Paying someone to clean my house used to make me feel guilty. I'm done apologizing.

I grew up in a low-income community. To me, families with house cleaners were considered wealthy and bougie. I frankly didn't understand how anyone would have someone else clean their home. After all, scrubbing a shower or wiping down surfaces with dusting spray and a rag wasn't difficult.

After our first two kids came along, just two years apart in age, a friend and neighbor of mine told me about her housecleaning crew. This friend wasn't someone I considered rich or uppity at all. Exhausted from trying to mop while chasing toddlers, clean toothpaste off the bathroom sink, and attempting to keep the girls from getting into the cabinets while holding down a part-time teaching job, I decided to hire them.

Little did I know that my change of heart toward who had their house cleaned by professionals and who didn't would end up being a necessity. Fast forward a few more years, after moving from an apartment to our first house, to our second and current house, and I was diagnosed with breast cancer. At the time, we had completed our family: four kids. A mastectomy rendered me unable to use my arm and chest muscles for over six weeks. Having hired help with household tasks was essential. Years later, they still are.

Once we found a housecleaning company, we never looked back. I have certainly felt guilty at times, I didn't grow up this way, and have wondered if I should just do this work myself instead of using my downtime to watch an episode of a new show, read, or play with the dogs. However, I also know I have very little downtime, and my chest and back haven't been the same since my mastectomy (making housecleaning chores like mopping and vacuuming difficult). I understand that having this help is a privilege, and not something that makes me snotty by default.

As a mom of 3, I use AI to make printable chore charts and activity books for my kids. They spend less time on screens.

I've had to teach all the men in my life to clean. I'm getting ahead of it with my son and asking him to pitch in now.

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When summer blew up our family's routine, I turned to a business system from Toyota. It helped curb the chaos.

I was so hesitant to hire house cleaners because I was afraid of being perceived as wealthy and snotty. However, I can say that many of the folks I know now as adults who hire house cleaners are incredible parents and community members — a far cry from who I believed they would be.