I feel the same. I LOATHE housework and I'm constantly doing it. It's endless. As much as I loathe it, I'm not willing to live in squalor... maybe later in life when I lose all self-respect I'll just give in to the filth. I'm a single mom so the cleaning service is not gonna happen. I feel like I'm constantly beating back chaos and I'm just so tired.

I have a service come twice a month. It runs me 75 for 2500 sq ft, but I've had them for 3 yrs.

Personally, I consider it am investment in my marriage and family. I don't have to worry about bathrooms, mopping, vacuuming stairs in a townhome, dusting baseboards/pictures or climbing to get cobwebs. I also have the time to spare on the weekends. Everyone around here has such awful commutes that weekends really is the only time to do anything. To me, the $150/mo just isn't worth messing up my quality of life.

I have a friend in a similar situation. Her DH refuses to consider a service. I told her to have someone come in while he's out of the house one day and see what he says. Her DH is a bit of a neat freak so when their house is in disarray, it bothers him mores than her. Maybe a couple less family dinners out or packing lunch will free up the funds?

I feel like my life would improve so much if we had help with the house. I work ft and I spend weekends either cleaning, tidying or thinking I should. Our house is always messy and I want it clean and organized. I am always slightly depressed because it is so demoralizing to have a house like this and I can't get a handle on it. Every weekend it is a battle between doing fun stuff and cleaning up. It is also overwhelming. I think things would be so much better if we had a housekeeper. My husband won't even go for a once a month maid because things are tight. I would never do this, but it has crossed my mind that if we didn't do private school, we could have one.