 Hey there, I'm Angela Brown and this is Ask a House Cleaner. This is a show where you get to ask a house cleaning question and I get to help you find an answer. Now today's question comes from a homeowner who has had the same cleaning lady for 12, 13 years. And the woman who's been cleaning her house is of course 12 or 13 years older than she was before. So she's getting on in years and she's not as thorough as she once was. She does not move as fast as she once did and her work is slipping a little bit and the homeowner kind of wants to replace her and find somebody new. But she's hesitant to do that because she knows that she's probably the only source or one of the only sources of income for this woman. So what does she do? I hate this question because it is tough. It's tough to find yourself in this situation either as the house cleaner when you know you're getting too old to do the job correctly or as the homeowner who has to make that choice. That is just a tough situation. I hate that situation for everyone involved. But the answer is you may be the only source of income but you are not responsible to her to be her only source of income. There may be another set of skills that she has that she would be better suited for. Is there something as a homeowner that you did that made her feel indebted to you as a family? Have you made her a part of your family and now she feels like she can't leave? There are a lot of people that I promise after 12 or 13 years they don't want to stay house cleaners, right? Does she have another set of skills that you could encourage her to go pursue? Because if you can encourage her to pursue that, that frees you up from the guilt that you can now go higher house cleaner that would be better suited for you. But if you've decided that you have to let her go, then you have to let her go. And so do it quickly so that it's not something that you're dragging on and something that you're dreading. But give her a heads up and just say, hey, listen, I'm going to move in a different direction with my house cleaning. I'm wondering if you have something you would like to pursue that might be more fun for you at this point in life or whatever and let her go on her way. If you feel for some reason that you must employ her, do you have another set of something that she could do? Are you at a point in your life where maybe you would like someone to cook your meals for you? That would be a whole different set of skills that she probably has, right? And she could probably cook your meals for you or do your grocery shopping or run your errands or pick up your dry cleaning or some of those other tasks that instead of cleaning your house, she might be better suited for something else like that. So there might be something you could do that would still employ her that would not keep her then house cleaning on a day to day basis. But if you're to a point where you are decided that she's not doing a good enough job and that she has slowed down and off, it's probably time to move on because every time she comes back, you're going to start to resent her coming back. And we don't want that. She's been a lifetime friend for 12 or 13 years, right? So help her move on. Help her move on to another job or help her move on to someone else. And if you are not the person to employ her, you might know somebody who is. And so I would ask her, I would say, listen, I'm thinking about getting a different house cleaner, nothing personal other than I just feel like we've been doing this for a long period of time and you're probably ready for a break, right? So is there something you would like to do? Because I know a lot of people and there are a lot of people where I could probably recommend you to do something that you love to do. And it might blow your mind. She might say I'm actually fantastic at designing websites. What? Go design websites. You know what I mean? She might have some skills that you have no idea she has. She might have grandkids. She might want to be spending her time somewhere else. So you have to have a conversation. I don't like that you're in this situation. I don't wish it on anybody, but it is a fact of life. All house cleaners get old at some point. They do. And not all house cleaners should still be in the game. I know some really old house cleaners and some of them are really spry and you would never know how old they are. It's spooky how old some house cleaners are. And because they're so fit and fantastic, it's not an issue. But there are some that are just really worn out and they need to go design websites. Okay, so that's my tip for the day. Be as kind as possible but make it swift. And if you can find a way for them to still work for you, do that. If you can find somebody to recommend to them, do that. And if not, maybe there's something they would rather pursue that they can find on their own. But I would let them know a little bit in advance so that they can make plans to move on. All right, so that's my tip for the day. If you found it helpful, please leave us a comment in the section below. Let us know your take on it. If you agree, if you disagree, if you have a different approach, let us know. I'm open to suggestions and I love reading your comments. So until we meet again, leave the world a cleaner place than when you found it.