I reached a life milestone yesterday.
I hired a cleaner, for the first time in my life, to clean my condo.
It was a decision driven by sheer laziness. I had been meaning to clean my room “this Sunday” for the past months – I’m ashamed to count how many exactly.
Not that I did not clean my room at all during this period – that would be gross. What I did was basically vacuuming and toilet de-grossifying.
But the room had been left to gather an abundant layer of dust, and the shower room floor had become way too slippery for my idea of a safe shower, i.e. not involving broken necks (I have a vivid imagination when it comes to fatal accidents).
I had considered hiring a cleaner for a while. Part of me knew I’d never get to it as each Sunday passed and no cleaning happened.
I’d just been putting it off because I worried the cleaner wouldn’t do it right. That she wouldn’t clean all the things I normally clean, that she wouldn’t put things back where they belong.
Yesterday I finally bit the bullet. A work colleague uses a cleaner recommended by her agent. She said the cleaner did a decent job. So I decided to join the club.
Pre-visit I created a detailed task breakdown of all the things that needed to be cleaned plus which equipment to use. I wasn’t sure which approach to go: let the cleaner do her thing or present her with the list and watch her like a hawk.
Colleague said go with the flow. So I left my list to the side and watched in fascination as the cleaner worked her way around my room, cleaning nooks and crannies and even the tall wooden-glass partition separating the room (that took a while).
After two and a half hours (which is half an hour longer than the cleaner estimated pre-visit; I guess my room had more things to clean than she expected), she announced that she was done and (rather cleverly) said to let her know next time if something wasn’t cleaned properly and she’ll do it.
I did an inspection of the places I guessed she would have missed after she left, and I guessed right (under the drains is one). So I’ll be directing her to those spots next time.
Because there will be a next time. This morning I’m still opening cupboards and discovering she had cleaned them (to my surprise) and rearranged the contents of said cupboards in neat rows, which I would have thought would annoy me (my things being moved and stuff) but actually doesn’t!
I feel like my room has been visited by a magical cleaning elf. Yes, magical‘s the word.
And all that cost 400 baht. I’ve spent more than that on a meal. A thoroughly worthwhile investment. If only for the magic. *Happy sigh*
So yes, another life milestone reached: I’m now the kind of person who doesn’t clean my own room and hires a cleaner.
And oh it’s so wonderful.
Love from a clean room,
Val