By Kate Hula 
I have a Suzy homemaker confession to make. I slipped into a situation, a plan, an investment that I don’t want to get out of. Or give up. Only if I have to.
Background: I’m an independent gal. I’m used to doing things myself. I take pride in handling situations on my own with little help, or no help at all. There is no obstacle I’m afraid of, one I cannot complete. If anything, I always give it the old college try.
Truth: That old college try, wore out on me. Some day-to-day tasks have gotten away. Day-to-day is too kind, more like weekly, or weekend tasks. Monthly too.
Confession: I hired a cleaning lady. Do I call her a cleaning lady? Housekeeper? Maid? No, that’s too Downton Abbey. I live in a normal house in the burbs, not a thirty plus room English estate. Without sounding too pretentious, I’m unsure of the appropriate term but someone cleans my house for two hours once a month, or every other month. I haven’t decided on the set schedule – the plan is still fluid and depends on how much I can get done on my own.
Dream: My house is my home, my control. I’m the project manager of the palace, I know what rooms need to be dusted, which toilet is overdue for a cleaning, when it’s time to vacuum. My house is spotless.
The Real Truth: I cannot keep up with the house work. Clean, scrub, fold, put away, pick up, wash. Repeat. I handle the laundry, and spot clean my kitchen floor when Ben makes a pee puddle. Vacuum when needed. The little stuff, I’m on top of it. But the big jobs that require a little elbow grease….are getting away from me. Maybe it’s my job, or the baby. Or, I’d rather spend an extra hour at night watching Sons of Anarchy on Amazon Prime than scrub my shower. There is always tomorrow, and the next day. Or another week.
And that other week does pass, so does the next. Then an ugly feeling of guilt festers when I look at a layer of dust creeping over my dresser. I should have done that a week ago and forgot. Then I stress over what I should have done, and what needs to be done. The cycle continues, yet I’m never on top of it.
So, I took a shortcut. I’m loving it too. Call it lazy, call it busy, call it a touch spoiled, or first world problems. I understand all of it. I call it, smart.
My Reason: I look at the situation this way. We cut cable. That’s eighty extra dollars a month in our pockets. With that, I invested the funds into my house.
Life is busy for everyone. We all have “stuff to do” and cleaning gets away from us. If you live in an apartment or Downton Abbey, I think it’s perfectly OK to have someone clean your house. Whatever makes you sleep at night.
False: I’ll stop cleaning all together.
Oh no, I will still clean and will continue with the little chores, or knock out a big chore. A clean home, makes a happy, stress-free wife. And makes me sleep at night.
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