Cleaning Lady

A couple of months ago I broke down and decided to get a cleaning lady. 

Best. Decision. Ever.

It started with Don announcing after working from home for over a year and a half that his company has no plan to ever return to the office. None. Maybe February 2022, but then again we've heard this before.

The next phase in my realization was that as much as it is an annoyance scrubbing toilets my family uses, it is less appealing to do for the exchange student living in our house this year. Yes, I should treat him like family. Yes, I can assign chores to him. But I don't feel like being a slave to cleaning up after him, or reminding him to clean up after himself, or grumbling when I see it is not done.

Then I realized how much I hate cleaning the house when everyone vacates the house because they so rarely all leave at the same time. 

Why should I spend that precious alone time scrubbing toilets and vacuuming because it is the least disruptive to everyone else?

In frustration I said to my husband I'm done, I want to hire a cleaning lady.

He remembered a friend who has her own house cleaning business and suggested we call her. Thanks to the pandemic, her business had slowed down and was just now picking up again to the point where she has openings again.

A match!

Sylvia comes once every four weeks to clean the bathrooms, kitchen, and vacuum all floors -- including the dreaded staircase.

The real miracle is that once every four weeks my husband puts away all of his laundry and tidies up things he doesn't want in her way. The exchange student cleans up his room so she can get to his floor. I can read a book without guilt when they both leave the house.

Between her visits I can still run the vacuum and do some touch up cleaning, as can Don and the the exchange student.

Or not.