 |
I pay a cleaner to do my dirty work - so what!
I don't work and I have a cleaner. Shock horror.
I did try to let my cleaner go after I quit my "proper" job, but I chickened out. Or rather, I decided that it would simply have too disastrous an effect on my mental health and shouldn't be attempted at any cost.
The truth is, the feeling I get when I return home on a Thursday (I say return home as if from a hard day at the office, usually it's from Costa or Warehouse) is indescribably beautiful. As I open the front door and breathe in the heavy sweet scent of pine and lavender, glance around from shiny surface to polished surface and back to shiny, the feeling is simply delicious. Pure, unadulterated joy.
In a house full of boys, body odour, wet toilet seats and general cack, cleanliness is indeed next to godliness in my book. So I'm just not prepared to sully it with feelings of guilt.
Yeah sure, people try to make me feel guilty. Give me "the look" when I admit to being a stay-at-home mum who doesn't do her own cleaning. That I am queen of the house and spend all my time there, but hot foot it out for cappuccino fun when it's time for my cleaning lady to arrive.
So, I have one indulgence. Shoot me. I've never had my nails done and when I visit the hairdresser, once every 2 months it's always for a basic cut and dry. I don't spend a fortune on clothes, don't buy expensive food, have been abroad only twice in 13 years (one of these being my honeymoon) and have one holiday a year involving copious amounts of rain and a damp caravan.
I'm not expecting sympathy - it's hardly sacrificial - just don't begrudge me my one simple pleasure while admiring your hooker nails or midi bob.
In any case, I'm really being rather socially responsible - giving the economy a lift by supporting local trade and keeping cash circulating. Okay, so sometimes it feels like I'm paying a servant to do a job that rightfully ought to be mine, but, hey, even the most ethereally perfect pair of Jimmy Choos comes with a certain amount of guilt.
You May Also Like
Comments (22)
-
Report
Wed Feb 8, 2012 - 11:37 am
I used to have a cleaner, even though my work (I WFH) didn't really bring in lots of dosh - so I did sometimes feel a bit guilty. Now that hubby has been made redundant I've stopped it and I'm really missing it - just like you I don't spend money on lots of things and this was one of the things that I did to give me a boost each week and put a smile on my face. Roll on me earning lots of dosh so that I can have one again! Never feel guilty for doing something that makes you feel great and doesn't hurt anyone!Reply -
Report
Mon Feb 6, 2012 - 2:34 pm
Let's face it, who on earth would volunteer to clean toilets, do laundry and change bed linen if it didn't have to be done? My mantra, after more than 20 years of marriage, is that I wasn't put on this earth to skivvy for other people, no matter who they are. Except that, as you mentioned, just because I have four hours of cleaning per week, doesn't mean I can sit on my arse in a shiny clean house. It's never ending - the picking-up, laundry, cooking (argh) school admin. etc. No need t feel guilty at all.Reply -
Report Fri Feb 3, 2012 - 12:45 amI JUST HIRED SOMEONE. My only problem is she is super hot.Reply -
1 reply, Last reply by marketingtomilk on Fri Feb 3, 2012 at 7:19 am
-
Report
Thu Feb 2, 2012 - 5:19 pm
And another thing, you're providing employment for another person, an opportunity for them to work. That is a very good thing.Reply -
2 replies, Last reply by Jill on Fri Feb 3, 2012 at 4:58 am
-
Report
Thu Feb 2, 2012 - 10:16 pm
I hate cleaning. I also live in denial of how disgusting my house clearly is. However I got told by my other half that he and his mum had discussed it and they both thought we should get a cleaner. Job. Done.Reply -
Report
Thu Feb 2, 2012 - 2:55 pm
I hate to clean. At the present time, I don't have a cleaner, so you an imagine what my house looks like!Reply -
1 reply, Last reply by marketingtomilk on Thu Feb 2, 2012 at 6:45 pm
-
Report
Thu Feb 2, 2012 - 10:56 am
I just don't DO cleaning. That is all.Reply -
1 reply, Last reply by marketingtomilk on Thu Feb 2, 2012 at 6:45 pm
-
Report Thu Feb 2, 2012 - 10:05 amGood for you! I am seriously considering a cleaner even though I have plenty of time for housework, I just hate it and feel resentful of spending hours doing something that gets undone in minutes. I always say to my OH that it's like him spending 3 hours on a report at work and someone coming along and deleting it, going back to work the next day, same thing and the next day and the next. Ggggrrrr.Reply
-
1 reply, Last reply by marketingtomilk on Thu Feb 2, 2012 at 6:45 pm
-
Report Thu Feb 2, 2012 - 10:08 amABSOLUTELY WITH YOU ALL THE WAY GIRL!Reply
-
1 reply, Last reply by marketingtomilk on Thu Feb 2, 2012 at 6:44 pm
-
Report
Thu Feb 2, 2012 - 12:21 pm
My dream is to have a once a week cleaner! I would much rather be fiddling with the roses or veg garden or sewing something beautiful, or painting, or sleeping, or reading, or filing my toenails or concocting a new recipe or doing a photo shoot or...yeah. Anything but wiping schmutz off the toilet and dusting the electronics. I am SO with you!Reply
-
1 reply, Last reply by marketingtomilk on Thu Feb 2, 2012 at 6:44 pm
-
Report Thu Feb 2, 2012 - 1:16 pmOhh I so remember that feeling. Close my eyes and I can smell it too. It used to be my favourite day of the week. While I worked that is. Now I am not working, and I let the cleaner go .... well the standard is much lower. Think it was a bad decision. You go for it.Reply
-
1 reply, Last reply by marketingtomilk on Thu Feb 2, 2012 at 6:43 pm
-
Report Thu Feb 2, 2012 - 3:54 pmMy rule is as long as you are not taking money from a place where it is needed, go ahead. I have always told my daughters, "No one regrets not having to scrub toilets."Reply
-
1 reply, Last reply by marketingtomilk on Thu Feb 2, 2012 at 6:42 pm
Enter the word as it appears in the box.