As I was saying.....about housekeeping.
I think unless you're born a natural neat freak, it's very hard for the average person to really keep house in the manner in which they'd like to become accustomed. It takes time, effort, even a passion. Once I'd learned from The Feminine Mystique (Betty Friedan) that housekeeping required the intelligence of the average nine year old child, I was kinda turned off. Besides, there were just too many other things I could use my better brain to work on!
I did occasionally hire someone to come in and clean for us. The problem with that is that you need to clean the house before they come so they can clean it! You know what I mean. How can you expect a stranger to come in and dust when all the surfaces to be dusted are full of stuff? So, for me at least, that's the main issue--all the "stuff"! Cleaning itself is not all that difficult and can be rewarding--but what about all that clutter--all that stuff?!
There are entire organizations devoted to helping people organize their stuff so I'm guessing this is a big problem! Articles abound on the internet, in magazines, even on TV--check out H>V or any of the other self-help sites. We live in an age of information and if you want to know something it's out there.
For me, the second time in my life when I had a truly clean house was when we were trying to move out of it! I think this is the subtle secret of some people. Those people whose jobs demand that they move periodically, regardless of whether it's on their dime or the someone else's, just never have the opportunity to settle and let their stuff collect!
We were in our last house over 28 yrs.! Can you imagine all the "stuff" we'd accumulated?! Even after hiring full-sized dumpsters and refilling them on more than one occasion we still had more stuff than would fit into our next house even though it was virtually the same size! The only real difference I could see is that the new house didn't really have a useable attic--another haven for stuff one doesn't know what to do with but can't part with.
But just clearing out stuff wasn't the total answer. I had to clear out people! By the time of this last move, the kids had moved out so it was just my husband and me living in a 2400 sq. ft. house trying to move to another 2400 sq. ft. house but with all the accumulations of 40 yrs. of marriage and two kids! Now if that isn't a challenge I don't know what is!
More than half the stuff we owned was already moved into our new house and we still weren't ready to put our old house on the market! Something had to be done and we did it. The only solution I could see was for my husband to move into the new house while I stayed behind to clean up and manage the old one.
And I finally did it! There I was living by myself, in this big house and I was finally able to achieve not only a clean house, but an organized one as well. All but two of the cats moved down with my husband and all I had to do was go to work during the day and take care of the house.
My routine was such that I would get ready for work in the morning, pick up and put everything away (some times that was the night before I went to bed), do a quick scooping of the litterpans, maybe run a quick vacuum or dust mop over the floors and leave the house with nothing in the house but the cats and the bare minimum of furniture. The house was spotless! And available for showing at any time of the day or night. I didn't care if people looked into the closets--they were neat and organized! (After all, all the stuff was in the new house!) I even overheard and got compliments from prospective buyers about how neat and clean the house was! I'd finally achieved the ultimate goal: a clean and neat house!
Of course, the part that was me wasn't really living there but that was besides the point! It could be done; it can be done! As long as I was living by myself, had a minimum of pets and nothing else to do but to make sure the house stayed clean and neat--I could do this!
Well it's that time again to go feed and check on my little chicks. Tomorrow I'll try to wrap this up with more conclusions!
Peace and love!
Carol
4 comments:
So That is the secret.. Get the husband out of the house and miracles will happen! That's funny but probably true in my house too. I'm better than I use to be but I'm too much of a pack-rat to be considered neat.
I've been thinking about this a bit lately.
I know I used to be a clutter magnet.
I think that a contributing factor to the accumulation of all that clutter is that we are just too busy. When I allow myself the time to just sit in my clutter,I find the resolve to put things in order.
Hi Jeff,
Getting a person (such as a husband!) out of the house helps--but is that any fun? I think not!
Thanks for reading!
Jordan,
You're one of those who have the advantage of moving periodically and therefore having to routinely review your stuff. But "stuff" continues to happen whether we stand in the middle of it or not. I think the "secret" is not to accumulate it in the first place--but what fun is that?!
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