Cleaning is something I loathe. I know, I know… no one likes it!  But for most of our 8 years of marriage we’ve wanted a house cleaner.  It was out of the question for a long time because we were in debt.  After that it just felt silly– why pay someone to do something that we can do?  It’s a fine line between delegation & lazy in that area.  I just assumed I was being lazy & needed to buck up.

One day on Facebook I noticed a friend that was looking to babysit, clean house, run errands, etc.  She was a little short on cash that week and needed money for groceries.  That happened to be one of our busiest weeks, and I love that she was looking for more work rather than a handout, so I called her up to see if she’d like to babysit & clean.  And so began something beautiful.

We paid her a little more than what we normally would for a sitter, and she did exactly what I would do– played with our daughter some & cleaned the rest.  After the first hour, my daughter went to bed & she spent the rest of the time cleaning.  Josh & I had a date night & the best part was coming home to a clean house!

I mainly have her clean the kitchen & fold/hang up laundry– the two things I hate most.  If there’s time, she’ll do a once-over on the bathrooms, or whatever else might need done.  Let me tell you– coming home to a house that had a clean kitchen & folded laundry makes all the difference in the world for us!

How did we know we were ready for a house cleaner?  We didn’t have the time together as a family that we wanted.  We were always deciding between a clean house or going to the park and that just wasn’t ok with us.

But it’s such a luxury!  It’s definitely a luxury, but something that is well worth the cost for us.  Cable TV is also a luxury… one that we don’t have because it’s not as important to us.

We’ve since worked it out as a trade deal.  My husband teaches her piano lessons in exchange for cleaning.  We keep a running tab going so we know where we’re at in the trade & it works out great!

Is there something in your life that you might need to change up in order to do the things you really want to do?  If you own a business it might be having a personal assistant.  Or maybe you’re a stay at home mom that is totally run ragged… and you just need a babysitter!  Don’t feel bad about it– sometimes having someone else do something for us that we could technically do ourselves is just the breath of fresh air that we need to keep on going.  And if you can’t afford it, figure out what you can afford– trade out babysitting, house cleaning… whatever it is!