New Cleaning Ladies In The House

Traci - the ex-cleaning lady who had been working for us for more than three years, moved back to Alabama to take care of her father a month ago. Since then, the house has been, well, not clean. I am a clean person and people tell me I'm anal about cleanliness. But there is only so much I can do... or want to do in regards of cleaning. I can handle a one bedroom loft apartment. I can handle even a two bedroom and two bath apartment. But I can only polish the bloody huge ass screaming red island in this large kitchen so many times before I decide to just let it go to hell! There is only so many times I want to vacuum the deck (we have the top deck covered with an outdoor rug) before it pours a few hours later and all the damn leaves and crap from our neighbor's trees get onto the deck again.

I've been searching high and low for a reliable cleaning woman. But everytime someone gave me a mere glimpse of hope, the cleaning person would call and break the bad news to me about not having any openings. I have been so disheartened I was ready to polish the damn island all over again. ...and then... last Friday, I had to go get my hair done (of course!) before my crazy girl's night out; and who was getting her hair done by the same hairdresser, Maryanne, but Angie! Angie was talking about starting her own cleaning business and voila(!) 'a matchmade in heaven'. :D Well, Maryanne's words, not mine.

Today, my new cleaning ladies are here and I am, to say the least, thrilled! Angie and Paula are sisters-in-law and I'm glad to see that not only are they professional, claim to be anal (like me), are clean themseves (they smell nice lol) and bring everything they need; unlike Traci. Not to say Traci was bad. But Traci sometimes didn't have her act exactly together ie, not looking like she was totally out of bed or smelling like an ashtray or both. With Angie and Paula, I have my own client file, they take notes when I'm showing them around the house and they let me know when light bulbs are out and needs replacing or little things like that. But it's always the little things that count, isn't it? They are nice and tell me that the first job takes some extra time and then they will upkeep the place after this first long cleaning. Yes it sure was long. Both of them took three hours to clean upstairs alone! Traci used to finished the entire house AND the deck in 2 1/2! Yes, Traci worked at lightning speed but I like the detail that my new cleaners are putting in. Hell, they even cleaned the chandeliar in the foyer!!! Best of all, they cost less then my former hired help. How can you beat that!?

So I'm a happy camper again. The husband even did his part to clean up his usually un-vacuumable/cleanable room so they were able to clean it out. He adviced that they not step into the closets for fear of falling objects hahaha and I made that pretty clear to the ladies :D They might never see the floor again after this first clean but hey, at least the room is prestine and clean for now.

I'm giving them each an ang pow (red packet/envelope) for good luck. They just started their business and I think they'd do awesome at the rate they're going. Traci called earlier to say her former customers need someone to clean their houses too and if my new cleaning ladies are good, to send them her way. Angie and Paula are thrilled and so am I to be able to help :D

They left a half a page of flyer for 'comments or future projects' for me to fill out. I inspected their work and as happy as I am, the half a page wasn't enough lol. I feel bad but hey, if I'm paying someone to clean, I might as well let them know they're cleaning for Hitler right!? No, I try to be nice... really! I even complimented the good job they did... then went on to let them know what they overlooked. We'll see what their reaction is in two weeks :D My happiness might be short-lived hahaha!