Have I mentioned that my cleaning lady, the one I’d had for seven years, quit in an email five weeks ago? Since this coincided with my November sabbatical from daily blogging, I probably haven’t. Which is a good thing, because I was really angry. Not that she quit, but because she didn’t talk to me face to face, or via her cell phone, about it. There was no dialogue, only an ultimatum.
I haven’t cleaned my own home in years, and I pondered what to do. Talk with friends who have cleaning help? Find a new cleaning lady? Hire a service? Do it myself? For three weeks I did nothing except allow the dust bunnies to enjoy a holiday and the drain in the kitchen sink to become stained.
But by nature I am a neatnik, so eventually this situation got to me. I gathered all the supplies and tools my former cleaning lady used, including the vacuum that had been purchased just for her, and studied them. That’s when I realized that cleaning a home has evolved since the days that I did it.
There are dusting tools that extend to various heights, so that one doesn’t have to bend over to dust baseboards or stand on a stool to reach the ceiling fans. There are environmentally friendly products for every surface: granite, stainless, glass, wood, walls. There are new inventions for cleaning hard surface floors that don’t require getting down on one’s hands and knees. And the vacuum cleaner is lightweight, easy to maneuver, and doesn’t use a dust bag that needs replacing.
Truthfully, I’ve always liked cleaning. So armed with all this information – and a book called The Queen of Clean by Linda Cobb – I decided to clean my home thoroughly while figuring out what to do for the long haul.
My former cleaning lady did it in three hours, while it took me a couple days. Still . . . the dust bunnies have been put on notice, and for now I am the official new cleaning lady. Got a lot of stretching exercise in the deal too.
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