We ordered the deep cleaning service through Amazon, and had it done yesterday. I was pretty impressed, and I'm a stickler for high quality cleaning. They cleaned the entire house, the oven, fridge, & all of the cupboards (kitchen & bathrooms). It was a splurge, but worth it. M is pushing to have the house cleaned monthly, with the same service. Between adding the gym & a monthly cleaning service to our budget, it would be quite a bit of lifestyle inflation. That said, we are planning to trim our travel budget way back, and we have dropped our childcare budget as well. We could certainly afford it.
One of the reasons we stopped paying to have our house cleaned years ago was the obvious financial benefit (we'd just moved into an expensive house & were trying to make progress on the mortgage & afford a few critical projects), but also to ensure the kids saw the connection between the messes they make & cleaning it up. I don't want them to ever feel like they can make a mess at the house & not be responsible for it - that someone else will come to take care of it. The monthly option might work well, as we would clean 3 times per month, and the cleaner would do a bit of a deeper clean the other week. It would be a huge gift on the weekends when I travel. (I typically leave on a Saturday in order to get to Asia or Europe in time for the work week.)
Decisions, decisions. When I opted to keep this job, M pushed me to consider adding this service, so we could make our own lives easier with my work travel.
The boys have no soccer this weekend. This is unheard of! We discussed skiing, but both boys have math exams next week, and Sam's math counts towards his high school registration, so it very much counts. They will be studying all weekend. I'll also try to get everyone to the gym for a break, and maybe take them to the climbing wall. (They have gift cards from Christmas).
Here's what else I want to do with my free day today:
- Attend a body flow class at the gym. This one is new to me, but looks like a good blend of yoga, pilates & tai chi
- Reorganize the pantry. After we had the pantry doors installed, Nick was home & helpfully arranged the pantry. On the most accessible shelf are his snacks, not any actual meal ingredients... definitely not how the pantry is attended to be used ;-)
- Make muffins & potentially a small batch of pico de gallo (both for M)
- Make a menu
- And a Costco list
- Go to Rite Aid for cold medicine for Sam, & we're out of Dryel (dry cleaning alternative)
- Dryel my work clothes
- Grocery store for a few sale items
- Produce stand
- Create a schedule for the week after next, when I'm traveling
- Fill out paperwork for high school orientation
- And, paperwork for insurance
- Go through house for decluttering & additional items to sell
That's it for us. What are you up to today? Any fun plans? Any perspective on the house cleaning?
I'm doing laundry while playing on blogger. Pup has a well over due grooming appointment and when that is done, I'll get some cleaning done. Then-the big Vikings-49ers game is on at 3:30 my time, so thought I'd make some healthyish snacks, and watch the game while getting laundry finished. We've had extra towel and blanket use, covering all furniture the dog might have been on while having his issues. I need to wash it all, but since it is very cold, line drying is not an option, so this will be an all day job. I've got a bit of the January blues, so just hoping to keep busy-and I certainly have enough hosue stuff to do this.
ReplyDeleteHope you are feeling better & getting some fresh air. Have you tried meditating? I find it very helpful with anxiety & stress. The app Headspace is free for a trial, & is my preferred meditation, but there are all kinds of free ones on YouTube
DeleteWell, obviously if you weren't working you'd clean it yourself - but you both seem to have pretty intense positions that pay well. Also, you have extremely busy lives. At this point with the decision to stay at your job I would strongly consider at least a once a month deep clean. That way you can still have the boys keep up their spaces on the in between and you can all have more family/fun time together plus you could use more self care time versus cleaning :)
ReplyDeleteI'm leaning in that direction for sure! Particularly tempting because we have so many trips between the two of us for work.
DeleteI say if you can afford it(and with your income I bet you can)and it makes your life easier at this phase in your family then hell yeah! pay for the cleaning service. I'd opt for once a month or quarterly but then again I am not now, nor have never been mistaken for a clean freak. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking we will go for monthly & see how it goes.
DeleteOh my gosh, how neat to have your home deep cleaned! It sounds wonderful. And it sounds like you have a busy weekend ahead. I hope you have a good one.
ReplyDeleteIt was really so nice to have the house sparkle. At least until the kids got home. ;-)
DeleteI think having the monthly option is just supplementing your cleaning and with your busy schedule it is worth it. I am on the fence with car deep cleaning, I might bite the bullet and have it done in the spring once and see if we want to do it every few months... I took an unnecessary trip, 40 minute drive to drop off something but they were closed, thankfully a friend can do it for me on Monday on their way to work, saving me the drive. I took my son with me, we had fast food, mostly spent points and also found much needed jogging pants for him. Now just need to find soccer goalie gloves that the turf won't shred up after a few practices...
ReplyDeleteGoalie gloves that last on turf our a dream! Let me know if you come up with anything. We are leaning towards having the house cleaned monthly. Fingers crossed that it's a worthwhile investment.
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