Let me take a moment to explain before I get on with my post. Church Lady is not a name that I gave myself, it's one that a friend of mine gave me a little while back. She referred to me in a conversation as "the church lady" one afternoon when we were sitting on her front porch and she now calls me that from time to time. I think she meant it in a good humored way, at least I hope she did! Anyway, so that's where the name came from just in case you were thinking that I had a strange connection to the character from Saturday Night Live (is that showing my age?!).

So here's the confession part....you're hoping for something dark and scary aren't you? Something that you would want to run and tell all your best girl friends I'm sure. So here goes....I have had a cleaning lady for the better part of my almost 14 year marriage. Riveting and shocking I know..... I have loved each one that I have had; yes there have been many over the years. So many in fact that I cannot name them all.

For years, I attributed the importance of a good cleaning lady to the fact that it would give me time to play with my kids and do the other things in my life that were more important than taking responsibility for the mess that I would make in my own home. Besides, it was providing someone with much needed income and in each case it did. So for years each week or every other week, what ever the case might have been, I would have someone come to clean my house. It was fabulous to say the least!!!!

So what's the big deal???

I gave up my cleaning lady habit!!!! I confess that it was a little emotional for me (yes, you read that correctly!). But I did it. Why?

For a couple of reasons and for one that I didn't realize until I was cleaning my house myself the other day. For years my "weekly habit" was enabling me. It was enabling me to make a mess and not worry about totally cleaning it up (after all "E" would be here in a few days); it was enabling me to nap each day (yes, I nap!!!); but worst of all was what it was teaching my children! Let's stop here for a moment....

If you have a cleaning lady, I am happy for you and glad that you have one. I am not judging you or trying to put the cleaning business out of business. Heaven knows we all need work right now and if this is your way of making ends meet, then you go and clean to your hearts content for any family that will have you! Let me reiterate my point from earlier, I love me a good cleaning lady!!!!!

So back to my discovery....
My kids are at the ages where they began to realize that if they made a mess, our cleaning lady "E" would clean it up for them because she would on the days that she was here. I then discovered that they didn't know how to clean, short off putting clothes in the hamper and making their beds. Why should they? They rarely saw me do it! (No wonder my sisters think I'm the prissy one!) A stark contrast to what I saw growing up...we had a period of time where my mom cleaned houses (how's that for irony?!).

So the change....
I would LOVE to say that I voluntarily did this but that was not the case. It was something that I felt was the right thing to do for my family and my husband happily agreed if not encouraged. So, I canceled my service at the beginning of the year (I know that was only 2 weeks ago!).

I now clean my house and the kids clean the upstairs with me since this is their territory. We dust, change sheets, clean bathrooms and floors together and it is so rewarding!!! We have a system and thankfully everyone truly has a favorite job that they like to do. When it's finished, we've accomplished something BIG together and the kids have learned a new skill! The help actually makes it less of a burden and not so stressful.

If you haven't involved your kids in the cleaning process, I urge you to do so before it's too late and their brains turn to mush (ours were on the verge!). Or even worse, they think there will always be someone there to clean up after them! I may have lost some time with my oldest but hopefully there's still a small glimmer of hope there (the same grip that you have with a Wii remote can also be used to grip the handle of a vacuum cleaner!).

So to those that have always cleaned their own houses, "you go with your bad selves!" I have now joined you and hope I'm better for it, if not me then at least my kids will be for learning the simple art of dusting.

If you are in this same situation and need help recovering from your cleaning lady addiction I am totally with you and here to help :-) .