Tidy Sapling

I clean houses. Basically, I get paid to go the therapy. Yes, cleaning houses, especially the houses of others is therapeutic. Here's why:

-Exercise. Bending, stretching, climbing stairs, VACUUMING!
-Alone time to think
-Experiencing the transformation of dirty to clean...
-Dirt is one thing in life we can control.

There are two kinds of houses:

The minimalist. They don't have a lot of stuff and everything they own is functional, simple and beautiful. There are no pets and no children. When I clean here I NEVER have to take out the trash or clean a sink full of dishes before I clean the kitchen. 

The maximist. Chaos. Teenagers. Pets. Busy. Busy. Life. I spend most of my time getting down to the surfaces and barely have time to clean them. Dishes everywhere. Laundry in various stages of doneness. Garbages overflowing. Archeological kinda shit in pots and pans and forgotten backpacks. 

And then there are all the houses in between. But of the two extremes I can't decide which one I prefer. 

At the minimalist house I harbour the secret fear I am miking the house dirtier just by entering it. (I have a dog so I use a lint roller on my entire body, including and especially the bottom of my socks, before I enter the house.) One time ALL of my cleaning rags were covered in the dogs hair because my daughter got into the cupboard and threw my rags on the floor. It drove me insane and I had to vacuum every surface I wiped. If all goes well, I am in and out of this house in a few hours. It is the same routine every time and so becomes easier and quicker. When I leave the house is pretty much the same as when I arrived, immaculate, except now it's immaculate with a bit of a shine.

At the maximist house it is always a surprise. Will I spend the next three hours climbing mount laundry or will I discover a new form of penicillin? When I get there I take the garbage bag from the kitchen and speed around the house picking up refuse wherever I go. Then I tackle the bathroom and the kitchen and I barely have time to vacuum floors and get them scrubbed and four hours have passed. I could spend a week in this house and still have stuff to do. But after a few hours of my time, the house looks completely different. The occupants come home they say AHHHHHHHH, for one second. And then they get back to life and back to keeping me employed.