces me to pick things up and put them away, to make the bed (I am guilty of NEVER making the bed), make sure there are no dirty dishes in the kitchen, and maybe take a Lysol wipe or two to the bathroom to spare myself the embarrassment of a dirty bathroom. 

After she has been here, I am much more conscious of keeping the house clean.  I wipe the counters with more vigour, I clean out the kitchen sink after the dishes are done (yah, I know, most of you do this all the time), I wipe any splatters off the stove top (again, yah, yah, I know…), and keep things tidier so it’s not as big of a job the day before she comes again. 

If you are contemplating hiring a cleaning lady, do it.  It’s the best money you can spend.  It gives you time to spend with your family that is so precious (babies are only babies once and as a mom with a teen as well, I know how fast they grow up), and there’s no shame in it!  If you’re in the Hamilton area and are looking for a recommendation, let me know and I’ll hook you up! 

For now, I sign off while I admire my house that was cleaned by someone else today which has given me the time to write this post!  

Me in the bathroom I would rather someone else clean!