More on Cleaning!

I hate housework. You make the beds, you wash the dishes and six months later you have to start all over again.

~ Joan Rivers~

The weather here in Illinois has been pretty crappy. Our spring never really came, although we did get a peek at summer this weekend. We got to 80 degrees yesterday. Today, we'll be lucky if we hit 55. Argh!

So I decided to clean. Too cold to go out. (Ok, I realize 55 isn't cold, but I am meant to live in Florida. I don't how I ended up having to spend my life in Illinois!)

So, yes, me, I decided to clean. I did say earlier that I do finally get to the point where even I can't stand something. Today it was my tub. I have 2 daughters, plus me, that makes 3 women in this house. All with different types of hair and body needs. So we have a multitude of shampoos, conditioners, body washes, face soaps, razors, loofah thingies, etc, etc. all over the tub. I needed to control the mating that seemed to be going on in the tub. Not only did the body needs "thingies" seems to by multiplying, but so did the mold, mildew and soap scum.

First I consolidated all the bottles I could. Why my daughters cannot finish a bottle of shampoo or conditioner before starting another is beyond me. Youngest told me yesterday she was out of conditioner. Well, today, after consolidating 3 almost empty bottles I have made her 1/2 a bottle of conditioner. And I have decided the only way to stop the multiplying madness is if I refuse to buy anymore until they are completely out. Otherwise I'll need to hide the new bottles under my bed until I know they have scraped out every last glob of beauty goo.

After feeling successful with the bottle control, the tub was empty and now was the time to attack the other things multiplying in my tub. I got my handy sprayer of Lysol mold and mildew cleaner and went to town. It smelled just like a bleach based cleaner at first. Then I got a sponge and started scrubbing. That's when I noticed a really foul odor beginning to emanate from the tub. I thought this was the same sponge I used last time I cleaned the tub. There must have been some other kind of cleaner left on the sponge from another inspired cleaning moment. I began to gag. Great, I thought to myself as I fled the bathroom, I am going to die cleaning! See, I was right, cleaning can kill you. So, even though it is only 55 degrees out, and I am cold, I had to open all my windows. My entire house stinks. I knew the only way I was going to be able to get the smell out was to go back in there and rise the damn thing. So with a damp paper towel over my face, I proceeded back to the toxic tub of doom. I did manage to get the whole thing sprayed down with only two breaths. Maybe I haven't killed too many brain cells yet. I hope not, after my youth, I don't think I have too many left as it is.

So now it is 1/2 an hour later. Despite the open windows, my house still stinks. And I still feel a bit sick to my stomach. I had such great hopes for today. I did manage to get some laundry done before my tub attacked, but the way I feel now, I'm not sure I am up to anything else. Another inspired cleaning moment has come and gone. I tried, I really did.

Few tasks are more like the torture of Sisyphus than housework, with its endless repetition: the clean becomes soiled, the soiled is made clean, over and over, day after day.

~ Simone de Beauvoir~

The scorn men express for a male who does housework is exceeded only by their aversion to a woman who doesn’t.

~ Penny Kome~

House Cleaning!

Although you'll find our house a mess, Come in, sit down, converse. It doesn't always look like this: Some days it's even worse

I hate cleaning. There, I said it. I am a stay at home mom and I suppose one of my primary purposes is supposed to keep a clean house but I hate it. Hate it, hate it, hate it!!!!!!

It's not like my house is filthy. It's more cluttered than anything else. Sure I do let the laundry pile up, because laundry really is the bane of my existence. It just multiplies. And just when you think it's done, there's more again. At least when you vacuum, the rug looks clean for at least a few hours. Until the cat yaks on it anyway.

I have tried different systems over the years to help me keep my home clean. Flylady being the latest. I think the problem is that I am not that kind of person. You know, the kind of person that knows she will wash her kitchen floor Monday, scrub her toilets Tuesday, polish the silver Wednesday (silver?) whether it needs it or not. I clean when it needs it. If it doesn't look dirty, does it really need to be cleaned? I know those systems are meant to help one keep their house clean, so it never will look dirty. But my brain just can't wrap around doing something that doesn't need doing!

So I wait until my house is good and messy and then I clean. Begrudgingly of course. I do finally get to the point where I can't take it anymore. My DH would tell you I am a slob. I think that's a bit of an exaggeration. I am a bit of a pack-rat, that label I will accept. But I am not a hoarder. Not like those hoarders I've seen on Oprah. (Have you seen those shows? Shudder!) You can walk through my house (at least most of the time, LOL : )

I keep things because I am one of those people who worries that I may need something one day. And that day will be the day after the Salvation Army has just driven off with my stuff. I know it's just stuff, but I like my stuff. I also have way too many clothes. Most of that stems from the small problem I have varying what size I wear occasionally. Better to keep the clothes if I may need them rather than having to buy new ones again, right?

My mom was a slob. She was messier than me. So I think there must be hope for my daughters because it appears that the succeeding generations are improving. Although my grandmother was pretty tidy. She actually used to clean our house a lot. (My mom was an only child and I think when my grandmother got old, she was trying to make up for past sins.) We also had cleaning people. I actually used to clean houses myself funny enough. My mom (the slob) had her own cleaning company. We did a really good job in other people's houses. I think it's much easier to clean someone else's house because you aren't distracted by your own stuff. Or by your kids, or the phone or General Hospital.

My DH worries my daughters won't know how to keep a home tidy when they get older. He says I set a bad example by not making them clean. Hmmm, is that all that matters? Will their value be less if they like to leave their clothes on the floor and only scrub the toilets once a month?

Like me, my daughters know how to clean, they just don't like to do it. I only know a few people who really LIKE to clean house, and those people could use a little counseling IMO. I realize in life everyone has things they NEED to do, but is house cleaning really one of them. Sure you don't want to live in health code violation territory, but a few piles of laundry and dishes in the sink isn't life threatening. Knowing how to do something and having the desire to do it are entirely different things. I am sure when my girls get older, if they choose to marry and have a family, they will be more than capable of keeping their home tidy enough. For them. Why isn't what is good enough for them good enough?

Life is short. I feel the time slipping by me so fast. I have my kids home with me, at least right now. My eldest is talking high school, so I may lose her in a year. (I know, it's not like she is moving away, but she'll be gone all day!) Soon enough I will be old and my kids will be gone. I don't want to spend all my time with them right now worrying about whether or not my house is clean enough or yelling at them to clean their rooms. Looking at the big picture, does it really matter? We are all well fed, we shower and wear clean clothes, we mow the grass. I wash the floors when they are sticky, I wash the dishes when we need clean ones. I scoop the cat litter. The essentials are done on a daily basis. You may visit me and see dust on the furniture, and cobwebs in the corner. There may be a pile of newspapers in the corner and a pile of laundry on the bedroom floor. There might be recycling piling up in the kitchen and last nights dinner dishes in the sink. Will you think less of me? When I die, will it matter whether I kept a clean house? Is that what people will say at my funeral "I really liked Donna, sorry to see her go, but boy was she a slob!" Or will they say that I was a person willing to help when needed, who was always there for her kids, who took in stray animals and tried to make her small corner of the world a better place? Isn't doing those types of things more important than how clean I kept my house? I think so, and sometimes, even if it may sound selfish, what I think is all that matters.

My theory on housework is, if the item doesn't multiply, smell, catch fire, or block the refrigerator door, let it be. No one else cares. Why should you?

~Erma Bombeck~