Part-time maid service, hurrah!

After years of doing my own housework, I have finally succumbed. The part-time maid phenomenon has not only reached my door but cleaned my toilets, way better than I have! Given my current predicament, $10 an hour is money well-spent, and a clean house a God-send.

The cleaner that arrived early at my place last Saturday is a Chinese lady, migrated here with her family from Mainland China. She is petite with a gentle disposition, and a really hardworking and efficient worker. Within 4 hours she did the following all by herself, non-stop:

1) Vacuumed entire house including the couch
2) Gave all surface tops and cupboard doors a mop
3) Cleaned my kitchen stove, hood and dish rack
4) Cleaned one set of windows in my room (she'll take time to clean the rest in subsequent sessions)
5) Cleaned 2 toilets, the bedroom and more frequently used one very thoroughly
6) Mopped entire house
7) Ironed 20-25 pieces of clothing

Ok some might think - that's nothing impressive! But to me, it sure is. Sure certain things I can still and insist on doing on my own i.e. putting the laundry to wash and folding, but I'm not a perfectionist by nature and applying the 80-20 rule - to have someone clean my 110 sq metre apartment for me, is good enough. And I even got to practise my rusty Chinese. If anything, it gave us time to rest fully on Sunday without having to worry about un-ironed shirts and dusty floors. Heck we even went out shopping!

Kenneth thinks after this we'll never go back to cleaning on our own again. Perhaps he's right - I am more attuned to outsourcing this now than before, but some part of me still prides in doing it on my own. Not to mention it is necessary to introduce this to the kids in time, before they start to take it for granted that someone else will always clean up after their messy rooms and smelly sweat socks. Start right from scratch, like putting away their toys, keeping their clothing in their cupboards, and maybe I should label my washbuckets in a bid to encourage their application of reading and logic skills in separating laundry for wash.

But for now, there is one less thing to worry about, and I am indeed thankful!