The Magic Wand

How many of you really love cleaning your house?  I know there are people out there who really do enjoy this activity, but I am not one of them.  However, I do enjoy the feeling of having everything in it's place and rooms that are fresh looking and smelling.  I recently overhauled how I clean.  I also re-examined my expectations for living in a clean house with two little boys who make a messes faster than the Tazmanian Devil!  Wouldn't it be nice to wave a magic wand and viola, a clean house? Alas, the only wand I have is a toilet wand. 

In my next post I will share my thoughts about how I clean my own home. But today I want to address a large majority of women: those who work full-time outside the home and have a spouse who works full-time.  Why are you cleaning your own home?  You ladies have a magic wand at your disposal; it's called delegation.  A cleaning person is not just a luxury for those who have a six-figure income.  It's a necessity for a two-income family.  Back in the days where most women stayed home it was just expected that she did the majority of the housework. This made sense.  The husband worked away all day and someone had to take care of the home.  So why are many people still in the mind set, even in our "enlightened" society, that most of the housework falls on the woman's shoulders even when she is gone all day long just like her husband?  On top of that we have a mountain of activities kids are involved in these days.  Enough already!  Find someone to clean for you on a weekly or bi-weekly basis and see how your life changes. 

"Well, that's high and mighty of her saying that," I can hear you say.  "She doesn't know my financial situation." You are right, I don't know your financial situation, but I do know this:  peace of mind is priceless.  Coming home to a messy house where you struggle to find what you need or are grossed out by the condition of the bathroom zaps your energy.  Are there ways you can find some "extra" money hidden in your budget to hire a cleaning person?  Are you so busy trying to play catch up at home that you buy takeout food even though you would rather cook your family a healthy homemade meal?  You actually could have time to do that and save money if you let go of the cleaning responsibility.  Or maybe you always go out with friends instead of having them over because you are embarrassed at the state of your house.  Having people in rather than going out will save you money.  Maybe you have a lot of things that you need to get rid of that are just taking up space in your home.  Have a garage sale and earn the money to hire a cleaning person. As a bonus, you will also feel more relaxed in your home because of the reduced amount of clutter. 

These are just a few ideas to get you started thinking about how you can incorporate cleaning delagation into your life.  If your husband is opposed, tell him that you are giving him the opportunity to do all the cleaning for the next month.  I'll bet he decides that you can find the money somewhere!  

It should not be too hard to find someone to clean for you.  Ask around, post it on Facebook, and look in the classifieds.  If you are fearful to commit to someone then tell your potential recruit that you are looking for someone to help you "catch up" on housework.  This allows you a trial period to make sure you like their work, can trust them, and see if the scenario works for you.  That way if it doesn't work out you don't have to fire the person because it was just a temporary position to begin with.  And if it does work out then you can ask her to come back regularly. 

As a very part-time work-from-home mom I am dutifully keeping up on the housework in my home.  In my next post I will share how I have made that job less of a chore.  But you can bet when the time comes for me to get back into the workforce full-time the first thing I am doing is finding a cleaning person!  My time is much too valuable to spend with a toilet wand.  Bring on the magic wand!