Okay, I have nine million things to post about. But I don’t have time. We’re being PRODUCTIVE! We are getting so much done these days, it is scary. Today we got up, I made a set of cards and mailed them out for an etsy order, Jim and I spent 1.5hrs cleaning the house as we got rid of the cleaner lady because she kept pissing me off, we shoveled the fifty feet of snow outside even after Jim did the stairs (both sides of the house) last night, went and ran errands, went to the gym (Jim and I are testing out a gym we can both go to), got/brought home/ put away groceries, and now I’m drinking some Emergen-C while posting this.
Having so much fun with feeding Malcolm. And he is getting very excited about his aunties showing up soon! Posting another video - and there are more on my youtube page.
But I do have to tell you about this. So yeah, the cleaning lady did not work out. We got her three times - every two weeks - and each time she short changed us on time. I was told by the company they have to book 2hr min. So fine. I outline what I’m wanting done - the three bathrooms (two half baths and one full), vacuum both floors, wash floors, wipe/dust… that’s about it. I do all the initial tidy, and I know I can get that all done in 2hrs without beeb. I was open to suggestions that it was too much, etc.. but the problem seemed to be with her staying here for the whole two hours, not my list.
The first week the woman arrived and we wait for 15 minutes for the owner to meet us. She doesn’t. A phone call confirms she isn’t coming so the woman starts cleaning.. but I end up with about an hour and a half of actual cleaning. I pay the full 2hrs. Oh well - on to next time two weeks later.
She was really chatty the first time and I figured it was to get to know me a bit, and who doesn’t want to chat with the amazing beeb? But the second time is still really chatty and all I can think is, “dear god, please start cleaning! We only have two hours and whatever you don’t get done I will run around and try to do over the next few days and the whole point of this is to have a bit more free time to tackle the boxes still packed in and around the house!” She likes to talk to the cats, the beeb, etc. At the 1.5 hour mark she kinda starts losing steam. I was told that there wasn’t enough time to dust both floors each time - that we’d have to alternate between them on the cleans. I’m excited because this is the rotation for the main floor! My house with all the beautiful molding (is that right?) ledges, edges, doors with detail (curse you detail!) all capture dust. Light fixtures have a few cobwebs, and the kitchen cabnets have lips to be decorated with dribble.
So now the dust on the main floor will get tackled! But she didn’t tackle. She kinda wandered and fluffed the rag about. And then she ended twenty minutes early to write out a list of cleaning products she wants me to buy (even after I bought all these other ones the owner had said I needed). Again I’m paying for just over 1.5 hours of cleaning.
I wander around after she leaves early and look at various spots I would have wanted clean. I think if there is that much free time, why not do dusting on both floors? The upstairs bedroom floor has dirty water drips leading out of it. The main bathroom has a dustball I had noticed in the same spot that morning (open spot.. not under anything).
So I was going to nix the cleaning contract. But we were busy and out of town in the week before she was due, and I thought maybe those were growing pains. Third time’s the ch…. yeah.  She had to leave halfway through the clean but came back.. and then didn’t add on enough time to make up for it all. The dirty drip marks again, didn’t have time to finish a few things, gave my cat hell for being on the counter, and all in all made me not feel the joy.
We’re not rich. I love the idea of having someone come in and do the big things so we can just managed the beeb and the jobs and the cooking and laundry and finishing up some projects - but this is $50 from our eating out budget. So Jim and I are going to try something - every two weeks we’ll clean at the same time, tackle the list, and pay ourselves the money. Not for bills, we can buy books or crafts or sushi. In fact, we’re going to do sushi next week for today’s clean! Pretty sweet as I took Jim out for sushi for his birthday at the beginning of the month too! But yeah, I was disappointed with the cleaner. We might try another place in January when we’re both working. I totally think it is worth $50 to have someone actually clean the bathrooms, vacuum, wash, and dust. But as Jim pointed out, it isn’t worth me being pissed every two weeks. I hate to think I’m a drama queen or something, but I want to pay someone for actually helping me out!
