Have you ever had one of those days when you look around the house and realize that, for whatever reason, things are not as they should be? Or perhaps that’s the situation every morning? That was the case for me when I started working on this post earlier in the week. Last week was busy and so was the weekend. Somehow Monday got away from me, too, although right now I can’t recall why. (*Now I do. I had a funeral to attend.) I do remember that David had a meeting which ran late that night so we didn’t eat dinner until about 8:30. We watched the Olympics and I worked on the kitchen during commercials. I rarely go to bed without leaving the kitchen clean but I still hadn’t finished it by the time the Olympics were over. Ordinarily I would have stayed up until I had it done but I got a better offer. Never turn down a better offer in order to do dishes. That’s my tip for young wives. Or older ones, for that matter.
So this is what I faced Tuesday morning:
Unmade bed – which is the case every morning
David’s unpacked suitcase from his last business trip – a week ago!
This doesn’t look as bad in the picture as it really was.
Cute dog…who sheds on the carpet
Splattered mirror and general untidiness
Clean laundry not put away
Dishes left from the night before
Half full bottle of cola from David’s rum and coke, stacks of mail, etc.
So where do you start? Here’s my general plan of attack:
- Shower and dress in something comfortable but not embarrassing if someone drops in unannounced. I don’t usually do full makeup before cleaning house but I do moisturize my face, put on some lip gloss and use an eyeliner pencil along my lower lashes. Just enough that I don’t scare myself while polishing the mirrors.
- Turn on some music. To this day my kids say that the sound of James Taylor’s voice instantly brings back memories of Saturday morning cleaning sessions back when I worked and they were in grade school. That was my usual cleaning music back then. These days, with an iPod and Spotify I have many options. Some of my usual choices include Bob Marley, The Grateful Dead, or my current playlist of the month. And there are times when only Nine Inch Nails or Black Sabbath will do.
- Pour myself a glass of water to sip on throughout the cleaning.
- Make a plan.
That plan starts by determining my goals and getting them firmly in place. In this case my goal was to return the house to what I find comfortable. Not necessarily company-ready. Certainly not “Spring Clean” levels and not even to what I would like to have happen on a weekly or monthly basis. There would be no drawer or closet cleaning. Vacuuming would not include moving furniture or doing around the baseboards with the wand attachment. Basically I just wanted the main areas of the house to be neat and relatively clean.
There are a few things I do every day which make home life comfortable. First, I make the bed:
Doesn’t that look better?
I also try to make a quick tour throughout the house putting things away.
Such as David’s suitcase
Desk area tidied and dusted
Laundry put away
Out of place items put away, pillows fluffed
I walk through the main areas of the house putting things where they belong without getting distracted by actual cleaning (that comes later). I find that having things in order gives me a little boost before I start cleaning. And if something interrupts the process, at least the house looks better.
Next up is the kitchen. I’ve shared before how to clean a true disaster situation. Unless you’re hosting music festivals for a hundred people in your back yard it’s unlikely you’ll face anything that bad but the general principles apply.
- Throw away any trash.
- Put away clean dishes from dishwasher/drainer.
- Put dishes in dishwasher.
- Wash remaining items that require hand-washing.
- Wipe down counters, stove-top, other surfaces.
- Scrub sink.
- Sweep floor.
Much better now
I then feather dusted and quickly vacuumed the main areas of the house.
See? No more Shiloh fur.
Finally, a little attention for the bathrooms. I didn’t do a thorough clean but wiped mirrors, swished toilets, cleaned sinks and put out fresh towels.
I put away a lot of the books and magazines which had found their way to our bathroom.
Along with sweeping the porch and doing a couple of loads of laundry, this restored things to a comfortable level for me. I’m sure there are some reading this who think the “before” was good enough and others who find the “after” still lacking a lot. That’s highly individual and often depends upon your circumstances. If you have several young children, just picking up the toys and putting the dishes in the dishwasher might feel good enough. There was a time when I was much fussier about things but the older I get the more I’ve decided that there are other things I’d rather spend my time on than homemaking perfection. I don’t function well in a messy environment but neither do I need everything spotless at all times. Unless I’m highly stressed and/or unhappy. That’s when my OCD tendencies kick in and you’re likely to find me scrubbing things with a toothbrush. Fortunately (I think) that hasn’t happened in a long time.
At this point in my life my homemaking goals are simple. I want my home to be comfortable enough for us to live in (that means I need to be able to find things so tidiness is important) and clean enough that I could welcome a guest into my home without being utterly horrified. David works hard so I give a lot of consideration to his needs. That means good meals, clean clothes in his closet, and a wife not too tired to give him the attention he deserves when he’s at home. That’s why I try to have most of the housework done by Thursday each week.
Friday is the day I hopefully have time to do some of the things I like to do just for myself. I might watch a movie, read, play the piano or work on a project of some sort. I try to fill up my own bucket, so to speak, so that I have plenty to give David after his busy work-week. Oftentimes he wants to go out on Friday night. As an introvert, I enjoy social occasions a LOT more if I’ve had plenty of alone time beforehand and am feeling calm and centered. It took me a long time to stop feeling guilty about that. It’s easy to compare oneself to others and come up feeling inadequate. However, we are each unique and one of the best parts about getting older is learning to accept oneself.
So what are your homemaking goals? Do you have a routine for catching up when things have gotten ahead of you? Any good movie suggestions for next Friday?
Deanna, I can relate – I feel my who summer has gotten away from me. I'm really looking forward to September…
I haven't accomplished much, myself, but I'm not really looking forward to September. That's getting dangerously close to the season-which-shall-not-be-named. Ha!