I will admit that I occasionally get obsessive about having the unattainable "perfect house", thinking that this will result in peace, contentment or at the bare minimum a degree of sanity. Having a "perfect house" comes at the expense of having fun, and fun is the key to maintaining said sanity. Fun, that I might add, often leads to a messy house. Vicious circle, don't I know.
The first thing I want to share is the list of House Rules my mom had posted in the kitchen when we were kids:
- If you get it out, put it back.
- If you open it, close it.
- If you turn it on, turn it off.
- If you make a mess, clean it up.
- If you need to borrow something, ask first.
- If you borrow it, return it.
- If you break it, admit it.
- If you can't fix it, find someone who can.
- If you make a promise, keep it.
- If you hurt someone, apologize.
My mother-in-law has given me a phrase that saves my sanity: Done is better than perfect. Say it out loud. Done is better than perfect. Look in the mirror and say it again. Done is better than perfect. Call up your best girlfriend and say it to her. Done is better than perfect. Look at your dog and say it to him. Done is better than perfect. Yes. Done is better than perfect.
I have a list at the bottom of this post for daily tips. But once a week I do a major cleaning which takes like an hour. I clean from high to low because dirt is sadly subject to the law of gravity. Dust, then scrub, then vacuum, then mop. When I am cleaning I like to play my favorite CD and crank it up. Singing and dancing often accompany my cleaning. Very poor singing and dancing. Terrible singing and dancing. I mean flat-out-awful singing and dancing. With the windows open. To say the neighbors are amused is a gross understatement. If I really get into it I don't have to go to the gym that day!
My kids clean. I give them a damp cloth and let them wipe off anything they can reach. Can you say baseboards? They are also learning this basic rule: You can't play with the next toy until you put that one away. Sometimes I fail to enforce this. Shame on me. Shame shame shame. In that case at the end of the day we play "who can pick up the most stuff in 5 minutes?" The reward at the end of the game is taking pride in your work. Or chocolate.
And now here are some tips I have gathered over my years of reading about keeping a tidy house. The most important rule is to find what works for you, your family, and your lifestyle. Otherwise you won't keep it up. The second most important rule is to do something nice for yourself every day. You can't take care of anything or anyone else if you don't take care of yourself.
- Make your bed every morning. Your bedroom already looks 75% better.
- Wipe down the counters in the bathroom and kitchen every day.
- Pick one room a day and spend 15 minutes doing some picking up/cleaning. When 15 minutes is up you stop. Seriously.
- Identify your worst area of clutter and for 5 minutes a day attack it! Same thing. Set a timer if you have to. For me this is the desk and the top of my bedroom armoire.
- Identify what thing eats away at your time and be aware of it. (TV, internet?) When you are starting to get sucked in ask yourself, Is there something I am avoiding?
- Laundry: Finish what you started. For me this means only doing one load a day. For others, they set aside one day a week to do it all.
- Don't go to bed with dishes in your sink. (OK, so I struggle with this one!)
- Before you go to bed spend 5 minutes picking up. If you have been following rule #1 on my mom's list then you might even be able to skip this step. (But let's face it, if I followed that rule I wouldn't be embarrassed for you to pop on over to my house unexpected. See Lego's comment above for more details.)
- Prepare at night for the morning. Like laying out clothes or packing lunches.
She's going to tell you to shine your sink.
She is right!
Check her out.
Hey Dawn, THANKS for the great housekeeping tips. I'm going to print them out and post on the fridge. Don't laugh, but I followed along with FlyLady a few years ago. Ah, yes, I remember now, Less is More in 2004. That little saying of the year stayed with me, but I can't believe it's been SIX years ago. Lord, have mercy. She is fun to follow, though, for sure.
ReplyDeleteI SO appreciate your taking the time to detail your philosophy, you are blessed with a good background and support -- Mom/MIL -- so thanks for sharing their wisdom as well. You must clean fast to only have an hour of heavy cleaning each week, but like you said, you do a little each day, too. Wish me luck as I try to improve :) You should be pleased to know that a few minutes ago I typed up a list of people who sent us Christmas cards the last two years (yes, I had 2008 cards in my bread basket up until tonight). AND, I am about to remove the vinyl Christmas tablecloth from the dining table (which we use for all food consumption) and put it in the Goodwill pile (emphasis on pile). See, I wasn't kidding I need help. Believe it or not, I am a perfectionist . . . of sorts. I blame that for holding me back my whole sorry little life :)
Kathy Mader
What I love about FlyLady is how she deals with the fact that perfectionists like us actually have more problems keeping a tidy house. We see it as all or nothing and we get overwhelmed!
ReplyDeleteExactly.
ReplyDelete