Confessions of a Housekeeper...

In the words of Mr. Incredible:

~"No matter how many times you save the world, it always manages to get back in jeopardy again! Sometimes I just want it to stay saved, you know? For a little bit. I feel like the maid: "I just cleaned up this mess! Can we keep it clean for, for ten minutes?! Please?!"~

As a precaution...you will need to read very carefully and completely as to not get offended. So regardless of what you will read below….this is my 1st "thankful for" on my weekly thankful blogs for the month of November.

I have been pondering doing this post for some time; I am finally getting around to it. As many of you know, I am a cleaning lady. I have 5 clients I work for. 2 of them I do 2x a month, and 3 of them get 1x a month. I work 4 Wednesdays a month and have just taken on 3 Tuesdays a month.

When G.J. started his job at Vernal City in the height of the boom 3 years ago, I thought we were set. Do NOT get me wrong, it is a wonderful job with great benefits, hours, holidays….all that. The pay was decent. It was nowhere NEAR what someone with his degree and experience should get-and definitely no oilfield high paying job, but we were willing to take it to stay here in Vernal. He was promised raises often, and in that first year I believe he got 2 small raises.

Then when things started going south in the oilfield…..the raises stopped. I have had several people tell me, “Oh you are lucky, your husband has a government job-he is safe.” Well sorry people….the government is on the totem pole of the recession. When the oilfield goes down and people make less money, they spend less money, which produces less and less sales tax and other revenue for the city. Hence….NO raises, our benefits cost us MORE…and it is very frustrating. None the less, my gratefulness for G.J.’s job is still very much present.

So, as our kids have gotten older-the expense of raising them has gotten greater. We found ourselves each month scratching our heads about what to do financially as our savings got smaller and smaller. We didn’t know what to do without us going into debt for anything. The only debt/monthly payment we have is our house thank goodness. Then we kept having little fiascos that emptied our savings further. Things with our house, cars, medical…you name it. For instance, just in this month, both my washer and dryer went bad-and I had to buy a new set. My sweet tiny Gavin grew THREE inches and 2 shoe sizes…no joke. He required all new church pants and school pants and shoes. What was that I said about kids costing a lot of money???!!!

Anyways, I started my cleaning business as a favor to my mom and one of my closest friends. At first it was just to get out, make a little spending money, and fulfill my love of cleaning outside the home. Then it became a necessity to our family. It would anger me when people would say, “oh how fun, extra money for FUN…” Nope….no fun money here, just money to pay bills and save. So that has brought me to the point where I now HAVE to work to even make ends meet. And somehow it makes things a LOT less fun. I have been looking forward to having all 3 kids in school for SO long…and now instead of bubble baths and eating bon-bons…I am a slave…(Ok…not a slave, but you get the picture)

When I first started I thought it was the perfect job. It still is in all reality. I love cleaning…I really do. I love making things beautiful and presentable. I joke that I was cursed growing up in such a clean home. I never knew any different! I make my own hours, only work 2 days a week=6 hours or so…and make as much as some moms do at a part time job-not a lot. I will be honest; I don't make near enough for the amount of hard labor I do. I keep thinking I need to charge more…but I feel dumb to start asking for more money now.

So here comes the confession part. It is shocking….lol-I have found that around 95-99% of people are not very clean. In my OCD mind they are down right disgusting. Let me clarify. As of right now I have 2 very clean clients, 2 very average clients, and 1 client that is a Hoarder (I am not kidding…I “clean” for a hoarder, as I am trying to be professional…I will not name names…-but it is not someone any of my blog readers would know) The 2 very clean clients are a joy to clean for...it is almost fun to clean for people with similar housekeeping standards as me. Nonetheless, thank goodness for me it does not bother me to see other people’s messes-really honestly, it doesn't. It is almost therapeutic to realize what I see as a cleaning lady is not MY mess and that I have a nice tidy home to come home to.

I am the first to admit that I am probably WAY too fussy about the cleanliness of my home. I have been told countless times to relax. Trust me…I would like a break; it is a LOT less work to let things go. But I just can’t-it is who I am! So it has gotten me thinking. I have come to the conclusion that either you are a clean person or you are not. Every person has a passion…and unlike me, most people’s passion is not cleaning. I look at people who have their hair and makeup done every day, who exercise faithfully, who cook really well, who are very crafty. Something has to give for people like that to pursue whatever passion it might be….and I have a hunch that most people just neglect their homes. I get slightly jealous realizing that I will never be that person. I am not passionate about those things. You will often find me in sweats...no makeup, hair in a pony tail, no yummy meals up my sleeve to be cooked, and that I am overweight. It was just last night after a busy exhausting day cleaning that I realized that there just might be people who are jealous of me for my cleaning fetish….funny how that works!

So what I am saying is…. “To each his own.” Have gratitude for the talents the lord has given you. Be grateful for the things you excel at-whatever it may be. Who knows if I will be a cleaning lady forever...but for now, I am Thankful. And may the lord bless my soul to ignore other people’s clutter!