Tragedy!

[bjarvis]

We discovered last night when we returned home that our housekeeping service is likely tossing in the towel. Apparently, Kevin has had a lot of difficulty retaining staff and I think he's tired of dealing with the problem.

With a little luck, he take a break to find the energy to persevere, but there's a strong possibility that we'll need a new housekeeping service. I hate changing this kind of service... it takes a long while for me to build up enough trust to allow someone essentially unrestricted access to our home, yet we can't afford to be there for supervision either. The alternative is simply to vacuum our own floors, scrub our own bathtubs, dust our own stuff, etc.; while the savings of $$$ is appealing, the scrubbing of bathtubs is not.

Oh, my sad life is so full of trauma. Woe is me (esp. since Kent will not scrub bathtubs).

Comments

[urbear]

My ex and I haven't had any housekeeping help in our shared house for two or three years now, and it shows. Neither of us is any good at all at keeping the place clean.

Our last "private" cleaning person had to be fired; she just wasn't doing any kind of job at all, unless you count the rectangular void in the desktop dust where her weekly check used to lie. We tried several "professional" services, but none of them did a decent job for the money.

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

I'd be OK with vacuuming and dusting... lord knows we're never home much anyway so the place never gets particularly messy. And I empty the garbage bins regularly anyway for garbage & recycling collection Tuesday mornings, as well as keep the kitchen counters relatively clear and the office somewhat tidy. My big issue is cleaning the bathrooms: I despise scrubbing porcelein with every fibre of my being, and Kent has allergies to the cleaning chemicals as well as bad knees and a bad back (or so he tells me, anyway).

I guess in reality, we've had a housekeeping service all these years because I'd rather pay significant money to have someone else clean our bathrooms, and it's cheaper than therapy.

At least I can claim that we use a lawn service because we don't want to store/maintain a lawn mower.

better living through modern chemistry

[trawnapanda.livejournal.com]

I despise scrubbing porcelain with every fibre of my being and Kent has allergies to the cleaning chemicals as well as bad knees and a bad back (or so he tells me anyway)

you wanna get the scum out of the bathtub? spray-on oven cleaner.

or alternatively, if you're philosophically opposed to aerosols, apply dishwasher gel (not the powdered detergent, the gel - it will stay put) to the scummy area with a damp sponge. rub enough to ensure that there is 100% coverage, but you're not scrubbing here.

after half an hour, wash off. (it's easier if you have a hand-held shower head, but bailing water onto it will work too). no scrubbing.

The gel is quite corrosive, so wear rubber gloves, and use a plastic/synthetic sponge. If you use a cellulose one (the kind that get very stiff when dry, but expand and become soft 'meejutly when wet), it will disintegrate fairly quickly under this assault.

What you're applying is lye, or strong hydroxide.

Doesn't Kent make his own soap? doesn't he use this stuff himself? if so, HE could do it.

I'm a chemist, trust me on this one.