The house AND me. I have scrubbed and sweated and then had to disinfect myself because of all those disgusting bathroom germs. Maybe that’s part of my germaphobia/slobbishness together problem. I can’t clean behind the toilet unless I can take a very hot shower immediately after.
There are very good things about having company over. For me, it’s motivation. Motivation that is totally lacking when I don’t have an actual guaranteed doorbell-ring on the calendar. I always tell myself that I should clean like this all the time. We all love the house when it’s clean. And if I cleaned like this one day a week, we’d be ready for anyone who stopped by. I tell myself this, but it never happens. Clutter happens instead. So, the fact that my house looks great right now is definitely not the end of this blog.
I am a serial clutterer. When I see the ladies on slob-intervention tv shows whose homes are piled 3 feet deep with clutter, I have sympathy for them. If left unchecked, I could probably be one of them. My problem is not that I never have the house clean, it’s that I can’t keep it clean. Over and over and over, I let it get back into a terrible state. This is why although I could possibly apply for one of those shows and be accepted, I know that I have to do this slowly and steadily, developing habits and actually changing.
This time, I’m looking at this differently. It’s not a pit-stop, but a jumpstart. I have been working consistently on getting this house in order, and now I am way farther down that road because of my crazy cleaning this week. My husband and I have a running joke. Whenever I clean up a room, I say “You know, I really like it like this. From now on, I think I’ll just keep it this way.” Then we pause for effect and bust out laughing. But this time it has to be different. It has to be.
I definitely could tell in the last two days of heavy cleaning that my work of the past few weeks has paid off. I didn’t start out at a deficit in the kitchen or bathrooms. If I could keep the clutter under control, maybe I really could do a thorough cleaning on a regular basis.
I do want to be completely honest. I say my “whole house.” However, I will still be using one of my old tricks. The master bedroom has a lock on the door. It is definitely not company worthy yet, and I’m not going to worry about it. It is my ultimate goal to leave that door open when people come over, but realistically that is a lot of work away.
The only problem with my brilliant trick is that once I lock the door, I can’t unlock it without completely removing the doorknob with a screwdriver. This means that I have to make a last call for anything needed in that room before locking it right as people arrive. If that fantastic picture of the fish my husband just caught gets left in there, tough.
My poor sweet husband.
Sadly I have used this same trick many times. I can get the entire house ready, but seem to lose steam or time when I finally do make it to the Master bedroom. Hope you remembered your picture of the fish! 🙂
I'm currently in the process of reading your blog backwards and I love it!
I used to invite people over just to give me the motivation to clean my house, now most people that come over know me well enough that I don't care enough to keep the house clean when they come. I love that you're slowly adding things to create habits, that's a trick I definitely need to try to control the clutter.
I also just began to read your blog backward. I have to tell you that your candor has really won me over to your blog. I feel like you’re a friend I could be completely honest with!
This is my fist comment because I HAD to tell you that my mother did the exact same thing when I was growing up. If company came over (planned or unexpected) I knew that the first thing she would do is pack all of her clutter up, shove it in her bedroom, and lock the door. Then later that night when the company had finally left, she would go to bed and have piles of clutter all over–so much that my mom had to sleep with clutter taking up half of her bed. I swore I would never be like that, and then I got married and carried some equally bad habits with me. :/
But NO MORE! Your blog is helping me take it one day at a time and be proud of the little steps! Thank you!
Nony, I can so relate. My kids have always said to me, “Why do we have to keep our room clean when yours isn’t!” I’ve always said that I’ve got the rest of the house to worry about, and that’s been my excuse for years, and years (14 to be exact). I’m presently not working out of home, so of course I thought I could finish up all my little projects and clean all the areas of my home that are neglected. I’ve started on one corner in my room. After 2 months I’ve finally organized my desk and I have completed a few projects but wow, I still have so far to go. Reading your blog has been great! Your comments are so true to life that I start reading them out loud to my hubby as well so we can both laugh. You inspire me to be honest in my struggles & determined to keep going!!
I just started reading your blog. I want to thank you for being so honest about everything. The pictures of your dining room a little while back really did it for me. The fact that you left the bikes in there and were ok with it, THAT is the attitude I need to develop. I seem to go with the “all or nothing” approach, and with the mess I have, it’s just not feasible (yet.) Thank you for opening my eyes!
I LOVE your blog! I applaud you for being so honest and sharing yourself with all of us. Your daily comments ring true for many of your readers, whether they decide to post a comment or just read through…it hits home. I have friends that have taken clutter when company is coming and shoved things in the dryer, dishwasher, paper bags, you name it! and I will admit that I’ve done the same! I am reading your blog from the beginning, too. Convicting… 🙂 but encouraging and giving hope! Thank you. Can’t wait to see how things are for you in the present day when I catch up. Blessings to you Nony!
That is so me! I live with my grandma and my two boys right now. I try to keep everything straight but my room is a complete disaster. I think that maybe signifies that we put everyone and everything first before ourselves. My fiance is very passive about it, but I’m worried how it will affect us when we live with 4 kids! His two and my two…he is very neat, btw.
Ok, so I burst out laughing at the part where you say, “you know, I really like it this way, I think I will keep it like this” because that is my infamous line! I started reading your blog from the start and the second picture of the table and counter I actually showed my hubs and said it feels good to know that I’m not the only one that has a hard time and really wants to get it under control. Thanks!
Yep! That’s my line too! My husband’s other line is “Did we get a new house or something?”
I started reading your blog backwards yesterday and I have to say, I’m glad there is someone else out there like ME! What if your husband and children are at home all day while you are at work? I feel like I am forever playing catch-up even when I do unload the dishwasher in the morning. By the time I come home, we have two sinks full of dishes and a big mess throughout the house. How do I get to the point where I only have the “tiny” mess to deal with when my family is at home all day? And my husband is barely keeping his head above water just to take care of all his responsibilities, so I know he doesn’t have the energy or mental space to clean anything or put things where they belong right now. HELP!
That’s tough. I’m not in your situation, and I can only imagine how difficult that would be. Have you read my e-book, 28 Days to Hope for Your Home? It’s as basic as it gets. For my husband, I know that as I started being consistent on routines, he was able to join in with me. Before, though, there was really no point since anything he did wouldn’t be continued by me. Does that make sense?
Just found your blog, am reading backwards (best suggestion ever) and had to comment on this post. Whenever we had company coming over on short notice I would throw all the clutter into one room and shut the door. Once I even put dirty dishes in a garbage bag and threw it in the room. It would take me weeks to get that room back to it’s ‘normal’ untidy state. I even had a name for this, I called it ‘The Swope and Scoop”.
Since I found your podcast and started reading your blog my house is so much cleaner. I find if I pop an ear bud in and listen to your podcast first thing in the morning I HAVE to do my dailies. I can’t sit with you chirping in my ear about cleaning and not clean. Such an AMAZING motivator! And I’m coming to you 10 years into your journey. Thank you for figuring this out for the rest of us!!