Clean, Green, and...Sane?

Lately I've been wrestling with a sticky problem: how does a certified Neat-Freak, someone who prefers things organized and put away, someone who detests dust and dirt, peacefully cohabitate with 3 males and a cat...without losing her mind, snapping one day in a fit of grime-induced hysteria, and attacking them all with a (biodegradeable) cloth and a spray bottle of (non-chemical) cleanser?

I do realize that as Household Boss, cleaning falls under my job description. However, unlike some people I know--who find joy in eradicating dust bunnies, sweeping up stray hairs, and polishing things until they sparkle--I LOATHE the cleaning process (I know, it's one of the great ironies of my life: love a clean house, hate to actually do the dirty work. Also: love to eat, hate to cook...hmm, definitely a pattern here, and it's not pointing to any Domestic Goddess awards for me!) In fact, following my family around the house, wiping up crumbs, scraping toothpaste out of my son's bathroom sink, putting toys and shoes and books back in their places, I was beginning to feel like the unappreciated, uncompensated Family Maid. Large amounts of grumpiness ensued. When I found myself attacking the boys' bathroom for the fourth day in a row (not to achieve any level of gleaming cleanliness, just to eliminate the pee from around the toilet area), muttering Bad Words under my breath, I knew the time had come to take action.

It was crystal-clear to me that I needed professional help (and not just lying on a Therapist's couch, moaning about my messy life). However, I first had to address a huge portion of Female Guilt. My internal struggle went something like this: Voice 1--"You only work part-time, you should be able to keep the house acceptably clean if you just apply yourself to it every day." To which Voice 2 would pipe up and whine--"But I don't WANNA clean up after everyone!" You can see my dilemma...Voice 2 clearly had the stronger argument. Then of course there was the obvious question, "can we afford this"? That one took a while to resolve in my mind, but one day (probably after dealing with yet another Bathroom Incident) it suddenly became apparent that the cost of hiring a Cleaning Service would be much less than the cost of treating my imminent Nervous Breakdown (and subsequent quiet vacation in the sterile Loony Bin.)

So, I convinced Husband that we could--in fact, NEEDED to--do this, and set about finding an environmentally-responsible, Earth-conscious company that meshed well with my philosophical beliefs...and would still make the house shine. ("Scour the house while saving the planet", that's my motto!) And I've gotta tell ya, it was one of the best decisions I ever made. After the crew comes and waves their magic brooms, everything looks fresh and smells lightly-citrusy. No cat hair on the floor, no spiderwebs in the corners, no fingerprints on...everything. And yes, things get messed up again as we go about our day-to-day life, but I don't worry about it so much, since in the back of my mind I can hear my calming mantra: "They'll be back in 2 weeks." So forget the monetary cost for a moment and let me put it in terms of an Real-Life Equation: Clean House = Happy Mom. And that's a formula I think everyone who has to live with me can get behind!