etc.

It’s taken me five and a half years to admit it: our house is neat, but it’s hardly ever clean. You see, I’m fine at organizing and putting things away (mail, newspapers, laundry, etc.) and this keeps the house fairly neat. But I’m not so great with cleaning and, as much as I like a clean house, I hate doing the cleaning. The only time I ever clean is when the dust bunnies start driving me batty, or when we have people coming over. And, even then, I’m not above doing a really superficial job of cleaning and I’m more than willing to turn a blind eye to the dust behind the furniture and the cobwebs floating from the ceiling. If you don’t move the furniture and if you dim the lights, the guests can’t see them anyway! And, hey, we hardly ever have guests! Why? Because the house is hardly ever clean.

It’s taken me five and a half years to admit this too: I think it might be time for a cleaning lady. The struggle, for me, always came down to reconciling the obvious advantages of having someone else clean for us (time saved, never having to pick up a mop again, etc.) with the vaguely uncomfortable and generally distasteful idea of paying someone to pick up after us when we’re able-bodied human beings. But then I read this post this morning on Things I Learned the Hard Way (which is a great new blog with all kinds of good female folk wisdom) and I think I’m finally ready to put the “martyrdom” behind me (which is what Jennifer Weintraub, the author of the blog post calls it. Brilliant! And so true) and make some calls. A quote:

it is ok to pay someone to do something you don’t like to do or don’t want to do. Just make sure you pay them fairly and don’t think you are superior to them because you put them on the payroll.

If you’ve struggled with the “outsourcing housekeeping” issue, as I have, I urge you to read the whole post. And stop being a martyr!