What’s Better Pampering Than a Clean House?

Thank you Molly Maid for sponsoring this post. Be sure to take care of yourself and Mom this Mother’s Day! #MollyMaid4Mom

Earlier this week after dinner I was standing at the sink elbow deep in dish water when I turned around and realized all my kids were gone and all their stuff was still on the table, except of course for the 1/2 of the meal that had fallen onto the floor. No one cleaned a spot. No one swept up their crumbs. No one offered to help with anything. In that moment I felt totally used. No one wanted to hang out and chat. They all had better things to do and it would never occur to them to help because they never are asked to. I felt like nothing more than my children’s  maid service. I was angry and resentful and everyone knows a mom who feels those two things isn’t good for anyone.

I heard Doctor Phil’s annoying Texas drawl in my head saying, you are treated the way you allow yourself to be. The truth was, my kids high-tailed it out of the kitchen because I didn’t demand anything more of them. All these years I’ve cooked, cleaned and generally managed their lives and I’ve never expected much help. This made sense a few years ago. But now they’re old enough (2 of them anyway) to start earning their keep around here. When they’re old enough to make their mom feel taken for granted, they’re old enough to help. My kids are pretty  good people, this I know. I’m sure if I asked them to do it they would, without too  much complaint.

This weekend when they started asking me about Mother’s Day, I told them I didn’t want one day of them taking care of me. Although I’d never turn down a day of spa services or breakfast in bed, (Actually, that particular idea skeeves me out. Eggs in bed? Ew. I even set up a table for room service!) what I really wanted was some long term assistants. Since we’re not in a financial position to bring back the “cleaning lady” every few weeks (man, those were the days) I’m going to have to employ three little cleaning people on a daily basis.

So on Mother’s Day this year we’ll institute the chore chart. I have to decide before then what is important enough for me to unload. The Husband has already tried to add his ONE household chore to the list but I’m pretty sure I’m vetoing that. You can handle one job around here buddy. As long as I’m keeping a plate warm every night and all you have to do is wash it, then weekly trash emptying won’t kill you.

I have to determine which chores are worth turning over, ie: weigh the ‘cost’ of nagging over actually doing it myself. Then I have to make sure they are given chores they can handle so I don’t have to step in every day. Then I have to make sure I have cash on hand every Friday because, unlike their mother, they won’t work for free!

Would a clean house make you feel taken care of this Mother’s Day but you don’t want to rely on your own muchkins to do it? Enter this Molly Maid’s contest and let the pros clean for you. After all, what’s better than coming home after a lovely brunch to a clean house where someone else cooks you dinner? Cheers mama!

Giveaway Rules
Win a $100 gift certificate toward a cleaning from Molly Maid!

Please note that Molly Maid does not offer service in the following locations: Louisiana, Wyoming, Vermont, West Virginia, Maine, Montana, and Alabama. Also Molly Maid does not have coverage in the following Metro areas: Madison, WI, Green Bay, WI, Buffalo, NY, and Syracuse, NY. If you live in any of these locations, you can still enter to win, but will not be able to have a home in those areas serviced. Home cleaning estimates will vary. Winner may use gift certificate toward total cost.

This giveaway will end May 7 at 11:59PM PT, so enter now! A winner will be selected randomly from the comments on May 8 and contacted via email.

Enter up to four times by doing each of the following:

• One Entry – Tweet about the Molly Maid contest (you can even use the handy-dandy Tweet below, if you like) and leave a comment here with either the Tweet or the URL to the Tweet. Please be sure to tag your Tweet with #MollyMaid4Mom.
• One Entry – Post about this contest on Facebook, and leave a comment here saying what you posted. Please tag the post with the #MollyMaid4Momhashtag.
• One Entry – Write a blog post about the contest and — you guessed it — leave a comment here with the URL to the blog post.
• One Entry – Just leave a comment on this blog post!

Sample Tweet: I just entered to win $100 toward a cleaning from Molly Maid! You can too! http://reinventiongirl.com/2012/04/mollymaid/ ‎ #MollyMaid4Mom

Sponsored posts are purely editorial content that we are pleased to have presented by a participating sponsor. Advertisers do not produce the content. I was compensated for this post as a member of Clever Girls Collective, but the content is all my own.