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Last night, I got home after a 13 hour day at the office and found a spotlessly clean house.  The laundry was folded.  The dishes were done, and everything was put away.

It was great.

I work 80 hours a week, 90 if you count commuting time.

That’s about 50 hours at my day job, 10-15 hours working on this site, and 20-30 hours working on my other side hustles.   Some weeks, my volunteer geek skills get put to use for a local non-profit, too.

My wife works at least 40 hours every week.

We chase our kids around, plan or birthday parties, visit family, take care of the yard, and do everything else that every other family does.

The difference is that, if I take work in all of its forms out of the equation and give myself permission to get a full night’s sleep every night, I have a total of 20-30 hours per week to eat, socialize, and spend time with my family.   That not a lot.

I hate cleaning.

Between my work schedule and my cleaning aversion, I’m not always a lot of help around the house.

Half of my work time is spent at home.  It’s hardly fair to expect my wife to clean up after me.

This has been a huge point of contention between us.   She sees me on the computer and gets frustrated when I’m not helping her clean up.  I get frustrated because I’m trying to make us some extra money, but she’s complaining that I’m not cleaning.

About a month ago, we hired a housekeeper.   She comes every other week for a few hours and does a phenomenal job cleaning our house.    We pay her about $150 per month for the work.

It’s been great.

My wife is happy because the house is clean.   I’m happy because the complaining has stopped.   Our housekeeper is happy because it’s more money.  It’s a win/win/win scenario.

Now, $150 is a decent amount to add to our debt snowball, but paying for the cleaning services facilitates my side hustles, which bring in quite a bit more than $150 per month, so it’s even a good idea financially.

Even if it’s not, the peace of mind of knowing that I didn’t have to fold all of the laundry that was waiting for me yesterday makes it worthwhile.

How about you?  Would you consider hiring a maid?  Why?