Libby the Housecleaner Asks: is Cleaning Demeaning?

In a fractured economy, Libby turns to housecleaning to pay for some groceries. She leaves houses sparkling clean, but never knows how much her hard work is appreciated. The best thing about cleaning houses? People leave you alone so you can use your own system. The worst thing? When nobody thanks you, and you never hear the ooh's and aah's.

Libby Lou, of Sacramento, California, cleans a humongous house in a newer, upscale neighborhood. It has 5 bedrooms and 3 full baths, a playroom, a pantry, a laundry room, a den, living room, dining room, kitchen and entryway. She says she could never make it without coffee. Lots of coffee.

Strong, healthy and in her 40's, she says all that scrubbing, vacuuming, leaning over, changing linens, leaves her with a sore back. The next day she is pretty much out of commission. After that, she is ready to take on the next job.

A sometime singer, and a sometime counselor, Libby, like many others she knows in California, started cleaning houses the day she realized she didn't have any groceries. With the economy in paralysis, the clients weren't calling, the gigs weren't coming in, the checking account was empty, and she and her car were both running out of gas. While still continuing attempts to rejuvenate her career, she was getting desperate. Housecleaning was one of the things she already knew how to do that her friends needed. Especially when they only had to pay $50 for a cleaning, which is what Libby charged even for the big house. Not exactly the going rate. But her friends felt they were helping her out, which they were. "Start out the way you mean to go on," Libby says, even though she didn't. She adds, you don't get a second chance to negotiate a fee. At least not right away.

Although the big house she cleans does belong to a good friend, she feels it has somehow changed the relationship from equal-equal to boss-peon. A result she did not foresee. No more friendly chats. Just to-do lists, long enough to require Libby to devise a system in order to get it done in six hours.

She goes top down. Starts upstairs. Strips the beds. Puts the linens in the washer, then starts on the floors. Some need vacuuming, some need mopping, some need dry mopping and polishing. It's a lot of equipment to haul up and down stairs more than once so she does the whole second story at the same time. Dusting and polishing furniture. Scrubbing bathrooms. Moving the sheets to the dryer. Remaking five beds with sheets from the linen closet. She remembers to fluff the pillows, hang clean towels tied with raffia in the middle, spray scented aromatic stuff everywhere. Fold this week's sheets and put them on the shelf for next time.

The biggest challenge? The glass shower doors. She tried every product in existence, and finally made up her own: A paste of salt and lemon juice, which gets past the soap scum. Libby learned that trick cleaning coffee pots when she was a waitress putting herself through school. She may try apple cider vinegar, too.

Downstairs, there is more carpeting, more floor tile, more hardwood floors for cleaning and polishing. More furniture to dust and polish. Objets d'art on glass shelves. Another bathroom, the laundry room and the kitchen. She adds special touches to the den and kitchen, living room and dining room, sometimes even bringing in seasonal decorations. A red rose for Valentine's Day. A burst of autumn glory in a bouquet of fall leaves. Seashells in a jar for summer. She wants the family to walk in and know every part of the house has had a loving touch.

Scariest moment: When she found a pair of wasps by the fireplace in the den not knowing how many more there might be. She drowned them in Windex, and when they finally succumbed, squinched them in napkins and flushed them.

Most frustrating moment: She put the big dogs out, cleaned the whole house, ending with the sparkling entryway, when the canines clamored to get back in. It had rained the day before, and unknown to Libby, there was a muddy spot by the door. So she opened the door and in came eight muddy paws, undoing all the hard work of the day. Libby says she had a mini-meltdown. Drank more coffee. Said it would have been wine if there had been any.Then cleaned off the dog's paws, put them in the garage, and redid all the floors and carpets.

Sometimes when she is all done, Libby says she goes outside and comes back in, just so she can appreciate the effect of the sparkling clean, fragrant house. It's nice to get a little appreciation, even if it's her own. Because apparently, appreciation is kind of scarce in the housecleaning business.