Generally I clean the bathroom on Mondays. Vacuum the downstairs on Fridays. Etc. Sometimes though I need to be flexible, and I have learned to do this. Sometimes I clean the bathroom on Wednesday. And if I skip too many days and I know company is coming on Friday, I wait until Friday morning. No sense in overdoing things.
Yet, regardless of when I do the cleaning, so often it is right before an unknown mess. For example, one Friday I vacuumed the carpets and cleaned the wood floors on a day when I knew the weather called for sun for the whole weekend. I thought I was being smart and would have pretty floors for longer. I didn't know Cody was having a guys night out in my house that night. Single guys mostly, with dirty shoes and careless habits. You know how the story goes.
Or sometimes the day after I clean the bathroom is the day T decides to give himself a haircut. He is a good husband and tries not to leave a mess. But there are still little pieces of stiff black hair clinging to every corner and crevice.
And inevitably if the girls are going to get the stomach flu and vomit in their bed, it is the day after I just washed their sheets.
You know how this story. It's the never ending quest of a mom to have a clean house. Some of us are more successful than others in this area, but I doubt any of us ever meet our desired level of cleanliness for more than an hour (if anyone is home). If I don't guard my heart, all the cleaning and re cleaning can make me mad. What I've come to realize though is that the day there is no one to unclean my house will be a sad one. Either everyone will have moved out, or much worse, they are doing nothing but watching TV. I've heard a story of a widow who, after the death of a husband, left a shirt on the bed post (the very shirt she spent years picking up and putting away) because it comforted her. So I will keep cleaning; thankful I can bless my family in this way. I'm no fool though I am always working to find ways to make them more involved in the process.
One other thing, if I don't pick up the bits of the day scattered around my house each night, the messes won't stop happening, but it will be more unpleasant to be in my house. And one of my greatest desires is for my family to love being at home. Keep cleaning friends. And remember cleanliness is NOT next to Godliness.
5 comments:
It is the same with cats. I vacuum the carpet, have the guys in to clean it and within an hour, one of the fluffies has to have a hairball right in the middle of the clean carpet.
And out comes the little Green Machine. I think it's just that whole Murphy's law thing.
Like I'll change the sheets on the bed and within two minutes, the kid will come running up the stairs with MacTroll and have a loose top on his drink... which manages to get spilled all over the sheets.
I know what you mean. Murphy's law is always present.
I was just thinking this week about what it would be like not to have the kids. I would rather keep cleaning, reading, cooking, referring and so much more than to live in a quiet, clean space.
Our when you have bought 100's of spaghetti squash and the one time you need to show and tell cooking the squash you have a lemon of a squash. I think the gals all now how to cook one now. Thanks for sharing!
HI! I just ran across your blog from another blog. Anyway I love what you have to say about cleaning. It's such a big deal for me to make our house a home, and to me the way I can do that is to clean. I work a lot so I have to have a give and take attitude but you really put everything into focus.
Also I noticed you read the Created to be his Helpmeet book. I couldn't agree with you more about that book.
I enjoyed reading this post - it will stay with me for some time. I used to be crazy about cleaning, but have relaxed (some). You're right - it will be a sad day when the kids are gone and I don't need to clean up after them.
Hi Jenny
Welcome! I must confess I have not finished the Helpmate book yet (it's been over a year). She irritates me enough that without a deadline or a book club I have a hard time wanting to read it.
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