Why I should clean my house

March 10, 2009 By Elizabeth

: (not my house, but pretty close)-Image by loomy via Flickr

This morning at 8:15, my across-the-street-neighbor knocked on my door. Her garage door was stuck, and she had only grabbed one house key on her way to drop her kids off at school, and the doorknob on her front door had gotten locked. Her two year old daughter was in the van in her fleece jammies, and it’s about 35 degrees today and raining.

Her English is not great and my Spanish is worse, but she conveyed to me that she needed to please use my phone to call her husband, who was working nearby. I handed her my cell phone and asked her to come in, but she didn’t want to take her eyes off the van, which I completely understand.

After ending the phone call and telling me that her husband would be home in about five minutes, I insisted that she go get her daughter and come inside to wait. And then, while she was dashing back across the street to move her van into my driveway, I took a look around my house. And realized in an instant why it’s important to KEEP UP ON THE HOUSEWORK.

My living room/dining room carpet is dark red, but this morning it was covered in bits of…I don’t even know what. Grass the boys tracked in on their shoes, little feathers from the pillows they pile up to make forts for Kaitlyn, bits of food, who the heck knows. There are boxes of product review and Goodwill stuff piled up against the sideboard. My desk has a towering pile of papers I need to go through, the coffee table is covered in more piles.

Now, I know that it probably looks worse to me than it did to her, at least I sure HOPE SO. I have this bad habit of thinking of housework as something I need to do only after the house starts to look bad. But aren’t there people who just keep their house picked up ALL THE TIME? Whether they expect neighbors to drop by unexpectedly or not? Who do it because it’s pleasant to look around the house and NOT see towering piles of crap everywhere?

I so need to become one of those people.

table4five Recommends

My Life – Releasing the pain that I have had bottled up for so long…now I'm free! (mamaof3munchkins)
While I wine, my sister writes (LavenderLuz)

Comments

Java Junkie says:

March 10, 2009 at 11:01 am

Sis, you might think I’m nuts when I tell you this, but Martha Stewart saved my home… and my life probably…

(enter edit.. this is getting way too long, I’ll drop you an email )

Love you!
JJ
Anna
Twitter: bcmom
says:

March 10, 2009 at 2:20 pm

I used to keep my house up – back when my kids were little. I had a day for everything – laundry on Mondays, bathrooms on Thursdays, dusting and vacuuming on Fridays… I can’t remember it all, and I can’t for the life of me figure out how I did it. Nowadays everything always feels like a mess, and I just can’t get it done. I keep telling the kids that if they would just get their rooms cleaned, it wouldn’t take that much effort to keep them that way, but I’m beginning to wonder…
valmg
Twitter: valmg
says:

March 10, 2009 at 2:20 pm

You show me yours and I’ll show you mine.
Donna says:

March 10, 2009 at 2:58 pm

I won’t this question all day long… WHY!??!! should I clean my house?

If you didn’t know, i am the champion of avoiding housework.
Jean-Luc Picard says:

March 10, 2009 at 3:31 pm

We all procrastinate in certain areas.
Alexia says:

March 11, 2009 at 9:05 am

I leave housework until I just can’t stand looking at the mess anymore. I hate doing the same thing, every single day, who cares? LOL
TB says:

March 11, 2009 at 8:41 pm

I’m one of those people ;o) Not as much as I used to be, but I still try to pick up three times a week or so. And it drives me nuts when the clutter and dirt and crumbs and milk drips get too bad.
Seagrass Rugs says:

March 30, 2009 at 5:31 am

Me, I just can’t stand to look my house piling up with different kind of things. Its tiring but I need to do it!