goldengirl's Profile

I'm not sure if my faceless testimonial will help lessen some of your guilt, Grace, but I hope it does. There is NOTHING wrong with hiring someone to help you clean and organize your house. I am a highly organized person and can honestly say that I clean more thoroughly and better than most people I know. When I have time to do it, I actually find cleaning to be quite therapeutic (and even a good workout!). I did not grow up with a cleaning person and recall telling a friend just a couple of years ago that I would never have one. However, as a career woman with a full-time job in addition to night & weekend freelance work, I recently began to reconsider my position on this. My free time is limited, to say the least, and I have become less and less willing - and even able - to spend my weekends slaving over my bathtub (and because I do a good job, it takes that much longer). I have a two-bedroom apartment that I share with a roommate who scrubs her organic vegetables but not much else, and so this week, I finally decided to hire someone to come in once a month to clean the common areas of the house (bathroom, hall, dining & living rooms, and kitchen). She starts next Monday, so maybe I'm getting ahead of myself here (although I don't think I am - she was referred to me by two separate people in my building who have been with her for years and who LOVE her), but for $80 a month, it is FULLY worth it to me. My roommate and I will continue to be responsible for our respective bedrooms, laundry, dishwashing, etc. We will provide all of the cleaning products and tools.

As someone who wrote her master's thesis about (among other things) women's evolving role in the domestic space, and having put in some time in the career world, let me just say that this idea or expectation that women can have fulfilling (full-time) careers whilst maintaining their roles as (full-time) household managers is just crazy. Modern women (and men, for that matter!) should stop beating themselves up for not being able to do it all and perfectly. It's okay to ask for help! We work enough as it is, America!