You'd think that now that I'm retired, I'd have the answer, wouldn't you? But the very notion that I'm retired tends to conjure up all the options of what's available to me--and cleaning house is not high on the list! After all, I'm retired--I should be able to do whatever I want with my time, right? And I can assure you that cleaning house has never been high on my list of enjoyable activities.
I really have tried and from time to time I actually achieve a semblance of my goal. I've set up a cleaning schedule and try to stick to it. But things get in the way. For example, at the moment, I'm trying to remodel/redecorate my bathroom. I've got all the old wallpaper off, patched holes, even tore out a major cabinet (with the help of my husband, of course). I've sanded, scraped, brushed and scrubbed to the point where it's nearly ready to be put back together. This sort of thing doesn't happen in a 2 hour period of time!
I also belong to an exclusive organization whose meetings I need to attend at least three to four times a week to maintain my mental and emotional health. The meetings are only an hour--that's not the problem! Getting to the meetings takes a half hour and while I'm out of the house is the perfect opportunity to shop--collect more stuff!--so that one hour meeting easily stretches into a three hour block of time! When I finally get back home, there are any one of a myriad of tasks I'd rather perform than general housekeeping--besides--I have to put away that new stuff!
I guess what I'm saying is that unless you're a natural born clean and neat freak who periodically moves so that you can routinely review your stuff, keeping a neat and clean house is just not going to happen--except in those sporadic moments when the urge to clean and declutter becomes so strong that you act upon it. Things do stay nice for a while--even for some time--like three or four days; maybe you can even stretch it out for a week or two!
But slowly, the clutter creeps back into your life once again. At least that's been my experience.
I'm working on it, though. Redecorating/remodeling the bathroom is a start. And I'm bugging my husband to work on his part--nag, nag, nag! But unless I want to get rid of him (which I don't--well, maybe occasionally, but generally not!) and all but just a very few of my animals, I guess I'm stuck!
Anyone who needs expertise can go to www.flylady.com--she's got some good tips. I've tried it but it takes a lot of self-discipline and obviously I'm short on that. Concepts are simple but so hard to carry out. Having company come for a visit also helps motivate me to put things in order. And I really do try to vacuum at least once in a while--sometimes that's even once a week! But that's a chore and I am "retired" and I'd rather blog!--and feed my chickens which I need to do!
Thanks for reading!
Peace and love,
Carol
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