Let’s talk about how and why to get yourself a house cleaning fairy! It’s okay to get some help with your house cleaning before or in the aftermath of holidays, special occasions, and everyday life. It’s certainly possible that you and/or your house were a mess only an hour(s) before your visitors arrived, am I right, Mamas?!
First of all, can you even grab a shower before company arrives – even days before?! If you did by some miracle, did other family members “swing by” with their questions and concerns that couldn’t wait 10 minutes on the other side of a locked door? Were you also wondering how you were going to deal with the wet bathroom floor outside the propped open shower door, as the baby on the other side, strapped into a highchair with a lifetime supply of Cheerios, emitted muffled sobs at your treasonous abandonment? Or, maybe you were madly doing laundry to prepare for houseguests? Were you sprinting laps with the duster, vigorously mopping, or scrubbing the bathroom for your visitors? Maybe you were even trying to uncomfortably lean over the tub with a pregnant belly? Or, were you trying to do any of the above, while towing a toddler around one ankle? Or, were you just trying to accomplish anything “hostess-y” with a baby strapped to your body? All the while, it’s likely that other family members, large and small, are calling your name!
When you have babies and/or small children, but no gaggle of relatives or willing older kids to help you staff a free housecleaning service, is it a reasonable expectation that your home be spotless for visitors, during or following a special occasion? It’s quite a difference managing housekeeping once you’ve had a child!
Let’s get perspective. When family and friends come over to make special memories for holidays, birthdays, or especially to see your new baby, contemplate this: Do you really think it’s a higher priority for them to see their reflection in your sink, or to be able to eat their Christmas mincemeat pie off your pristine bathroom counter? Or, do you secretly suspect that they’ve come just to admire the mosaic majesty of your shower tiles, while rinsing off the sweat they worked up as they tore through miles of wrapping paper and swash-buckled their way through taped cardboard seams?! Not quite. Instead, see below.
Find your housekeeping fairy, and share the love
- Plan ahead at least 1-2 months to use a professional to clean your house! (There is a broad range of pricing. Do your research. Read their Google and Yelp reviews. Consider using a multi-purpose resource, such as handy.com. For example, under their housecleaning category, you can submit your custom work order to be posted to their pool of Housecleaners. A Cleaner takes your booking, and then arrives at the day and time you requested.)
- Get a Personal Referral: Don’t forget to ask around to your friends, in case they have a recommendation!
- TIP: Ask for Housecleaning as a gift! Put it on your wish lists for your birthday, Christmas, Mother’s Day, or Valentine’s Day! Mama, you earn this every day; with no sick days and no personal days in the blessed marathon of motherhood, you deserve some help, some respite, some reprieve.
- PRO TIP: Gift it! Treat a fellow Mama to a housecleaning for Mother’s Day. As a Baby Shower gift, this can also ease some anxiety of impending (or continued) motherhood. Particularly if a special lady is in the throes of “nesting” impulses and/or visions of idyllic domesticity, this also makes for a great Bridal Shower gift. Also, do you know another special lady excited to showcase her new home for family and friends? Make it less overwhelming by treating her to a professional cleaning in preparation for, or following, her housewarming party!
- SUPER Pro-Tip: Make a run for it, Mama! Plan to spend the few hours that your house is being cleaned, enjoying yourself elsewhere. If your kiddo(s) are with you during the day, and there’s no one who can babysit for you, hop in the Magic Tour Bus, and take them to do something that is also enjoyable for you (wink!). If the kiddo(s) will be in daycare or schooling during the cleaning, hit any kind of spa, salon, or otherwise “luxurious” self-care experience!
Consider how and why to get yourself a house cleaning fairy. Either way, the point here is that you know it’s okay to reach out for alternatives; for yourself, and on other Mamas’ behalves. But, just imagine the possibilities… You could have a house cleaning fairy for holidays, special occasions, and everyday life – ahhh. Beautified and renewed, or having had a good time for all with your kiddo(s), you’d get to return home to a clean castle, feeling like the queen you are!
Looking for more home manangement and mom life tips? See below for some other great articles on our site!
