BankerGirl

Posted by Heidi on April 14th, 2008 in About BankerGirl, career, household spending, work

Last week Penelope Trunk wrote about her decision to hire a house manager and I have been fascinated with the idea ever sense.  I have no business hiring someone to take care of household stuff given my current financial state - but it would be so wonderful to have someone on the payroll to take care of all of the things that I neglect.

I’m not exactly sure what a house manager does. I had never even heard of such a thing until I read Penelope’s post, but I am pretty sure that I could manage to keep such a soul busy on a full-time basis. 

I worked about 76 hours last week between my full-time job and my teaching responsibilities.  Now, I will give you that this was atypical as I don’t usually teach four nights in a single week, but that’s still a lot of hours to spend with one’s nose stuck in a PC monitor. 

The subsequent household neglect has been devastating: there is a pile of dirty laundry near my bathroom door (it’s taken on a life of its own - like the blob its getting bigger and beginning to fill the hall), my dog has shown her displeasure regarding my extended absence by “eating” my used Kleenexes and depositing them throughout the house, and I haven’t even begun to contemplate all of the yard work and spring cleaning that needs to be done. 

At this point hiring help is just a fantasy - like winning the lottery - but I floated the idea to my future husband to get his thoughts on the matter.  Naturally, he thought I was insane.  The first thing out of his mouth was, “That would make us so lazy!” 

He has a point - neither of us is naturally the tidy type - our home is in a constant state of disarray and only manages to appear clean when we expect guests.  I hate living in perpetual filth, but I also don’t feel like I should be responsible for maintenance - I am too busy working two jobs and going to board meetings to be bothered with such trivial matters!  It’s not that I don’t appreciate a clean home; it’s just that so many other things take priority over household chores - and girl has got to sleep sometime. 

I have tried do-it-myself methods of simplifying and organizing - I have tried to feng shui my life, shine my sink, and practice meditation to calm my soul.  I start with the best of intentions, but after a few days of leaving the house at 5:30 am and returning at 10:15 pm, I give up.  I walk in the door as Matt is getting ready for bed, kick off my shoes, flop on the sofa, and think about all of the things I should do while I laying catatonic, half-watching the last seven minutes of a Family Guy rerun. 

A house manager, if deployed to my expectations, would take care of all of the little stuff that I just can’t seem to make time for.  A house manager would throw the moldy potatoes out and make sure there was always milk in the fridge.  A house manager could bag all of the oak leaves that have collected in the back yard and straighten up the garage.  A house manager would keep my calendars in sync, making sure I never miss another face-to-face with another wedding vendor or neighborhood association meeting.  I could come home everyday to a clean, uncluttered, house.  Oh, just imagine!

Too bad I have to live in the real world. 

Stumble it!