Hiring a Housekeeper

I learned some good lessons when I was a stay-at-home mom, one of them being that I can't do it all. I had always thought people with house cleaners were lazy or living in houses too big for them to reasonably manage.  Or that a stay-at-home parent negated the need for a housekeeper. 

Much to my surprise, I had trouble keeping up with housecleaning when I was home full-time. Being home all day meant that the house took a beating. My day was a constant rotation of sweeping, vacuuming, running loads of wash, folding laundry, wiping down counters and tables, changing diapers and taking out the trash, and no matter how many times I did these tasks, I just couldn't keep up. And that was just routine cleaning. Deep cleaning the house was virtually impossible with little kids underfoot. I couldn't vacuum if they were napping or mop floors if they were awake, and by the time they took naps or fell asleep for the night, I was too exhausted to clean anymore.   I vacillated between feeling simply overwhelmed by the state of my house to feeling like I was going to snap if I couldn't erase the dirt and clutter. 

Now that I'm back at work, some of the household chores are more manageable, thanks to a nanny who's naturally a clean-as-she-goes type, while other things, like laundry and deep cleaning, grew unmanageable.  The real problem is that, of my own making, I'm a victim of the "second shift."  Even though I'm no longer a stay-at-home mom and I work a full-time job outside the home, most of the domestic work falls to me.  I grocery-shop, cook, manage the nanny, schedule appointments for the kids and take them there, arrange babysitters when we want to go out on the weekends, do laundry - and, of course, clean. 

Chris had long resisted the idea of a housekeeper because of the cost.  Even though I lack time, my frugality was making me feel guilty about paying for something I'm capable of doing on my own.  But that I was the problem, I was doing it on my own and I was fed up.  The few times we'd had a professional house cleaner come, I felt so much more relaxed when I wasn't noticing every crumb on the counter top or sticky spot on the hardwood floors.  So I finally contacted a housekeeper who quoted me a great price and could come on a regular schedule.  Chris again balked at the price.  Then I calmly explained the other option of dividing up a chores list and doing it on our own.  I couldn't even finish explaining this other idea when he dismissed that one too and suddenly agreed to the housekeeper. 

I'm hoping that having a housekeeper relieves some of the stress I've been feeling about the house.  And although I still feel guilty about hiring a housekeeper, I remind myself it's okay to do things that make your life easier and that just because we need help at this stage in our lives, doesn't mean it'll be like this forever.