My place had gotten beyond "messy." It was gross. E has not been to my house yet (strange, I know.) I was purposefully keeping him away because I was ashamed of the state of things. A week or so ago he was in town but I had to leave him to work on papers for school. A few hours later I happened to call to say hi and he tells me he's on his way over and will be there in about 5 minutes! I freaked! I made him turn around and go home, can you believe it? I felt so bad about that. I don't blame him at all for wanting to come over. We've been dating for 7 months for Pete's sake. It's not fair to him, and he would be justified in feeling suspicious. Anyway, that was my wake-up call that I need to do something. I told E I would like to have him over after Thanksgiving, and he's happy about that. So, to prepare for that visit...
I hired a cleaning lady. I put an ad on Craigslist asking for help and many people answered. I picked Beth because she was so nice and understanding (told her I'd been depressed and had let the house go.) I was so afraid to let her in but I did it. She's been over twice now, for 5 hours each time. The house is not done but it's looking so much better. It's a very old house, and run down. I rent, so it's not like I can or want to invest a whole lot of money in the upkeep. Anyway, I did the decluttering and she's done the grunt work cleaning. She's wonderful! (Did I already say that?) She did things like pull out my fridge from the wall and clean behind it! OMG! She's scrubbed floors, washed windows, petted my cats, said hello to the dogs (even though they're barking at her.) She's made me feel so good, so much better about myself. I had offered to pay her $20.00 per hour but at the end of the first day she said let's treat this as a project and when it's done I can pay her what I think is fair. She's so great.
I have thrown out so much stuff. So many things I don't even know why I bought them, except I was doing emotional shopping. eBay is evil, by the way. We still have 4 rooms plus the carport/utility room to do outside, but the worst is over. I can now have family over (I'd been keeping them away, too) and not be mortified. I am not ready for E yet, but will be in a week or 2. I want to pretty-up the place before he comes over.
I am going to hire either her or my sister to come over like every other week and clean the things I miss. I am so, so happy with this experience. :)
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2 comments:
Awww good for you Sara! That must feel like such a big relieve!
I love a clean, tidy house. And I really try hard. I'm not much of a cleaner, more like a crafter, so that doesn't really help. But my cleaning ladies come in every two weeks, and I need them.
Having three teenagers trashing the house doesn't help much. I try to keep up with them, but can't, and it frustrates me so.
E will love your place!
Wow Sara! I'm proud of you. I went through the same thing. Ironically, when I'm the most depressed is when my life & environment look the worst.
The move has done wonders because it forced me to start over. I'm just praying that I can keep it up.
Hang in there & I know E will love it, not because it's clean & tidy, but because you're there.
Hugs.
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