I Need a Cleaning Lady

When we moved into our house last summer, we started using a friend’s cleaning lady. Sue came every Monday morning to dust, vacuum, clean the bathrooms and kitchen and some general straightening up. She was okay…sometimes the house would look better than others, but it was clean. And more importantly, I wasn’t the one who had to clean it.

About 3 months ago, Sue told me that she was going to be watching her grandkids full time so she wouldn’t be able to clean any more. She recommended her friend Mary to us, so we gave Mary a try.

Mary was no Sue. The toilets never looked clean, beds weren’t made, and she totally broke our vacuum. But, we didn’t want to be without a cleaning lady, so we kept giving her the benefit of the doubt.

Then it started getting ridiculous. The desk in the office had so much dust piled up that there was no way she had ever touched it. We were paying her $40/week (the same rate we had paid Sue), but I was still having to go over and clean stuff.

We didn’t know what to do. We didn’t really know Mary. Sue had been cleaning a close friend’s house, so there was built-in trust. And, Mary had a key to our house, so we needed to get it back before she could make copies and rob us blind or something.

I was still torn though…I work full time, have a puppy who demands my attention and have a life. I don’t want to come home and always have to be cleaning something or worrying about it. But it became clear that paying Mary to do nothing was just a waste of money.

I ended up telling her that I got a new job and would be home more (total lie) and if I ever needed help, I’d give her a call. She put the key through our mail slot, and that was that.

And my house is a mess. Ok, it’s not a total mess, but it’s requiring a huge amount of my time to remotely keep up with everything from the laundry to the bathrooms to the dusting and vacuuming. I’ve been so busy with everything else, I feel like I’m drowning and my life is turning into this big mess.

I’ve contacted a few maid services – and they want an exurbanite amount of money for every hour they spend at your house. Craigslist ads are not as pricey, but I don’t know these people. Yeah, they tell me they have references, but if I don’t know the referrer, what good does it really do me? (I watch a lot of crime shows…you need to be careful!)

I really believe that to have a balanced life and to be able to focus on my career, hiring help is necessary.

I miss Sue.