{
  "id": 9568317,
  "title": "I can clean my own house. I'd rather pay someone to do it and spend Saturday with my family.",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/24/i-can-clean-my-own-house-id-rather-pay-someone-to-do-it-and-spend",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-09-24T13:57:01.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Business Insider",
    "slug": "business-insider",
    "url": "https://www.businessinsider.com/hiring-house-cleaner-guilt-worth-money-time-2026-9"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The author initially hesitated to hire a cleaning service, despite struggling to justify the additional expense. Working from cafes cost her nearly $20 a day for coffee and meals. As she worked from home more frequently, she decided to prioritize the cleaning service over that coffee expense. Cleaning her house sometimes felt like an exercise in futility; she recalled that Benjamin Franklin had once said that death and taxes were the only certainties in life, adding that a dog would inevitably track muddy pawprints across a freshly mopped floor. Growing up in a blue-collar family, the author never considered paying someone to clean her home once she had her own place. Her mother had always cleaned the house herself, and she learned to do so at a young age. Regardless of the size of the home—whether it was an apartment, a starter home with her husband, or their second home with their two teenagers—the author and her husband always handled all the cleaning themselves. While she didn't love the work of maintaining a clean home, she cherished having a partner who shared the workload. During their move to a larger home to accommodate two active school-age children, several pets, and a dedicated home office, the author realized that their weekends were filled with chores such as vacuuming, mopping, scrubbing bathrooms, dusting, and cleaning floors. Laundry was also a constant burden. By the time they finished what needed to be done, there wasn't much of the weekend left for the activities they enjoyed. The author thus made the decision to try a cleaning service, despite feeling like her weekends were consumed by house chores. The first cleaning visit felt embarrassingly extravagant, and the author experienced a mix of guilt and relief watching two people do what she had always assumed she should be managing herself. After pre-cleaning to ensure the cleaning team didn't think the house was messy, the author was impressed by how clean the house was without them spending an entire weekend making it spotless. They decided to budget for twice-monthly cleaning services, which they couldn't afford earlier. Although they couldn't always afford it, they balanced the frequency of cleaning with what they could comfortably spend. Twice a month worked for them then, but the frequency could change. Currently, the cleaners visit twice a month, with a deeper cleaning once or twice a year. The author still handles laundry, cooking, dishes, and everyday cleanup, including dealing with muddy-footed dogs. The cleaners primarily handle jobs that consume the most time, such as vacuuming and mopping floors, cleaning bathrooms, and dusting and wiping down surfaces, including numerous bookshelves. With two dogs, a cat, and two teenagers, the house would never be spotless, but having a clean slate every 14 days made everything else much more manageable. The author spent around an hour decluttering before the cleaners arrived, as there was no point in paying someone to clean around counter clutter, piles of mail, or other accumulated messes. Knowing they would be visiting also encouraged the author to put things away throughout the week, keeping the house reasonably presentable between visits. The hardest part was accepting the cost. Initially, she categorized the expense alongside spa treatments or expensive dinners—nice to have but certainly not necessary. Most importantly, having a clean, decluttered house made her want to spend more time at home, which felt like a bonus. More significantly, outsourcing some cleaning tasks freed up hours she had previously spent doing so, providing mental space. While there was always something else to clean, wash, organize, or put away, outsourcing some of that work made the list feel more manageable. In a few years when their kids were adults, things might look different. There would likely be fewer dishes, less laundry, less clutter, and fewer rooms to clean. They might downsize, discovering that a smaller house is easier to keep clean (though she doubted it). Alternatively, they might decide that the time they saved was still worth the expense of hiring a cleaning service. Regardless, the author knew for certain that she'd rather spend a Saturday morning enjoying coffee with her husband, spending time with her family, or reading a book rather than spending those hours cleaning. The house would inevitably become dirty, but for now, at least, she didn't spend every weekend cleaning it.",
  "summary": "I cut back on a nearly $20-a-day coffee-shop habit to help justify hiring cleaners twice a month. The trade-off gives me more free time.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}