Thursday, December 13, 2007

Confessions of a 'housewife'

Let's just say I'm not the world's best housewife when it comes to cleaning. I have a high tolerance for clutter, and the cleaning tends to get away from me most of the time. Most big cleans are just before guests are due to arrive on the doorstep.

Well, for the first time ever, I organised a cleaner to come clean my house. She gave me a quote over the phone and reckons it will take her a day and a half to complete. This includes dusting, vacuuming, sweeping, mopping, windows, and the oven. Oh, how I hate to clean the oven. Today she was here for the afternoon and was still going when I got home around 20 to 6.

Me thinks she is now regretting quoting over the phone. She rang during the afternoon to let me know that the price she quoted included the discount (the company I work for has a benefits scheme and this month there was a discount for getting a cleaner). I had actually wondered if the price had included the discount, but thought it was a little odd for her to call whilst actually cleaning the house to tell me.

And she paused .... and explained that otherwise it would have cost more. I'm like "uh, ok". She paused again, and then said that she'd just called to let me know.

I thanked her and got off the phone. What I'm guessing is she was angling to see if I would offer to pay more. Which I didn't. 'Cause I think I'm paying enough.

I get home, and she's cleaning away, saying things like "yep, still here, just doing the bathrooms". I thanked her, then nicked off to the gym.

She's here again all day Saturday, the house is already looking much better, so I'm pleased it's being done. Just feels a bit weird to actually pay someone to come and clean your own house ..

1 comment:

AmandaDufau said...

I know exactly what you mean about letting the cleaning get away from you. I had someone come and clean the house right before Matty was born since I certainly couldn't do it, and I made sure it stayed tidy as long as possible.