Friday, June 13, 2008

Joy + Guilt

On Wednesday evening, I came home to an imaculate house. The bathroom was sprakling clean, the floors were all vacuumed and mopped, and the kitchen sink was shining. It was the first day that someone else cleaned my house. Coming home to that filled me with immense joy. It's been a long time since the WHOLE HOUSE has been clean at once. I might get the whole bathroom clean, but it's been a long time since the whole house was clean.

As many an old college roommate can attest, I'm usually the one cleaning the house when I'm experiencing any kind of stress, so a busy me usually equals a clean house. Since acquiring a husband and getting a job that requires an unhealthy number of hours working to stay afloat, I just haven't been able to stay on top of the cleaning. There's a lot of guilt around that too, especially since I've always been really proud of my mad cleaning skillz.

The stress of a dirty house finally outweighed the guilt over not doing the cleaning myself. We've hired someone to come in now and I think it's causing me unadulterated joy.

I just love a clean house. It makes me very happy.

8 comments:

Dan said...

We need a house cleaner too...!

jason said...

My-oh-my how I do enjoy having a house cleaner.
She simultaneously cleans our house and saves our marriage :)

Lucy van Pelt said...

Yeah, I think it may have that dual effect for me too. I think the DH still needs to learn the difference between picking up and cleaning though. He was asking why we had to clean before the house cleaner came when I told him to clear off the table and counter tops. So fun!

Holly said...

Oh, I love the idea of a house cleaner! Mostly just to have a clean slate (pun intended) to start from. I feel the same way about yard work...If all I had to do was maintain the beauty things would be so much better! We NEED someone to come clean the stuff we don't want to do like, windows, window tracks, screens...the list is endless.

Megan said...

Hey, could you talk this up around my husband, or better yet, get your husband to talk it up around my husband.

Colin R. said...

Three hours of house cleaner time: $75. Not having an edgy discussion about whose turn it is to clean the toilets or mop the floors: Priceless.

An Ordinary Mom said...

Forget the guilt and ENJOY immensely the clean house :) !!

PJMcD said...

I'd like to comment, but I'm stuck under the bus you've thrown me under.