Thursday, March 25, 2010

Clean House

The maid came today. I have to admit that I love coming home every other Thursday to a clean stovetop, a shiny microwave and a bathroom that smells of bleach.

I used to work as a maid. I was home from college for the summer and unable to find a job so I got creative and put a few signs up in grocery stores around my small town. I think I ended up with one or two weekly clients and an elderly lady that I helped out on an as needed basis. It was a pretty easy job, mostly because it seemed like people actually cleaned their house before I got there.

My family never had a maid. My mother didn't work outside of the house, but boy oh boy did she like to clean. The vacuuming started early every morning. There was dusting, window cleaning and floor scrubbing taking place on what seemed like a daily basis. Even today, at the age of 74, she's still cleaning and she notices when other things aren't clean. I won a trip to the Bahamas many years ago, and as a new teacher I couldn't take off for the trip so I gave it to my mom and sister. When asked about the trip my mother could only comment on the piece of trash that stayed under the bed for the entire weekend. Sure, she could have picked it up but it was way more entertaining to see if the maids ever cleaned to her satisfaction.

I didn't get the cleaning gene. I like a clean house, but I'm not one to spend a great deal of time on scrubbing and the like. At times, my house can get to be quite an unruly mess of mail, shoes, glassware, newspapers and clothes. That's where the maid comes in.

No, she doesn't pick up all that stuff for me. But, knowing that she's coming, armed to scrub and vacuum, I make sure to clean everything out of her way. It's the secret I discovered so many years ago. The maid cleans, yes. But what she really does is make me clean.

3 comments:

  1. I didn't get the clean gene either. I've thought about before paying to have someone clean my house, but I have no excuses. I'm single...I should clean my own mess.

    I like the secret that you discovered!

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  2. I love that smell - of Pledge or some other scent that meant clean house when I walked through the door. I sure miss that, now that it's gone! I got the sporadic cleaning gene...wish I was a little more consistent.

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  3. My friend's husband didn't want her paying a cleaning woman and he could always tell when she'd been there because of the smell. Mary Kate had the cleaning woman pop a bag of microwave popcorn on her way out. Her husband never knew she had been there, and her kids had a snack waiting for them after school.

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