Cleaning Up

Today I had a cleaning service walk through the house to give me an estimate for an every-other week cleaning. This was a luxury we had in New Jersey and one I had been planning to sign up for here, once the expense of the lawn service died out with the warm weather.

Maria was a nice lady who answered my questions and offered references, but I should have spent more time tiding up the house for her.

See, I hosted me entire family for two weeks around Christmas and have been home with the kids through winter break. This house isn't used to seeing a lot of daytime activity. She was clearly concerned with the amount of work. She told me the charge for the repetitive service but added, "I'll need to charge you a bit more for the initial cleaning ... It's going to take a lot of time ... For that kitchen especially." I think she was aiming at tactful, while being honest.

Please, the job is all yours.

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