You know you’ve done it too. The night before the lady comes to clean your house, you’re running around scrambling to clean up. The dirty dishes get put away and the crumbs are wiped off of the countertop. The laundry gets scooped up and thrown into the same basket they came out of when you made the attempt to sort it until your toddler decided to jump on everything you just finished folding. The piles of mail, magazines, and unpaid bills get shoved in a closet just so that your house doesn’t look that cluttered.
Honestly, we don’t have extra cash lying around to pay someone else to clean our house. But with a toddler and a baby, we don’t have the time either. The best I can do is get the laundry into the hamper and reload the dishwasher (sometimes). Since I am usually wearing a baby, cleaning the shower or toilet is NOT something that I can (or want) to do. Vacuuming with two light sleepers doesn’t seem like a good idea (and I hate to vacuum, but that’s another story). And let’s be real… by the time both kids are put to bed, and then put BACK to bed three or four times each, all I want to do is sit on the couch, watch TV, and drool.
The evening prior to my house getting cleaned is so stressful. It’s worth it, though, to be able to come in to a home that is free of clutter, smells fresh, and isn’t sticky… unfortunately, that only lasts about five minutes. Before you know it, the Legos are all over the floor, one or both kids has a poopy diaper, and even without a waffle in sight, everything seems to be covered in maple syrup. Still, it’s nice to know that for a fleeting moment – the moment from when the cleaning lady leaves until we take our first step back through the door – the house is acceptable enough to actually have guests over. By dinner time, however, all signs that the cleaning lady was there that morning have faded. It’ll be at least another three weeks until I can, ever so briefly, bask in the glow of the freshly mopped floors. Now, where did I put those bills?
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