Money Well Spent

Since the beginning of this year, I have made room in my budget for two things that have been nothing short of life changing. Seriously, I cannot believe I waited this long for either of these things...

First off, I decided to sign up for a locker + laundry service at my gym. Those of you who follow me on twitter may have noticed me checking into Lifestart Gym around lunchtime each day. Yes, I am lucky enough to have a job where most days, I can make it over to the gym to workout during the day. With the exception of hot yoga (which I do at Inner Bliss), I'm not a head-sweater. Meaning that for the most part, I don't need to wash my hair after I work out. My gym has shower facilities in the locker room, and this year, I finally pulled the trigger and decided to pay the extra $15/month for a locker and laundry service. The benefit of this is (a) I leave all my gym stuff AT the gym, and so I'm not hauling stuff between home and gym everyday, and (b) I'm saving myself at least a half a load of laundry EACH week (and I HATE doing laundry). The biggest benefit of this whole system is that for the weeks that I'm not traveling, I've been making it to the gym 4x/week on average!!!!!

In addition to hating laundry, I also hate cleaning. Don't get my wrong, I LUUUURRRVEEEE a clean house... I just HATE spending time cleaning it. So earlier this month, N and I decided to cut back on eating out to fit a cleaning lady into our monthly budget. She comes once every other week, and her first day was this past Thursday. I cannot even describe to you the sheer joy of coming home to a spotlessly clean house. Seriously, she is amazing!!! I know some people are squeamish about having a stranger in their home when they are not there, but the best way to overcome this is to go with someone who is a referral from someone you know. Our cleaning lady has done work for my neighbors and many of their friends for a number of years, which certainly made me more comfortable hiring her. And for those who are curious, no, I do not clean the house myself before she comes. I usually just throw out unnecessary paperwork and consolidate unopened mail in one pile!!!

Seriously, LIFE.CHANGED. I'm making it to the gym more often, and I'm not stressed about having a messy house anymore. If that's not good for my health (both mental and physical), I don't know what is!!!!