So, I accepted a long time ago that I wasn't ever going to have an A+-all-the-time-clean house. In order to do this, you need to either have no children or really like cleaning. I am the opposite of both those things. One time, I asked my neighbor, who, at the time, had 4 children and a SPOTLESS-ALL-THE-TIME house how she kept it clean. She told me she found cleaning relaxing and really enjoyed it. This does not compute.
When my kids go to bed, I don't want to spend an hour cleaning up and putting my house aright. I don't want to spend 10 minutes doing it. I want to sit down and and read a book and not have to answer any more demands or have anyone touch me for like 2 hours. And then I want to go to sleep.
During the day, I can think of about 50,000 things that I'd rather do than clean. I got used to the idea that I would have a B- house that I'd clean up for company. Maybe.
I went to a kid-free (except I brought my baby) get-together last night at a friend's house and her house was spotless. She also has 4 kids and her husband is in medical school, so probably he's not doing a whole lot of cleaning. SPOT. LESS.
I thought, "I wonder if I could get my whole entire house clean at one time. Even for just one minute."
The house was pretty bad because I spent all day yesterday doing this:
and generally ignoring my children while they trashed my house, but I decided that I didn't care how long it took, I was going to get my entire house clean for one minute.
I cleaned all morning and got the whole upstairs in pristine order. I took a break to watch the afternoon session of conference and then went upstairs for something and saw that my kids had attacked. I almost cried. Instead, I freaked out at the kids and then called my mom.
Two hours later, my whole house is clean. Except the floors, I didn't sweep or mop... but they're mostly clean. Mostly.
So, if I can keep the kids outside for the rest of the evening and then put them to bed, we might set a record for at least 10 hours.
3 comments:
I am pretty sure that the only people who have clean houses are the ones who have someone else come in and clean. And grandparents. But I like it when other people's houses are dirty- it puts me at ease immediately.
I'm so glad I'm not the only one who feels this way! Loved this post.
Amen! I do not know how people do it. However, I would like to think that while someone else is scrubbing their floors spotless, I am reading to my kids or taking them to the park. OR maybe some people just have a talent of keeping their house clean...I am seriously thinking of paying someone to clean up my house before the holidays.
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