Don't get me wrong; I'm not a hoarder or anything. I'm guessing that most of you who regularly visit our home wouldn't say I'm a horrible housekeeper...I hope not anyway. My pride makes sure to pick up the house, clean the bathrooms, and vacuum as much pet hair off the couches as I can before guests arrive. But don't arrive a couple hours early... I don't think I'm a horrible housekeeper. I maybe just have a different way of going about things than some. On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd say I'm maybe a 5 1/2 or 6...
I used to think the reason my house always seemed to be somewhere between a major and minor chaotic state was that I was a mother at home with 3 preschoolers - then my kids all went to school...
It's not that I don't know HOW to clean - my mother taught me like the best of 'em - I grew up not being able spend the night at friends' houses on Friday night because I had to be home for Saturday morning cleaning. My sister and I knew how to scrub floors (on our hands and knees), dust (by taking everything off the dresser first), clean bathrooms (not just wiping off the counters, but polishing the faucets, wiping out drawers, toilets, tubs/showers),vacuum (using the attachments to go near the floorboards), sweep, do dishes, take out the garbage, do laundry...well you get the idea...we were cleaning the whole house by ourselves in the 2nd and 4th grades! I put my own children to shame (which is a topic for another day).
I must admit, once we got our own rooms, my propensity for "disorganization" began to rear its ugly head. While Martha's room was neat as a pin - drawers and closet organized - my room was "less-than-perfect". Let's just say that only on rare occasions would you be able to tell that my room was carpeted. I cleaned my room as a teen much the way I clean my house now. I'd get tired of the mess and all of a sudden decide to go all out - picking up, dusting, organizing, throwing, vacuuming, washing bedding and curtains - it was all or nothing. Anyone who knows me well knows that I tend to be an "all or nothing" type of person. It's something I've been working on...
So...on with the confessions!
#1 - I don't dust. Oh I will if it gets REALLY noticeable, but this is maybe only once every 3 months or so. Or I might just do the living room or areas that are readily accessible to visitors. Only if I'm doing the "ALL" of the "all or nothing" thing will I dust the way my mother required me to as a child. Why? So little reward for the effort. In general, I just don't notice dust.
#2 - I let things build up. Like laundry...during good weeks I either do a load or two every day or do it all twice a week. This was not a good week.
The clothes on the counter and in the basket are clean. The clothes on the floor are not. I also have a pile I just moved out to the family room to fold...and there's another basket of dirty laundry upstairs from the girls' room.A little bit of a mess doesn't bother me (unless I was just in "ALL" mode). I'm just not worried about a few dishes on the counter or papers on the desk or some PJs on the floor...
Here's what the kids' bathroom looks like today after they've left for school. Not too big of a deal...
A few things on the desk...getting there...It doesn't take long for a bunch of little messes to become a minor disaster. Case in point - my girls' bedroom...this was spic 'n span last Tuesday...
No, I didn't open those drawers...
Plenty of room in the closet. And it looks like this only after I picked up all of this from the floor - that laundry basket was empty 3 minutes ago...
#3 - My timing is off. I'm absent-minded. I procrastinate. I don't have a sense of cleaning urgency until I need to. I'm often doing last minute cleaning before someone arrives - even before my husband and kids get home from school. A lot of the time the clean dishes sit in the dishwasher until I've got plenty of dirty ones to refill it with. The "dirty" sheets often stay on the guest bed until I'm preparing for the next guest to arrive. (Hey, how "dirty" can they be when you only sleep in them one night?!) The wet towels and suits are often left in the swimming bags (even though the children are supposed to take care of this right away) until we're repacking the swimming bags for the next swim practice.
#4 - I make piles. When there are really big messes that aren't mine, I just get a laundry basket or box (or the floor of my kids' rooms will do) and start containing the mess. There's no reason why our whole family should suffer for the messes of a few. I'll pick up an entire level of our house (we have 4 levels) and just put the things that aren't my mess into a basket. Then, when the kids get home from school, they have to take care of what's in the basket. It does end up being less overwhelming for them, but if I forget about the basket, it can backfire. When Sarah is searching for PJ pants that were left on the bathroom floor last night and they are in the bottom of the basket under the American Girl doll clothes and hair clips and Magnetix and homework papers and crayons and blankets and books that were laying around the house, we have a problem. It's time for bed! We don't have time to put all that stuff away now!
So while I'm sometimes overwhelmed at our entire family's propensity toward being slobs, I'm encouraged to be able to say, it's OK. There are certain things that really bother me. I like for my bedroom to be clean. I don't like to feel grit on my feet if I walk across the kitchen floor with no socks. Toothpaste must be rinsed out of the sink after brushing your teeth. Overflowing garbage drives me nuts. But, it's OK. 5 years ago, I wouldn't have been able to say that ever. I stressed out over not having my house up to my own inner standards of cleanliness. Today, it's more important for me to spend some time in the Word to begin my day. I want to play ping-pong with Hannah. I want to read books to Sarah. I want to help Ethan with his homework. I want to sit on the couch in front of the fire and cuddle with my husband. I want to watch a movie. I'll be the first to admit that I could be more diligent in keeping my house in order. Sometimes, I just feel lazy. I'm about 50-50 as far as it really bothering me or couldn't care less - there's that "all or nothing" thing again. Right now, it's OK...tomorrow I might have a problem with it... I'd better get off the computer now. I need to do some cleaning :o)
I think you are protesting years of being forced to clean. I go through those stages as well. Maybe we're rebelling against our clean freak mothers and Gram. If this tells you anything, I've only balanced my checkbook 3 times in the past two years. (Don't tell my Mom)! :)
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