I spent my week cleaning. To an exhausting degree. When we moved back in November I was pregnant, and the move itself was all kinds of disorganized so it took a couple of months to get everything here. The result is that my downstairs den and garage ended up filled with boxes that never got unpacked. So a girlfriend came over for the week and we went through most of the boxes in the den and sorted out what needed to be put away, what needed to be stored, and what needed to just go. Between rearranging both pups’ rooms, and cleaning in the den and garage, we ended up with a pickup truck full of cardboard that we took to the local recycle center, 2 boxes filled with packing material that my dad asked to be kept for him, 3 or 4 bags of trash, 3 trips to the local thrift store to donate stuff, and a den clean enough that I could blow up our air mattress to see what size it was (my husband got it years ago, I’d never seen it out of its bag).
Break Time! Sorry, got up to go do yet more cleaning. Am going to sit down for some coffee and a triple berry blossom pastry while I write some more. Anyhoo, I’ve discovered that getting motivated to clean by myself doesn’t really work unless I’m mad. Every once in a great while I’ll look around, realize the house is messy, pop on some music and go to town, but those times are few and far between. Generally I clean the kitchen because I need counter space to make dinner, I clean the living room because the dog hair needs to go, and i do laundry because somebody’s out of clean underwear. You can see where cleaning is on my priority list: at the bottom, lol. So I’ve already admitted that I clean when I get mad or when it really needs it. So I got to thinking: how does one get motivated to clean more often? When I was younger and still loved with my dad we cleaned every Saturday. Laundry was done, everything got dusted, swept and vacuumed, stuff got picked up, the yard work was done and trash was collected for pickup on Monday. But there were two of us cleaning, and as a divorcee and bachelorette daughter we didn’t have a lot of stuff. Now as a mom in a family of four with a husband and son who don’t like getting rid of anything (I’d group myself with them, but I can bring myself to throw away or donate things we don’t need anymore) and the sole organizer of cleaning duties in the house, I find that one day a week dedicated to cleaning doesn’t sound appealing, especially when I have 2 pups to look after. I imagine that cleaning wouldn’t be as difficult if I did stick to doing it thoroughly once a week, but I’ve always hated cleaning. I’ve heard of strange people who dedicate an hour or more every day to cleaning. I really don’t think that’s for me though. I clean better with a buddy. Someone to keep me on track, talk to, and share the chores with. The Sarge doesn’t do any cleaning outside the kitchen or laundry. He could care less if his clean clothes are left all over the floor, I know because that’s how he used to keep them, lol. He tried doing that when we moved in here and I finally put my foot down and said he wasn’t allowed to do it anymore. It’s impossible to get on top of laundry when all of it’s on the floor. By the way, while cleaning today, I discovered something that absolutely amazed me. My husband has more clothes than I do. Is that even allowed? I know why it’s happened. As he’s gained weight over the years, he’s bought more clothes. As I’ve gained weight, so have I. The difference is, I’ve gone through my wardrobe and gotten rid of the stuff that doesn’t fit me or I don’t wear anymore. My husband refuses to go through his clothes and get rid of tshirts I know he hasn’t worn in years or pants that don’t fit. It boggles my mind. Of course, this is the same man who had both an N64 and a Sega Genesis, neither of which he’d touched in years, and who got upset when I got rid of them. I live with a pack rat. Maybe when my in-laws come to town next week I can enlist my mother-in-law to help me get the last couple things organized here and figure out a regular duty-list. In the meantime, of to more cleaning!!
mommabmusings 