Right, I’m not a natural when it comes to cleaning and keeping my home in a state of domestic bliss. My priorities have never been with housekeeping and chores. For some, they cannot rest until everything is put away or washed. Eh. As long as I have a path and a place to park my ass, I’m good. Or so I thought.
My friends have all taught me bits of how to keep house. I learned some from my parents, but most of what I do now, was done with a little help from my friends.
One, I’m a packrat. OMG. I’ve gotten better about this and learned that one must assess things in the following way: Is this something I’d miss if I threw it away or gave it away? Have I used this in the past month? Do I need it? Is it replaceable?
Two, I work a lot. And truth be told, when I get home from work I really don’t feel like cleaning.
From Tara, I learned to embrace compartmentalization, aka use of boxes and bags.
From April, I learned that she’s way better at organizing my cleaning supplies than I’ll ever be. April helped me clean and organize my kitchen before Thanksgiving last year and she helped me clean out and organize my desk. She dove right in, threw shit out, and grouped things in logical sense.
From Tammi, I learned how to complete the laundry process. Let me clarify. For me, doing laundry has always involved digging out the items I care about from a pile of everything dirty and clean (because the clean stuff ends up mixed in with the dirty, thus making it dirty again) and putting them in the washer. After they are dried, I usually either use them straight from the dryer, or I put them on my bed…where they often end up on the floor. Yes, my process did not involve actually putting the laundry away. This lead to a carpet of laundry in my bedroom and the need to shut the bedroom door if guests are over. Slightly inconvenient if you know what I mean.
My brother, Brian, re-organized my kitchen cabinets (by the way, I’ve been spelling that word incorrectly for years) for me. Yep.
What I learned about cleaning: it really doesn’t take that much time. It’s when you let it pile up and get backlogged that it takes a lot of time and effort. Well, son of a bitch. You’d think that alone would motivate me. Right? HAHAHAHA. Oh dear.
This is not to say I’m completely incompetent when it comes to housekeeping. I’m actually quite detail-oriented in most of my life and great at things like bill-paying and budgeting. I’m also great with furniture re-organization and moving. In fact, moving my furniture usually motivates me to clean. It clears my chi and brings a bit of zen. When I do clean, it’s usually not half-assed. Part of being a perfectionist is the mentality of all or nothing. I don’t usually like to do things unless I know I’ll succeed.
So, here’s to working on my habits and becoming a domestic goddess…in training.
