My Kitchen Was Sucking My Will To Live
Amazingly, I came home with a little extra energy after hanging out with a friend last night. I know that sometimes motivation and energy are at a premium, so I always do my best to take advantage of these little spurts of cleaning inspiration. What should I tackle, I pondered. Certainly not the kitchen which was horrible even by my standards (which are notoriously low). Then I stopped and thought, "No, wait, that's exactly why you should tackle the kitchen."
The main door to our house is through the kitchen, thus I have to walk through the kitchen to get into my house. Not to mention the fact that I have to go to the kitchen to prepare meals, snag snacks and put water in the dog's dish. So, it's not like I can avoid the kitchen. Frankly, it was stressing me out, every time I went near it. Turns out there were no evil spirits in it or anything (although I did find some moldy bologna in the fridge which was mildly terrifying.) Nonetheless, the mess was an energy suck all the same.
Someone spilled something on the cabinet below the microwave and didn't clean it up. A box of cereal got knocked off the baker's rack (where cereal lives at my house) and spewed Cheerios onto the floor. Everyone in the house (sadly, including me) pretended they couldn't see it. My oldest child feeds the cats. This is a good thing and a job he has had since he was a precocious two year old and pointed out that if the bowl was empty, the kitties were likely empty as well. However, he's not exactly careful about how he does it and as much food ends up next to the bowl as in it. My youngest child is an avid pasta fan. However, he seems to believe that if different types of pasta are mixed, it will somehow cause the universe to implode (like matter and anti-matter?) Anyway, it means that there was a half box of rotini, a half box of bow ties and a box containing 17 medium shells on the counter.
I could go on but you get the idea. The kitchen was a mess. So I cleaned the kitchen. Normally, I pass out around 9:30pm but when my husband got home at 11:45 after hanging out with a friend of his own, he found me mopping with the music cranked.
So, yay me. Good job. I now have a reasonably clean kitchen. BUT, it won't last. In two weeks or a month it will be a mess again. Some of this I can blame on my family (and I will). But some of it will be on me as well. There will be a few bags from the grocery store with stuff (non-perishable stuff hopefully) I "didn't have time" to put away. There will be at least a few wrappers or boxes or other packaging that I "forgot" to throw away. There will be at least a couple of forlorn, unopened pieces of mail, I was going to "deal with later".
It's not hard to clean if you keep up with things instead of waiting until you're overwhelmed. It's not that hard to just put things back when you're done (or so my husband claims). FYI, if he ever files for divorce, it's likely that my inability to "put things back where they belong" will be the thing that sets him over the edge.
In theory, I'm fully functioning adult. I do reasonably well at work. I've managed to parent two kids to young adulthood. I teach yoga. I finally graduated from college. So, I don't think I'm a total mess (at least not usually). So, why can't I get a handle on doing these small things? If you're great at this whole housework thing (and many of you are) how do you do it? Is there a manifesto I can study or a book I can read? Is there a life changing motto or mantra I can memorize? How do I create good habits in this area. How do I make this less difficult?
The main door to our house is through the kitchen, thus I have to walk through the kitchen to get into my house. Not to mention the fact that I have to go to the kitchen to prepare meals, snag snacks and put water in the dog's dish. So, it's not like I can avoid the kitchen. Frankly, it was stressing me out, every time I went near it. Turns out there were no evil spirits in it or anything (although I did find some moldy bologna in the fridge which was mildly terrifying.) Nonetheless, the mess was an energy suck all the same.
Someone spilled something on the cabinet below the microwave and didn't clean it up. A box of cereal got knocked off the baker's rack (where cereal lives at my house) and spewed Cheerios onto the floor. Everyone in the house (sadly, including me) pretended they couldn't see it. My oldest child feeds the cats. This is a good thing and a job he has had since he was a precocious two year old and pointed out that if the bowl was empty, the kitties were likely empty as well. However, he's not exactly careful about how he does it and as much food ends up next to the bowl as in it. My youngest child is an avid pasta fan. However, he seems to believe that if different types of pasta are mixed, it will somehow cause the universe to implode (like matter and anti-matter?) Anyway, it means that there was a half box of rotini, a half box of bow ties and a box containing 17 medium shells on the counter.
I could go on but you get the idea. The kitchen was a mess. So I cleaned the kitchen. Normally, I pass out around 9:30pm but when my husband got home at 11:45 after hanging out with a friend of his own, he found me mopping with the music cranked.
So, yay me. Good job. I now have a reasonably clean kitchen. BUT, it won't last. In two weeks or a month it will be a mess again. Some of this I can blame on my family (and I will). But some of it will be on me as well. There will be a few bags from the grocery store with stuff (non-perishable stuff hopefully) I "didn't have time" to put away. There will be at least a few wrappers or boxes or other packaging that I "forgot" to throw away. There will be at least a couple of forlorn, unopened pieces of mail, I was going to "deal with later".
It's not hard to clean if you keep up with things instead of waiting until you're overwhelmed. It's not that hard to just put things back when you're done (or so my husband claims). FYI, if he ever files for divorce, it's likely that my inability to "put things back where they belong" will be the thing that sets him over the edge.
In theory, I'm fully functioning adult. I do reasonably well at work. I've managed to parent two kids to young adulthood. I teach yoga. I finally graduated from college. So, I don't think I'm a total mess (at least not usually). So, why can't I get a handle on doing these small things? If you're great at this whole housework thing (and many of you are) how do you do it? Is there a manifesto I can study or a book I can read? Is there a life changing motto or mantra I can memorize? How do I create good habits in this area. How do I make this less difficult?
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