House Cleaning Mom

very Normal, see if you can "trade a clean" with a fellow housecleaner.

Hi R.,
I have no clue on your question...But, I would love it if you could give me a quote on cleaning my house. We're pretty tidy people, but need help with mopping, dusting, etc. The lady that was cleaning has retired and so I need to find someone new that's dependable and trustworthy. Please let me know if it's something you maybe interested in doing. We live in Saginaw.

Thanks!
T. Moore

I feel ya. I am a single mother of 4 young kids. I clean houses to make our living. My home pays the price because after cleaning all day, who wants to do more at home, right? For me it came down to just having to treat myself as a client. 1 day I will take care of clutter, the next day I do the actual cleaning (or both in the same day depending on my energy). I am making a strong effort to deal with paperwork as it comes in. I go through mail at recycle bin and try not to let it touch my counter top. Floors get a wet-jet, even though they do a terrible job, until I get around to really mopping. I get the kids to vacuum, and dusting happens whenever I have a damp cloth in my hand. The kids have to play their part in keeping their toy room picked up. If I have to clean it up, I throw things away, they don't like that.
It's all a struggle, you just have to find a groove that works for you. It also helped when I relaxed my standards a little bit. Good luck!

Ha ha! I know exactly what you mean! Anytime you do something as work, you hate to do it after work. House cleaners have messy houses, accountants have disorganized houses, etc.

Just re-think it--treat your house like a strangers. Have a set time of day that you clean your own and a set day of the week that you deep clean--just like someone else's. Don't think you have to clean your house the whole time you're home or not at all because you've been working all day.

See if you can figure out a way to "pay" yourself, and give your kids "pay" for doing their chores as well--not necessarily money.

Good luck and have fun!
~A.

I think this is TOTALLY normal. Whatever we do for a living feels like "work". We don't want to work when we get "off" of work and go home. Remember the saying "The cobblers children had no shoes"? This is exactly what it meant. The shoemaker never got around to making shoes for his own family.

My ex-husband, back when we were married, completely tore out a bathtub and sink, as well as flooring in our master bath. He was a contractor, doing this for people everyday. I could NEVER get him to finish OUR bathroom. It stayed torn up for a year until we decided to move! I guess it no longer felt like an imposition to him since it was now for someone else. Go figure.

I found that coming home and taking just 30 minutes for myself to rest, change clothes, and skim over the mail gave me a chance to wind down from work and wind back up to take care of my kids, when they lived at home. I would catch my second wind and get dinner going. I made sure all were in bed by 9pm if they were in elementary school, 930p for Jr. high, and 10pm for high school. It was a strict rule, so I could have some ME time. I was a single mom at that time and needed a breather, like most. Good luck! B. P.

I have always had a clean house. I could not stand to have it dirty but when I did not work I had a huge home and acre lot so I mowed early morning every other day. Edge once a week or twice. I put dishing in the washer at night and empty in the morning I do a load or two every day. Ironing I let go when I get a lot I spend a night ironing. I vac every day when not working but only every other day when I am. Now that I work from home I can only do a bank of drawers here and there not a full room. My biggest thing is papers. Putting aside tax stuff and filing. I will let that pile then keep laying it out but once I do some of it and get tired it goes back in a pile until the next time. I just can not get a real handle on paper work. My business stuff has to go into the pc so I will get after it here and there. At the end of the year I get to it and for taxes all is done but I would rather find a way to do it as I go. I clean the refer the day before garbage day. I do windows at least thr front weekly when I can. My other problem is the garage seems to always be a dumping. I had it organized and need more tool holders and touched up paint the wrong paint so when it gets cool and I have more money which is soon I will get after that. I spent $1,000 on shelving in the garage and the shelves are too wide to get another car in the garage but I I also have filing cabinets in there. Good luck but my friend puts all her paper stuff in albums in plastic sleeves. That may work with tabs. Good Luck G. ( family members need to help) I am alone doing it all.

Just like anything else in life it is really hard to do the same thing all the time. Yes when I work outside the home as a housekeeper there are days when I don't want to come home and do it again. Frankly housekeeping is hard work and at the end of the day I want to relax. However if you have a family that is home try doing a ten minute pick up every night maybe each take a room or clean one room together (different one each day). Also have simple chores 1-2 for each person each day. Make sure dishes, laundry, and trash are kept up first then bathrooms. Make everyone responsible for their own rooms. It really is a lifestyle of just cleaning up after yourself the rest is maintenance. Hope this helps.

Hi R.,

My name is K. Thomas and i just started my own home based business also for the same reason you did. I would love to share the details with you and maybe help you out. You can e-mail me at ____@____.com.

I have the same problem! I clean for others as well and never feel like doing my own home. So I started scheduling my cleaning, just as if I was a client. It might work for you as well.

I felt the same way for a long time until one day it hit me. It is so much easier to clean someone else's home because all the clutter is gone. At least my clients pick all the stuff up off the floor and countertops, so all I do is clean and vacumm. If you are like me, clutter gathers and it makes it so hard to clean, because I have to clean before I clean!

I make a schedule and do one area at a time. My feet hurt so much, that I can only do a little bit at a time.

Hang in there!

everyone seems to agree this is sooooo normal. I don't have a cleaning business but I sell non-toxic cleaners. I love the cleaners, but I don't feel like using them! We all have busy lives and in our spare time who wants to clean house??? Not me.

I've learned to live with a less than perfect house. I suggest you don't worry about it too often, but once a month have the whole family chip in to clean the house together......and don't worry about them meeting your specifications. Let it be good enough! Enjoy that extra time with your kids.

Hi R.,

I have my own accounting/bookkeeping business so I understand where you're coming from. I never want to do my own bank reconciliation or tax preparation. My suggestion would be to schedule just like you do your other customers. Make it a certain time each week and treat your house just like you would a client's house. The bonus is that you don't have to drive to get there. Of course all the little day-to-day tasks still have to get done, but I think that's something most of us struggle with, working mom or not. Good luck!

L.

I'm with "Theresa K". Find another cleaning person to trade services. I'm a Professional Organizer who specializes in office organization. But guess which room needs the most organization in my own home? YES MY OFFICE! My Mom said there's a saying, "the dentist's kids have the worst teeth." I finally traded with my subcontractor to help me organize my office. In exchange, I'm helping her organize her home. Bartering/trade is a great way to go. Good luck!

Yes that is very normal. Invite family or friends over and that will usually kick me in to overdrive on the house, even when I don't feel like it or think of your husband and kids and force yourself to do it. That works for me too.

Yes, you are totally normal. I use to clean houses and cleaned all day. Therefore, when I came home I didn't want to clean mine. The best way I found to keep mine clean was to not sit down when I came home. Set up a plan so that you do a little each day.