According to In The Powder Room, housework is at the top of most women’s lists of most stressful things in their lives. The author of the post opined that housework is not important enough to warrant such stress. Me, I don’t just lack stress about housework, I actually enjoy it. I should clarify here by saying that for years I employed the services of a cleaning professional. While it’s a privilege and an indulgence to afford the services of a cleaning woman, I believe I felt more stressed by the presence of someone in my house for 5 or 6 hours doing a job I felt sub-consciously I could be doing myself.

Simply because I was able to afford the services of a cleaner, I used one…now that I do my own cleaning, I see I was robbing myself of a wonderful opportunity to nurture my home and family. Now, my children are joyfully involved in the cleaning with me and they never complain. It’s a terrific bonding time as we work together toward a common goal. I am not picky about the way the cleaning is done so while my detail-oriented Virgo is in the bathroom on her hands and knees with a toothbrush (practically), my big picture Aries feels that ‘tidying’ is an unnecessary and tedious aspect of the cleaning process. I embrace both these approaches.

We reward ourselves when we are through by enjoying a treat or a card game or whatever makes us feel good at the time. The sense of accomplishment I feel when faced with a sparkling home that I worked to achieve is incomparable. That doesn’t mean I’ll never use the services of a professional cleaner again, only that I feel as though taking care of your home is one of the most overlooked pleasures in life. On a fashionable note, I love to pull a June Cleaver and do the cleaning in a dress and heels. I once greeted my friend at the door this way complete with rubber gloves as accessories and she thought it was hysterical.