The sink was so grimy you could literally carve your name in it. Like writing "wash me" on the back of a dirty car. Yikes!! It was pretty gross, and I cringed every time I walked past it. As a mom of two little kids and a momtrepreneur, I was drowning in responsibilities, and cleaning the house was at the bottom of my list. Gross, I know!
I kept the house mostly picked up, but a deep clean just wasn't a high priority. And that dirty sink staring back at me was piling extra stress onto my already stressful life.
But I'm a stubborn DIY girl. I hate paying someone to do something I'm perfectly capable of doing myself. And while I don't love cleaning, I'm fully able to do it myself.
For example, I cleaned houses to earn extra money on top of babysitting when I was in high school. But it was becoming increasingly clear that just because I could do something didn't mean I would.
There just wasn't enough time in the day.
The stress of having all of that to do, and then feeling like I couldn't take care of my home, was making me a pretty grumpy person.
Another issue for me was that my house felt way too cluttered. I needed to declutter before I thought it would be worth hiring someone to clean. Looking back, I should have hired someone to help me declutter, but I did it myself.
I wrote my 30 Days to Less of a Hot Mess series based on my decluttering efforts, and they made a huge difference in my home!
Side note: my home is less cluttered than it's ever been, and it's amazing. I still have a few stacks of stuff here and there that need clearing, but it's nothing like it used to be! You'll see why it's stayed so clutter-free in a minute.
Why Am I Telling You About My House Cleaner?
And I want to be super clear about something. I'm not sharing this so I can wave around a "look-at-me" flag and have you admire that I have a house cleaner. Nope, not at all.
I'm sharing this to show how helpful it is to delegate something when it makes sense in your life. It isn't helpful to try to do everything yourself when you can afford to hire someone to help. Just as I hired a couple of part-time assistants for my work tasks, it makes sense to give someone else a job they can do, which frees me up for the things only I can do.
There comes a point when hiring help makes sense. AND a huge factor in my decision was reading account after account from other mompreneurs who had done the same thing. It helped me see that it really was worth it to free up time and relieve the stress and mom guilt.
So, if you're a busy working mom, a busy volunteer mom, or caring for a family member and cleaning just isn't high on your list, this might be worth considering. And even if you can clean and want to, sometimes it's better to delegate.
Pros to Having a House Cleaner
Besides freeing up my valuable time and giving me a clean home once again, I've found several surprising benefits to hiring a house cleaner. If you're on the fence, I hope these help you see the light!
- Once every 2 weeks my home is clean! Duh. Right? You're thinking I've lost my marbles. But I mean that my entire house is clean all at once. Both bathrooms are spotless. The hardwood floors are so clean they're slippery, and every surface is wiped down. I try to schedule events when I'm hosting people right after my house cleaner comes. Or I schedule weekend visitors right before she comes. LOL Make this work in your favor!
- The longer she comes, the cleaner my house gets. My cleaning lady has been coming for 5 months now, and the hot spots that were always messy are disappearing. For example, I'd never deep cleaned the baby's high chair. One day after she left, the high chair was missing! What?! How does a high chair go missing?? I walked into the laundry room and found it upside down in the utility sink. She had thoroughly cleaned that thing! Yay!!
RELATED: How to Declutter a Room in 5 Simple Steps
- It makes me pick up and sort through the junk every two weeks, which means I have less clutter and less mess. This is why my house has stayed mostly clutter-free for all these months! It forces me to declutter and throw away trash every two weeks instead of ignoring it. And now I'm decluttering even more, because I can see what I still need to work on, since everything else is tidied up!
- I have more time for my family. This means I get to spend more actual time with my family, and it's more quality time too. I'm not snapping at anyone because I'm frustrated with a dirty house. That's always a win in my book!
- I am more efficient. Have you ever heard the saying that physical clutter equals mental clutter? I truly believe it! Now that I have less clutter at home, I can focus and think clearly, where before it was hard to concentrate with all the physical distractions. My mind and schedule are freed up for the things only I can do, like mothering my children and running my businesses!
The One Thing that Could be a Problem
There aren't many downsides I see to having a cleaner home, but there's one thing I want to make sure doesn't happen. I'm extra careful that my girls still clean up after themselves and do regular chores around the house. This is mostly about my 6-year-old, because the 2-year-old is still a little young.
I don't want them to grow up thinking they can just get by without cleaning up. There are plenty of regular chores to do. As they get older and can help more around the house, I may cut back to having the house cleaned only about once a month, to give them the chance to learn how to keep their home clean.
It has been Totally Worth It
In the end, hiring someone to clean my home a couple of times a month has been more of a blessing than I ever imagined. It was worth giving up my pride in doing it all to get back some of my sanity. The lack of clutter, and the fact that it forces me to deal with trouble spots and messes, is just the icing on the cake.
If you're on the fence, I encourage you to at least try it and see if it works for you. Find a reputable cleaning company in your area that is bonded and insured. I highly encourage you to ask around for recommendations from trusted friends and family. That's how I found mine!
What are your thoughts? Has this been a valuable service in your life? Are you thinking about delegating the cleaning in your home?
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