Caring for someone else's home

Once a year, a bunch of us at the lab take part in United Way's "Day of Caring" campaign.  Local non-profits ask for volunteer help with relatively large projects that require labor rather than money.  Over the years, we have put siding on buildings, cut down trees, painted walls, etc.

This year, we showed up at Transition House, a charity that helps people recovering from substance abuse transition into society.  They have a few apartments for their clients, but since most of these clients are also recovering from homelessness, a clean home environment may not be a priority.  Our job was to do deep cleaning of four apartments.

Going to the apartments, we started talking amongst ourselves.  Nearly all of us have housekeepers who clean our houses.  One of my colleagues delegated the job of cleaning cabinets to their teenage daughter.  We use a robot vacuum for regular cleanups.  In short, we haven't been the ones cleaning our homes in several years.  On Friday, though, we cleaned kitchen cabinets, railings, vents and bathrooms in the apartments.

But then, even though I volunteered with Habitat for Humanity building houses every weekend for several years, I don't dare to install a new wind turbine on our roof.  I'm going to hire someone to do it.   I don't know why it's easier when it's someone else's house.