I knew that life was going to change a lot when Lily was born but I never thought about how it would affect cleaning our home. It hasn't been easy keeping our home clean with both Lily and Chloe and it's not because they're messy, it's more because I just can't do it while I'm watching them. Lily constantly requires attention, which is great, but the dishes pile up, things get messy, and what went from cleaning and vacuuming everyday has now turned to once a week, if that. I'm not saying that we're messy people and that our home is atrocious, no, I'm just saying that I'm personally not happy with it. I'm a neat freak who constantly wants things picked up, dusted, and cleaned.
The thought of hiring a housekeeper has crossed my mind more than once. I'll usually think it and then turn myself down convincing myself that between both Erin and I we can keep up. The truth is, we can't. Erin's job isn't just a job, it's a lifestyle. She's on call twenty four hours a day, she works a normal 8-4 M-F schedule, and then even though I don't like it, there are times she has to do work at home as well. I wouldn't ask her to leave her job, she loves her job and thank God there's people on this Earth willing to do those high burnout jobs, but on top of this, she's a full-time Mom and I'm busy Dad. I also work full-time, very odd hours, and then I take care of Lily during the day. Between schedules that differ, everyday life, and being parents it's tough to get the housework done consistently. We have this really nice knife sharpener that my in-laws always borrow and my Mother in-law is always asking me why the people with the best knife sharpener (us) have the dullest knives. I usually just laugh at her thinking to myself, I wish I had the time to do a lot of things. Unfortunately, Erin and I don't have "normal" jobs. We both work high burnout jobs on top of alternating our time with Lily. Fortunately, there's no need for daycare but it makes for a lot of work!
I finally broke down last night when I discovered ants in our dishwasher. Each year, I spray around the outside and inside of our home with Ortho's Home Defense which does an excellent job keeping ants out. This year, because of everything going on, I just haven't had time to spray. I've been noticing ants more frequently and I'm just disgusted by it. For people that used to be so clean, we now have ants! I decided after I saw those ants in the dishwasher that I was going to pursue my thought of hiring a housekeeper. I work with someone in the area who cleans homes and I've asked her for an estimate and explained what I would like to have done. I was happy with the estimate and now I'm really considering pursuing it. She would be able to do everything we haven't been able to consistently keep up on including areas which we always tend to let go such as, wiping down the cupboards, windows, and dusting.
Usually when something like this comes up I follow my gut which right now says to do this. I really feel like a few hours week or at least every couple of weeks will benefit everyone in my house. It needs to be cleaned as consistent as it was before Lily was born. I'm learning that as you let it go, things begin to move in and take over. That's not how I want to live my life and that's not how I want others in my family to live either. I don't want to always feel like we're trying to keep up, I want to get ahead. If we can't do it and we can afford the few extra dollars a month it only makes sense that we pursue this. Convincing myself that it will get better or that we can keep up is no longer acceptable nor is it true. It's time to really take control of the situation before it gets completely out of control!
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