What do these 3 pictures have in common????
ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.
And therein lies the crux of the problem.
Now, I will speak candidly. Not once in 6 years have I even thought about cleaning my bathroom vents, or in pulling my fridge out and sweeping and mopping underneath it. And if it did cross my mind, I don't make the time (I had to add the qualifier "make" since I am speaking in all candor) to devote to it.
I am very good about keeping up with clutter, and decent at staying fairly organized. Those things drive me bonkers if they aren't in order. But thoroughly mopping the floors (beyond the wet rag wipe) and cleaning blinds (probably done 2x in 6 years) are not my fortes. As I prioritize my time, this type of cleaning is just not on the top of the list.
Bed rest + New Baby + Not-Very-Good-at-it-in-the-First-Place = Rebecca is Getting a House Cleaner
The first two factors in that equation, finally put Brent over the top and he begged me to find some help.
The cleaner I found came highly recommended from several neighbors. Affordable. Thorough. Moves the furniture. It seemed like a fit for me. Earlier this week she cheerfully arrived and let me know it should take about 4 hours to do the initial deep clean. Ummm, at the four hour mark she was still in my 600 sq foot upstairs. At this point the true scope of my negligence began to surface. Over 7 hours of cleaning, at an intense pace, and she was still uncomfortable because she had to leave and hadn't gotten to everything. This woman takes pride in her work and she is thorough!
I began to laugh as she told me we would all breathe easier now and have a overall better feeling of wellness. If I was prone to be insulted I surely would have been. But thankfully, I could just laugh at myself. Soon she was laughing as well (in between her sneezes). She assured me, she has seen much worse homes. But who are we kidding? I know that was the token consolation phrase to the haggard, negligent housekeeper. It didn't change the gritty details.
I begged her not to share my dirty secrets (literally) with the neighbors. But here I am spilling them myself for the world and my posterity to read. Oh well. None of us are perfect.
I have to admit as my children made their forts today I didn't have to cringe as they pulled the cushions off the couch. There were no crumbs, pencils, or pennies.
Hopefully a few hours a month will help keep the dust bunnies, or jack rabbits away.
3 comments:
I'm so glad you finally did it! I think the key is finding someone just like her with your same standard of "clean." If she's not totally booked out, I'd love her name and number.
I LOVE it! And I'm totally jealous. I'd love to do that someday.
I want to come and see you and Berkeley now that I'm back in town!! I'll call you next week to see when would work. :)
Oh my gosh, I don't know very many women that get to the spring cleaning your talking about! Don't feel bad, I've never cleaned my bathroom vents and we just moved in so I'll probably think about under the fridge in six years...but having someone else do that sounds AWESOME!!! Glad you got some help, we can't take it all on by ourselves!
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