On A Roll

My homemaking skills tend to really shine in fits and starts, especially when it comes to cleaning. I feel I do a pretty decent job of maintaining the day to day stuff. I make the beds, vacuum, sweep, wipe down counters, fold and put away laundry, and do all the dishes everyday. As a result, our home is always surface clean. If there is someone that is going to be stopping in for 15 minutes, I don't worry. You'd probably have to be here longer than that to notice the dirt. However, when we have actual company coming over for any length of time, Eric and I have to spend an hour or two getting everything company-ready.

Yet every once in a while, I really get on a cleaning roll. Instead of just keeping everything tidy, the whole house is actually clean. I vacuum more deliberately, I wash the floors on my hands and knees, I use cleaner on the counters and stove instead of just a wet rag and towel. I even wash all the windows and scrub the toilet on an almost daily basis. I love going through these spurts and I always vow that this will be the time when it sticks.

This is the phase I am in right now, kicked off by the installation of new carpet in our master bedroom and hallway. The odd thing I have noticed is that it really doesn't take very long. Eric, being the owner of his own commercial-cleaning business, will be the first to tell me that it is easier to maintain a high-level of clean than it is to clean only partially each time and expect high-level results. So, that means all the work that is done up front, you know the real deep cleaning kind of stuff, pays off every day, but only if you stay on top of it and continue to maintain it.

This all makes perfectly logical sense to me. But convincing my brain is easy; getting my hands to actually do the work is much more difficult.

A few years ago I spent some time perusing the FlyLady website. I remember how much sense her system made to me. I couldn't stick to it though. I loved the way my house looked, and the fact that it really didn't take very long, so I am baffled as to where it fell apart for me. Probably the same place where every other cleaning streak falls apart for me. Now I just need to determine that place so that I can overcome it.

For now though, I'm just going to enjoy this cleaning roll that I'm on. It does feel good to have a clean home and not just a "clean enough" one. We'll see what tomorrow holds though.

Graphic courtesy of allposters.com