I absolutely hate them. Not because the weekend seems so far away, not because of the lack of good tv, and not because they tend to be one of my busier days at the office. You see, Tuesday is the day that I set aside to impress one person – our cleaning lady. Yes, I know, I should be happy to have someone that will come and clean my house so I don’t have to, but trying to impress her week after week is exhausting.
It all started about this time a year ago when Marilyn, our cleaning lady of 4 years decided to move to North Carolina with her family. She was excited about her move and we were happy for her, but a little scared about what was going to happen to our house after she left. Sure enough, things got scary. Quick. Like, really scary. Embarrassingly scary. We started getting recommendations from friends and trying new people, but were unhappy. Some didn’t clean, others cancelled at the last minute, and one just didn’t show up at all, then yelled at us when we called to ask if we could reschedule (we were desperate and she came with a great recommendation).
In May, a good friend got us on “the list” with her cleaning lady. She was highly recommended and had a crammed schedule, but we were on the list. It was love – for me at least. She hadn’t even given me a quote, but I didn’t care. This was going to work. I quickly scheduled our walk through appointment to get a quote, but in reality, I didn’t care what number she said, I was pretty sure we were going to pay it.
On the morning of our walk through, the girls had a playdate, so I took them and excused myself a little early so I could run home and tidy up a bit. I should have tidied up before I left, but I was still struggling on how to get both kids out the door in the morning, let alone have time to clean. So imagine my surprise when our new cleaning lady greeted me at my door, 30 minutes early for our meeting. After internally freaking out a bit, I opened the door to let her and her son in the house.
The look on her face said it all. I had that fear like I was going to be dumped right before prom. I scrambled to make excuses as to why it was that messy on this particular day, because it was “never that bad”. Oh, but it was. All the time. As we ended the tour, I vaguely remember saying something to the effect of, “well, with the baby being so little I just don’t have the time…I mean, I try but…” to which her son responded, “Yeah, I guess it’s hard for you, but…” He never ended that sentence. Instead he just looked around my home with a look of terror in his eyes, like “Lady, I’m considering calling the health department or submitting your house to that show Hoarders”.
And so it began, my quest to impress my cleaning lady. Week after week, I pre-clean for her, afraid that she might dump me because as bad as things were when she first came to our house and Hazeline was a little baby, it’s way worse now that I’m at work. I get home each night, spend as much time as I can with the girls, struggle to stay on schedule, and I’m exhausted by 8:30pm. I have just enough energy to load the dishwasher and maybe put some laundry in the machine, because we just can’t go without clean bottles and fresh clothes. Trust me, I’ve tried. It can’t be done. We need those two things.
But Tuesday? That’s the day I push myself to make my house presentable – the laundry is folded and put away, the toys are pushed in the general direction of the toy room, and I clean out the fridge. All so my cleaning lady won’t dump me. So I don’t come home to a note that says, “I just can’t take it anymore, find someone else.” I fear that day.
Please tell me I’m not the only one that goes through this crazy ritual.
I seriously feel like we’re living a parallel life or something! We do the same thing with our cleaning lady every two weeks. It’s the mad rush to clean for the cleaning lady which really means put your stuff away so they can actually clean all the surfaces. Every other Monday, I’m practically late for work because I’m putting away last minute stuff as I’m walking out the door. The remainder of the time, we are pretty messy…just stuff everywhere. Piles of mail, unfolded sheets that Bruna last washed, toys EVERYWHERE and a wreck in the kitchen. I honestly do not know how I would find the time to do the deep cleaning Bruna does for us so it is worth every single cent I pay her. She also saved my marriage b/c we were constantly bickering over who was doing what. At least I get that time with my kids instead of cleaning the entire house.
Yeah, I feel that by paying the cleaning lady, I’m essentially paying to have the time with my kids instead and that is worth it to me. I’m exhausted on the weekends and after work, so I do the bare minimum to make the house livable (you know, so the health department isn’t called).
And what’s up with the piles of mail? Ours is everywhere! I think online bill pay has made me not care about what we get in the mail because the payment is probably already scheduled to go out.
Oh, and going from having her clean every other week to once a week, saved our marriage – okay, maybe not really, but it was getting bad.
I can’t say I’ve ever done that – I’ve lobbied for a cleaner but so far, my husband isn’t going for it. But I have heard of people doing exactly what you do. For some, they have to straighten, because their cleaner won’t move things to clean, but for others, they have the same affliction of pre-cleaning.
I would love to attain this affliction….at least every couple of weeks…
Yes, I know, I shouldn’t complain. I’m lucky to have someone. I think my toddler’s whiny habits are rubbing off on me!
This is funny. I’m the Nanny and I’m the one who has to “straighten up” before the cleaning lady comes, and she comes Tuesdays and Fridays!
So you’re saying I should look into getting a nanny? I like the way you think! LOL
LOL! I always cleaned up before the cleaning people came. You have to! If I didn’t, they would make piles of the crap laying around and then I have to put the piles away.. I’d rather they use their time to clean the house 🙂
It does sound funny though doesn’t it? Cleaning for the cleaning people!
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