The Deep Clean I Didn’t Know I Needed

I recently hired a woman to come in and deep clean my home. It was possibly the best gift I gave myself in 2020.

Remember back in early March when we were able to go about our days working when we had to, taking our kids to daycare/school/babysitters as needed? Remember when we could easily hop in the car to go grab dinner when we didn’t feel like cooking another meal nobody liked that week? Those times we could send our kids over to grandma’s house for a few hours so we could spend some time alone cleaning and organizing our homes? Ya.. those were the days!

Lately, I’ve found myself mentally clogged, and I’m sure many of you can relate. It started to feel like no matter how many times I picked up the clutter in my house, no matter how many times I vacuumed, no matter how many times I did the dishes, something was always off. My work was getting done, my kids were happy and healthy, my house was picked up, but something was just “off.” I couldn’t pinpoint what the problem was, because I seemed to get everything done that I needed to be doing.

I am a Type A, OCD, neat freak to the core. Everything in my home has a place, and so help me if a throw pillow is slightly crooked. A few weeks ago, however, I moved a toy shelf to grab something that had fallen behind it, and I noticed a pile of dust and dog hair so big a bird could have made a home in it. I. WAS. SHOOK. At that moment, I realized exactly what it was that felt off. My house was taking the brunt of us being in it so much more often than normal, and I just simply couldn’t keep up with the cleaning. 

Admitting defeat is HARD for me. I don’t like to admit that I am not good at something, and it was especially difficult for me to call up a stranger to come into my home and tackle the destruction that my family had caused and I couldn’t keep up with. I left the house for nine hours and came home to a magical situation.

This woman stood on my dining table and SHINED the glass bulbs on my chandelier. I never knew our lights were supposed to be so bright. The inside of my oven looked brand new, and not burnt from all the failed dinner attempts. She took the cushions off my couch and vacuumed the forgotten crumbs that had been down there for who knows how long. She turned the grout in my shower white again, and don’t even get me started on what she did for the toilets (I live with three dudes – you can imagine the condition they were in). 

And you know what? The following morning I woke up and enjoyed my coffee without worrying about what needed to be wiped down in the kitchen. I showered and got ready without stopping every 2 minutes to wipe down a mirror or dust off the countertops. I played with my kids and got work done and didn’t feel like something was being left behind all day. Most importantly, I gave myself peace of mind and the ability to not feel like I was failing my home. 

Do yourself a favor if your budget allows, and let someone else take a load off of you that you just can’t handle. It’s OK to admit that we can’t do it all, and it’s OK to ask for help sometimes.