Cheap vs. Thrifty: Cleaning Services

Being sick in bed gives you a new perspective on dust.  I spent Wednesday either in bed or on the couch and I saw different surfaces I don’t usually see during the day.  Sunlight has an amazing way of highlighting dust – and cat hair.  So while I was lying there observing the dust that sparkled in the sunlight, I contemplated once again about my motives for not having a cleaning service. 

The main reason I give my husband is that I don’t like to manage the cleaner(s).  It was a consistent pattern to have them start off like gangbusters and do a really great job.  Then each week they stayed a few minutes less and did a little less until they were cleaning my house in an hour and a half (and charging me for 4) and I really couldn’t tell the house was cleaner.  Finally I would get frustrated and let them go because I could do what they were doing for free so why pay for it? 

Managing other people requires confrontation when the job they do starts going south and I am  just not good at it.  I become friends with them and chat while we work.  Yes, I said we because another problem I have is sitting around while someone else is working.  I tried reading magazines once while they worked but that felt terribly wrong.  There have been two people that always did a wonderful job but they quit to go to college or change careers. (I know what you are thinking, but we were friends and they really did go to college and did change careers.)

So, another option is that I am cheap vs. being thrifty.  I have been accused of this before so this is not a new revelation but one I need to look at a little closer.  A friend of mine from Brazil once told me that even cleaning people in Brazil have other people clean their houses.  She said that it is impossible to clean your own house efficiently because there are too many distractions and being a tad ADD I can appreciate the distraction part.  FLYLADY is a cleaning program designed for perfectionists and easily distracted adults.    But like any self-help program we slowly think we can handle it on our own or get busy with an all-consuming project like costuming a show and Flylady goes right out the window.

Once my house was the cleanest it has ever been and it was totally free!  A good friend moved across town so we decided that we would get together every Tuesday and visit while we cleaned together.  We had only one rule and that was that we never cleaned each other’s bathrooms.  I was doing Flylady at the time and my house was getting better every week.   My husband was in heaven!  But it started to get harder and harder for both of us to schedule the trips across town.  Sick children, school commitments, her part time job, it just fell apart.  We are still very good friends, we just get together for a glass of wine instead of Windex and paper towels!

I still do not have an answer to my dilemma.  Should I hire a cleaning service or light a new fire under myself with Flylady and renew my resolve to keep up with the house?  I don’t have an answer today but I do know that since I am feeling better, I am tackling a few dust bunnies while I ponder this some more.