You're Fired

No, no, its not what you think. I did not get fired or laid off, nor did Mr. Cob. On the contrary,  I fired someone.  And it was rough.

Back in August when Mr. Cob broke his ankle, I convinced him that we needed to hire a housekeeper. I’d been bugging him for some time and once he physically could not help me around the house, he gave in. I hate cleaning toilets. I don’t find any therapy in moping the floors. And vacuuming just gives me a headache.

I rationalized our decision to hire a housekeeper in many ways. I told myself: We’re both lawyers who work hard and can afford the luxury of having a housekeeper. Lots of our friends have people that clean their houses, so why shouldn’t we? It’s really not that much money. We deserve it. We have a dog now and there’s no way I can keep up with all the pet hair and muddy paw prints. I really had myself convinced that we couldn't go on without some help.

That is until I started my mint.com obsession and started really seeing where all our money is going. And it didn’t help that the last time she was here she “waxed” our hardwood floors so much that I fell not once, not twice, but THREE different times (not to mention the fact that poor Wrigley couldn't run in the house without falling over! Admittedly this provided some good comic relief, but I was worried one of us was going to get seriously hurt)! Also, our housekeeper would “organize” our stuff along with cleaning. But organize was really just another word for “hide things in random places so that we could never find them easily.” (Mr. Cob especially hated the “organizing.”)

After some discussion and some mutual promises to each other to help maintain the cleanliness of our home, Mr. Cob and I decided to let go of our housekeeper. And I was the one who had to tell her. It was a very difficult and awkward conversation. I found myself stumbling and rationalizing our decision to her, when I really should’ve just said, “Thank you for all your hard work but we’ll no longer be needing your services.” Why did I feel the need to give her 5 different reasons for our decision? I suppose its partly because our decision affects her livelihood and financial situation. Regardless, I’m not sure how HR people do it – letting go of people – its an unpleasant experience.

So we’re officially back to being responsible for the cleanliness of our home. I’m proud of us for realizing ways we could save some money – these student loans aren’t going to pay themselves off! But please don’t judge me if the next time you come to my house its not spotless, or even close…I wish I was a neat freak, but it’s just not who I am. The fact is, I’m a messy person at heart.