Cleaning up for the Cleaning Lady

Here I am again, cleaning up because the Cleaning Lady is coming. Whenever I say it aloud to my husband or kids it sounds ridiculous. "You have to clean up because the Cleaning Lady is coming". But its true. You really do have to do some prep work for the Cleaning Lady to come do her work. She is here to clean, not straighten up. I don't want her wasting time moving toys, shoes, or stacks of papers around so she can clean. And I certainly don't want her missing anything because a surface is covered in Legos or trading cards.

Our Cleaning Lady comes every other Friday, so I go through this ritual every other Thursday evening. I go around the house putting things away. Is this extra effort worth it? I think so. Every other Friday my house is sparkling and someone else spent 8 hours making it that way. Of course, then I do have to go around again after she leaves and put things back the way I like them. She is very thorough and the drapes and picture frames are always askew.

Its funny that we hire people to do some of our work, but we are never fully relieved of the work or the inconveniences. At least not in my world. I suppose if I had a full time live-in staff of twelve, I could maybe not worry about anything, but I would still have to manage all of those people. I have enough trouble managing the Cleaning Lady and my husband manages the Lawn Guy.

So, as I spend tomorrow strategically moving the dog and kids around the house to stay out of the way of the Cleaning Lady, I will ponder is it still worth it? Of course it is. Absolutely. I won't be cleaning and will have plenty of time to play in the yard with the kids and the dog. And then we will have to clean it all up because the Lawn Guy is coming . . .