Memoir of a Housekeeper

Housekeeping isn't what I grew up telling myself that I wanted to do. I had other plans but....that's a different story and to be honest with you, I don't want to talk about that part.

I worked retail for many years, among other things, but decided to be my own boss while the kids were still young. I wanted to make myself available to them before and after school. Cleaning houses for other people, I decided, was something I could do and wouldn't require a whole lot of start-up costs AND I could create my own hours. At least I feel like I am helping people too.

Well, here I am.

I have the best clients in the world! I maintain 10 of them right now. I started off cleaning rentals and new houses but once I had a steady base of clients, I gave up those kinds of cleanings. I didn't feel like working weekends and evenings like I had done with all the other jobs I held in the past. I wanted to call the shots.

Right now it's only me working for me. I employed my son, Brody, at the beginning when I had a commercial contract and when I was cleaning rentals but I gave those up to concentrate on regular maintenance of private households. (Besides, Brody grew older and got a "real" job.)
It took a few months to get a substantial amount of clients but once the ball was rolling, I had more business than I could handle. I threw around the idea of making it a bigger business by hiring a few employees but decided against it.
I have it set up like a small business with a city business license and liability insurance to keep it up to a professional standard.

My cleaning biz gives me time to do other things I enjoy such as quilting, scouting, blogging, family stuff.....so it's been hard to give up.

Every job I've ever held has taught me a lot of things. As these last seven years have passed, I've learned a lot about cleaning, a lot about people and a lot about myself.....it could possibly be because of all the time I spend alone...thinking. And that's okay.