We've gone and done it

And now I admit to it: We've hired a cleaning lady for the house.

This is a luxury and not a necessity. Our house is generally clean enough because I'm slightly OCD over it anyway, and I even find cleaning therapeutic. We only have one kid and she's certainly not a messy one (yay for that).

But a few weeks ago my co-worker came in raving about a cleaning woman she hired and how she was all sparkles and details and how her weekends are now free for the family and hobbies, etc instead of cleaning over and over. I thought it sounded nice and interesting but still, my house is pretty clean as it is (my approach for the most part is to clean as I go...). In fact I'd tried a cleaning person once before a year or so ago and just didn't see it as something I'd pay for long term.
Plus it would be weird having a stranger in the house. Would it be worth the money for me to pay someone who could maybe keep it a tad bit cleaner? I mean, enough for me to actually notice a difference?

As it turns out, the answer is YES.

We gave her a try since it's off season for the lawn service and so had a little extra cash in the budget (hey we used to do the lawn ourselves too when we had the 8 hours per weekend to devote to that lawn...and anything else we wanted to do freely too).

She has secrets (that I now know) that makes all of our stuff sparkle. Her first week here she somehow managed to get mildew stains, etc, off of our disgusting shower stall, and make it look new. So the past few weeks since, I'd been after Paul to re-caulk it now that it's all clean and ready. Lo and behold, when I got to the house last night, the woman had CAULKED OUR SHOWER. Paul was off the hook and we hadn't even asked her to do it. Her vacuum leaves those really great, neat, professional-looking lines, and she does it in a neat pattern that makes the carpet look just cleaned.

Anna, pointing to the lines, "Mommy, what's THAT?!" As if I never vacuum! She apparently has a magical cleaning lady vacuum (OK, probably just the kind with combs, which Paul, ex-vacuum cleaner salesman, cautioned me against thinking too much of...nothing's as great as the Orion Tri Star, even if ours is 13 years old!).

Frankly the cushy carpet feels so great on my feet. This morning when I woke up, I was surrounded by so much plush clean that I didn't want to get out of my bed.

She's been here twice. She comes every other week. That way I can still have my own cleaning therapy in between.

This is a luxury for us, I realize. And so this is a bit different for us since we're really not ones to spend money on luxury items that aren't a necessity (except travel!). I mean I barely even ever buy new clothes. Other moms who have it I know see it as a necessity. In my mind, cleaning can be done almost any time, in any weather, and even after Anna's gone to sleep (energy permitting, which hasn't been lately). In the past, when I've learned that other friends/moms I know have a weekly house cleaner, part of me thought that was a nice luxury and I wouldn't waste the money when I can clean my own home. But they might have said the same about my lawn service. It's an interesting thing: I get why families see a house cleaner as a necessity. It allows them to spend more time with their families instead, or cooking, or hobbies. To each their own. Whatever gets us through.

For me, it sure feels like a luxury. In time, I wonder if I'll begin to see it as a necessity?