I am currently living in the house that I grew up in. It’s really big compared to the small two story, two bedroom townhouse that we moved here from. I used to be able to clean that entire house in probably an hour.
After moving in here, I was determined to keep this house tidy and clean. When I was young, my parents always hired someone to clean, and the house sparkled. In my stubbornness, I was determined I didn’t need that. Then we had children. I diligently kept striving to keep everything as clean as possible, but failed constantly. I found myself getting really depressed at the state of my home.
Now don’t get me wrong, I am a big fan of the articles and blog posts by awesome moms encouraging other moms to just “let it go” and enjoy these fleeting years when your kids are small. Don’t worry about the laundry, the cleaning, the dishes, they say. I agree that on any given day, playing with my kids takes priority over making my house look nice. Though you have to understand, this is very difficult for me because I am a pretty type A, on-the-verge-of-OCD, organized person.
But I have to speak candidly here. It’s very easy to get stuck in the “let it go” mentality. Days of ignoring chores can turn into weeks, and even months. What starts as a small pile of guestroom bed linens that didn’t need washing immediately turns into a larger pile that becomes an overwhelming and time-consuming task. I would run the vacuum around before play dates but would always have an excuse to put off mopping.
It would take me an entire week or two to get all the toilets and showers cleaned, because I never seemed to have the time or energy to do more than little bits here and there. And yes, I think that’s okay for seasons in your life — like those first couple months with a newborn baby. My problem was that I never really got out of that newborn baby mentality when it came to cleaning. My babies turned into toddlers and I was still struggling. Maybe it’s just me, but I feel bleh when my house looks bleh.
Then one night, while out with my mom friends, I started sharing how depressed I was over the mess. I was surprised to hear that a couple of them had cleaning services. And here I had been beating myself up over how nice their houses looked compared to mine, even though they had kids the same ages as mine. Oh what a relief it was to hear that I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t get it all done, but desperately wanted to!
My husband and I sat down, looked over our finances, and decided how much we could afford a month to have a cleaning service. I called a couple companies and eventually met with a wonderful woman who came highly recommended by a friend. I gleefully arranged to have her come every other week to clean our house. Seriously, I’m pretty sure I jumped up and down in excitement after she left.
So now, every other Thursday, I run around like a crazy woman picking up all the toys, getting the dishes put away and putting out clean linens for the beds because she even changes the crib, which I detest changing. Then I give our “Miss Maria” a giant hug as she walks in the door ready to make my home look and smell like there aren’t two toddler boys living here.
So I encourage you to do what makes you happy when it comes to having a clean house — whether you get help cleaning or hire a babysitter to watch the kids for a couple hours so you can do it yourself. I love a home that looks lived in, but I also love being a good steward of my house. Now if only these boys had the same ambition.
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Mandy Watts is a stay-at-home mom who lives in Crownsville with her husband, Justin, who runs their family business, and their two sons, 3-year-old James and 1-year-old Luke.
