I've had help once a week for several years now. It's not because I CAN'T do it, but because I'd rather be doing something else. Plus there's the Hubby factor. He just doesn't see dirt. Me, I can't stand a dirty house. I can stand a little clutter, but not a dirty house. After constant arguing about it, we decided the solution was to have someone clean the house. That was about 10 years ago, and we haven't had an argument about it since. With my first cleaning lady, I sat down with my list of everything I wanted her to do, and she gave me her price. Over the next few months, she added a few things I had missed, and we were so pleased with her work, we gave her a raise. We were sorely disappointed when she and her husband moved away, but she referred us to a friend of hers who also cleaned houses for a living, and this woman has been so wonderful. I am positive she cleans BETTER than I would, and she's done in about 4 hours. She's also very kind and responsible. She now cleans for my mother-in-law, who is 79, and will call me if she thinks there is a problem. She will check the house if we're away, and one time, when she checked in the middle of winter, the furnace had died. Her husband came over and tried to get it going, and when he couldn't, the two of them stayed there, keeping our fireplace going, until the furnace people could come and fix everything. There have even been days when she has swung by on her way to another job just to let my dog out. She's just a saint and I'd trust her with anything. I'm just grateful that she's quite a bit YOUNGER than I am, because I'd hate to have to replace her any time soon! I guess the main point of this post is to encourage you to go ahead, as it can be such a wonderful experience, and to see if you can find a reference from someone for your worker. If you use something like "The Maids", be sure to check their references too. And write down everything you want done. I'm sure you will find that, after being relieved of those chores, there will be more you will want to let go of as well. As for me, I am still doing the "everyday" stuff. Hubby still leaves dishes all over the house, crumbs all over the counter, food out everywhere, etc. He still thinks you can go a whole week without sweeping the kitchen floor or wiping out the kitchen sink. Sigh! Well, I've trained him as best I could. But the thing is, I know that one day per week, my home will be pristine, and all I have to do from there is "keep it up". It makes a HUGE difference, and I'm not crabbing at hubby for all the little habits I know will never change. MacThayer

I had a white ceiling fan in a 12x12 kitchen, with only one normal size doorway, no outside exhaust and cooking daily for a family of 5. Needless to say that ceiling fan was a weekly cleaning job. My kid tried to help once, she lost her balance, grabbed an arm that holds the blade and thank goodness she didn't fall but the arm bent. I said Oh well, one nasty blade down nothing to loose. I scrubbed that blade until all traces of dirt and grease were gone. A lot of the white paint was also gone. Still having nothing to loose I had a can of no gloss White enamel spray paint left from something else. I had 220 grit sand paper and made sure it was it was smooth then I spray painted it and it looked like new! I did the same to the others and bought a new a set of arms for $12.99 at Home Depot and put the old newly painted blades with new arms back up. For the next 6 years that we lived there, dusting the blades was easy, stuff just slid off. When they did get dingy looking. Windex and a paper towel and they would be sparkling white again.

LOL, at Ed! Of Caroline has a GREAT idea too. Stacy, this is funny, as just a couple of days ago I cleaned/dusted mine. I just used warm soapy water. I try to get it done at least every other month, and in the summer when they run more, I do them quite a bit more. They come clean so much easier, since I started doing them more often. Moni

I use a ladder to reach it, and clean the blades using a damp cloth so that the dust won't go everywhere