At Home

An episode of Nanny 911 aired last night in which the beleaguered mom of three (or was it four?) was unconsciously spending all her time cleaning in order to avoid her children, who were very clearly overwhelming her (hence: Nanny). Which led me to wonder if my house is a mess simply because I don't have any toddlers to distract myself from? I kid, I kid. Actually, it just reminded me that there's this pretty great contest going on for two more days on Maids.com; the grand prize is a year of free housecleaning. I have personally never used The Maids (remember that part about my house being a mess?), but they claim to be one of the "healthiest" cleaning services around, using "environmentally-preferred" cleaning products and sucking out allergens with HEPA-filter-equipped vacuums. If there's not a Maids in your area, it's still worth entering, because they're also giving away vacation packages and magazine subscriptions. (Presumably if you win magazine subscriptions instead of a cleaning, you will have to figure out ways to organize the accumulating issues yourself.) Hurry on over to the Maids web site to enter by May 31. Good luck!

And one (okay, two) final question(s): Do you use a cleaning service? If you don't, what would it take to get you to start?

Cleaning tips and tricks for everyone who doesn't win the contest:
How to clean cemented-on food from pans using minimal elbow grease
How to clean nail polish off a sofa
How to clean your home with non-toxic materials
How to get rid of clutter the eco-friendly way
The easiest way to clean window blinds