Saving a Buck

Detours and OnRamps:
A Forum on Issues Facing Mothers in the Workplace

Saving a Buck

Putting together this conference and working on this forum as a sustainable series of events is definitely one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever been involved in…thought not monetarily, at least not yet! So I’m working on all of these ways to save a buck here and there. Some of its working out for the best…some, not so much.

For instance, I couldn’t justify having a cleaning lady anymore. Even though she was good, I let her go. Now this has actually worked out really well because I’ll be honest, we were living with standards so low that I’m not sure they actually counted as “standards”. My cleaning lady came every two weeks. My innate cheapness—coming from a long line of misers—couldn’t justify her once a week. My kids (and husband) took it as their personal mission to become the dirtiest, most filthiest critters ever known to man the moment she walked out the door leaving behind a sparkling house and the sweet smell of cleanliness. Within 3 minutes I could count on juice cups being dumped, sandy feet tracking into far corners, goldfish dumped and summarily stomped in a routine that had to have been pre-rehearsed.

But here’s the thing. My cleaning lady was walking into a nightmare every two weeks—our whole family (let’s be honest, I’m probably the only one who even had this thought—the others were just happily living a pig-pen existence) would drop something on the floor and…if it was within a day or two of the cleaning lady coming, leave it. Saying, “the cleaning lady will get it’. Maybe if it was within 4-5 days of her coming.

Bathrooms? Never cleaned by us. Counters—halfheartedly wiped. Piles? Built up pretty high…all to the refrain of “The cleaning lady will get it”.

So when I had to let her go, we had to pick up the slack. And things we waited for her to do—we had to do. (let’s be honest—we is me). Is it awesome to clean my floors almost every night? Do the bathrooms myself? Not really. Are my hardwood floors as sparkly as she got them? I’m not even sure they’ve BEEN cleaned since she left. But the day-to-day stuff is much, much better and the kids HAVE started to help—what I can make fun, or moderately interesting…

Before the kidlets, I also belonged to a gym—and when my time was my own I could work out when and if I wanted, do some half-hearted presses on machines, wander about staring at the equipment—now neither the time nor the money is justifiable. So I run on my treadmill in the basement—I COULD do it when they’re napping, but I have 2 hours to jam all my work into so I typically wait till they’re up and they play while I run.

The other day, as I was doing my sit-ups afterwards—little round Coco, one of my twins, got down next to me and put her fat little legs up in the air and waved her arms about. It was SO much better, even, then the single days of checking out a hot guy at the gym.

So sometimes saving a buck has some great “side effects”. Not always. I tried drinking cheaper wine and that didn’t work out. Tried not going to Dunkin Donuts but please—it was too easy to justify that $5 worth of coffee, munchkins, and the accompanying happy faces. Now it’s a matter of checks and balances. If anyone’s got any great money saving tips, let me know!

Meghan’s Blog

Thursday, May 3, 2007