Hiring a housecleaner changed my life. Once a week, my house is entirely clean, and this forces me to pick up the week's floating detritus so that the horizontal surfaces are available to be cleaned. She vacuums the whole house, dusts everything including the paneling on the doors (!), cleans the kitchen and bathrooms, and even makes my bed. I hate housework and therefore don't do it, even when I promise myself I will. Lazy Slatterns R Us. For the first time in my life I can have people over with only a quick picking-up before they arrive, and I'm not ashamed of my house! Totally worth it.

I keep thinking about getting a cleaning service...even called one that had a card in my local coffee shop. And they never called back! And that took all the motivation, apparently.

meara, I had the same problem with all the independent cleaners I tried to contact. I finally went with a "chain" service, with some trepidation, but I've been quite pleased.

Good god, the amount of cleaning I'd need to do before a cleaning crew could even get to work is appalling. I think they'd need to access the floor, for one thing.

I inherited our housekeeper from the last person who had this apartment. She's been here longer than I have!

Like inheriting a butler. I'd be afraid she's thinking, "The last people were so much nicer/better/cleaner/funkier/cooler"--or hopefully, "skuzzier".

Hiring a housecleaner changed my life

Oh yes. This. We have someone come every other week (and if we could afford every week you can bet your bippy I'd have that), and it's an utter godsend. Also SO healthy for a marriage. When we've cut budget corners this past year we have left the cleaning service off the list of potential cutbacks...because it's that important. (I mean yes, obviously we COULD cut it, but it's a last resort at this point what with the four animals and the two of us working crazy hours.)

Man, my sleep schedule and left shoulder are both totally borked. ::sigh::

Possibly the best quote out of context from last night's b-day party for K: "Hey, I may work at a strip club, but I still have feelings !"

I am tackling my feelings of overwhelm with a timer and to-do lists. I shall not be daunted! I shall prevail, or at least make a small dent in the mountain of tasks before me!

WRT housecleaners: What Pix said.

"Hey, I may work at a strip club, but I still have feelings !"

Thay guy was hilarious. Sorry we left early, Tom was nearing the end of his social time. It's sort of an unspoken deal we have: I respect when he's ready to go, and he respects when I say we need to go out. As he says, "if it were up to me (Tom), we'd never go out and if it were up to you, (Nora) we'd never come home."