We All Can Use Some Help And Not Feel Guilty About It

We All Can Use Some Help And Not Feel Guilty About It

According to Women in Canada: A Gender-based Statistical Report, “In 2015, women spent an average of 2.8 hours per day on housework (…),” which adds to 19.6 hours a week.

That is 19.6 too many if you ask me.

That is the equivalent of working full-time hours for two whole extra days (plus another 3.6 hours) a week!

Who has that kind of time?

The situation is not too promising for men who, according to the same study, spent in 2015 an average of 1.9 hours a day on housework, which adds up to 13.3 hours a week.

We all suffer from a lack of time. Yet we still use precious hours on activities we could probably delegate. Like house cleaning.

It might take a moment of realization to recognize we all could use some help.

My Aha Moment

I will never forget my first house cleaning service experience.

Yes, I work for Scrubbi, so that might sound bias, but bear with me.

My first cleaning experience WAS NOT with Scrubbi but an individual, and it took place way before my Scrubbi days.

I was single, sharing a condo in downtown Vancouver and living “the life.” By that I mean, living paycheque to paycheque, working full-time for a destination management company, creating products for high-end clients. In short, I was arranging vacation packages for wealthy people.

In my spare time, I was doing what single people did back in the years when dating sites were still frowned upon. Going out to bars and coffee shops, talking to people in person. The good ol’ days!

My profile did not fit that of what is socially perceived as a person who needed house cleaning services.

Yet I did. The reason? Lack of time.

One thing I had no time for was cleaning. The idea of spending my Saturday morning vacuuming the carpeted livingroom was not appealing – one marriage and a kid later and it still isn’t.

And my roommates were not into cleaning either.

There was not a time that was convenient for doing house chores like mopping the kitchen floor or cleaning the toilet.

The evenings were booked with cooking, beer-drinking, TV watching and chilling. The weekends, well, sleeping took a big part of them, and there were always errands to run like visiting my parents with a bag of laundry.

To clean your home, you need time, and that time comes at the expense of other activities.

And at age 27, less time watching TV or drinking with friends is a lot to ask!

One day, one of my roommates suggested hiring a cleaner. We split the cost, and we hired a woman who a friend of a friend had recommended.

A lovely lady, Mrs. Hutchinson was. She was funny and cordial. But her cleaning skills? Not as polished as her personality. (No pun intended).

We still loved seeing her every other week for the two months we had her. Even when we had to pay extra for her travelling time. Or when she showed up an hour late the majority of times. Or even when she simply stopped showing up without explanation.

In hindsight, it was probably more the novelty than the actual quality of the cleaning that we enjoyed. We did not know then what a good cleaning experience felt like. For us, it was a luxury just to come home to a clean house.

A luxury that gave us extra hours to do whatever we felt like doing.

Fast forward to today, and the feeling of coming home to a clean house still feels like the first time! I do not have to pay extra for travelling time. Scrubbi cleaning professionals show up and do a great job.

The difference is that now I know what a housecleaning experience should feel like. I have come to expect the best service, which is something Scrubbi excels at.

We All Can Use Some Help

There is a misconception about house cleaning services being for the wealthy. And before my first cleaning experience, I did not think of my roommates or me as “people who get their house cleaned.” The truth is that you don’t need to be rich to get home cleaning services.

Three young professionals sharing a condo in Vancouver could benefit from a bi-weekly cleaning service. A single mother of two in Calgary could benefit from weekly cleanings. A retired couple living in Oshawa could benefit from a one-time cleaning appointment.

And many of them do! All across Canada, there are thousands of people who choose to get back hours of free time over walking around the house dusting shelves. We deserve to do what we want without feeling guilty for not cleaning the house.

The majority of us do not want to spend precious time sweeping the floors or doing housework. Especially not 19.6 hours a week!

We all suffer from not having enough time to engage in meaningful activities, so it makes sense to choose carefully what we do with the little time we have, and what activities we want to delegate.

My first cleaning experience showed me that a house cleaning service can improve your life.

My experience with Scrubbi showed me the difference an excellent cleaning service makes.

There is nothing like coming home to a clean house. I can attest to that!