This was just before January 1st when everyone was talking about the best ways to keep your new years resolutions. Your diet/ gym membership/ time with your family, that sort of thing.
Well I was thinking about this the other day.
For certain reasons I was cleaning the house, you know the sort, the BIG deep clean that even includes washing windows *shudder*.
You see the thing is I'm a slut, and not in the fun way.
I have always had a problem keeping things tidy.
I remember huge rows with my Mum when I was small and huffing and procrastination as a teenager. My first flat always looked like a crack house despite the fact I was only there to eat and sleep.
When I moved in with Kim it got no better.
Washing up? Laundry? Hoovering?
Pah.
These are things to be done only when a) someone important is coming for a visit or b) we run out of cups/clothes/floorspace.
Once when watching a TV program about shut in old people who horded they showed the council climbing into the house, wading through bin bags of rubbish, climbing over mountains of magazines.
We laughed, but out of the corner of my eye I thought "Not so far away.... a few more bin bags, 3 or 4 piles of newspapers......."
It really got to the stage where I would rather appear rude and leave a friend standing on my doorstep than invite them into my house if they turned up uninvited.
So I stood back from my days work and was pleased with the result.
The little house scrubs up well.
I wondered what it would be like to have this all the time..... Ok maybe not ALL the time but as the norm rather than the exception.
When I look at my attitude to housework I think I often have a vague feeling that someone else should be doing it. Not in a feminist way, in reality I do most because Kim does other stuff like fix the car, do the bulk of the horse work AND hold down a job. Its not a seething resentment that my husband isn't pulling his weight, just a feeling it shouldn't be ME!
What if?
What if I could change my mindset and keep on top of housework, wash up 3 or 4 quick times a day rather than one big panic "basics" wash up in the morning because the kids need tubs for their school lunches. What if I Stayed on top of the laundry so that we always had socks, sometimes even matching ones! What if I actually picked things up as I saw them instead of leaving them to breed until I can't see the floor ..... again.
Well I could give it a go..... whats to lose?
Are you a neat freak or happy to live in mess?
What are your tips for staying on top of housework without becoming some hysterical 1950's housewife?
I have also decided to stop being messy and keep on top of the housework! I heard it was 21 days for a habit so I have now 2 new habits: washing up all the dishes and pans at night so I come down to a nice clean kitchen and making the bed every day. It felt strange the first few days coming into the kitchen in the morning and not having anything to do!
ReplyDeleteIt's a really great feeling when you crack it and find that it seems fairly normal....
Yay for us!! Amzingly I seem to have found extra time BECAUSE I'm keeping the place clean!! Who knew!
ReplyDeleteI must admit I'm not a bed maker, I tend to "nest" in bed so rarely see the point in making it ;)
BUT I am making an effort to wash up after every meal, wash up the kids lunch box stuff WHEN the kids come home (not on monday morning!) and keep up with the washing.
Baby steps :)
I let my standards plummet to deep and dark depths when the children were born.
ReplyDeleteA messy house is an interesting house, with lots projects on the go.
On the odd occasion that I have had the house tidy, I feel lost as what to do next. I think I would get bored, very quickly in a tidy house.
When I was a kid I remember the happiest houses I visited were the ones which were messy. I felt desperately sorry for my friends with 'house proud' parents.
Anyway - that's my excuse and I'm going to stick with it!
Sandie my mess was never from things like projects.... it was too messy to let the kids do any! I love a creative mess, I love the sort of house where you have to move piles of art work or loo roll buildings before you sit down.
ReplyDeleteNot so charming when its bags of rubbish and discarded apple cores :P
I'm finding being tidier is helping a lot with my state of mind. Probably won't last but it WAS lovely to come home from shopping today to a tidy kitchen and to be able to put the shopping on the table and sort it out and put it away, rather than having to dump it on the floor and then sparodically put it away over the course of a coupke of days.... yup... thats me! lol