Here we are in the middle of a hectic week. I have several big projects hanging over my head that have deadlines this week. I HAVE to get them done.
I can’t explain how strong the urge is to ignore the kitchen. It’s just one night. The other things are much more important. No one at the events will care about how clean my kitchen was on Monday night if my presentations stink. No one will care about my kitchen at all.
But I do.
The fact is that I will have so much more time to work tomorrow if I don’t have to clean my kitchen. I will be fresher then when I need the creative juices to flow. No creativity needed to wipe the splattered chili off the counter.
I did it. I cleaned the kitchen but the urge to not do it was almost physical. Even though the habit has been developing well, it is not natural yet. It took real effort to put EVERYthing away instead of settling for “good enough.”
I have to do this. It has to be priority.
I'm impressed with your ability to get yourself to do it! Good for you. I hope to see you at Crock Pot Wednesday again this week.
Oh my! Yes, the urge to ignore it is almost painful at times. I don’t understand that! But you are definitely not alone.
Obviously, this is an old post, but I’ve been reading your blog today from the beginning. Let me just say that you must be cut from the same cloth as me! I started on Monday making cleaning the dishes every night a priority. And I’ve stuck with it. But it has only been 5 days. This post especially resonated with me, because the physical urge to let “good enough” be is exactly what kept getting me side tracked before when I would try to get the house in some sort of shape. Now that I am pregnant with number two, and nesting is setting in (big time! I organized all my daughters play food yesterday because there was just no way I could have a baby in the house when play chicken was in the same basket as play peas! The horror!!) I’m trying to get the house clean. I did the same thing when I was pregnant last time, but did it in huge chunks, and ultimately failed miserably before I even went into labor. This time, I’m hoping that building up the momentum over the next 15ish weeks will help me to maintain some semblance of routine once this baby is born.
Congratulations on your coming baby! And momentum is so important. (Also, I giggled at you organizing the play food!!)
“…the urge not to do it was almost physical.”
THIS is the story of my cleaning life.
Amen!
Maybe you address this later, but I started reading your blog from the beginning last night. Does it ever feel natural to keep the house clean? Will I fight these slob tendencies my whole life?
I remember one day when I decided I would do some cleaning after I dropped the kids at school. I decided I needed to make it a habit to clean at this time so something got done before I flaked out for the entire day. I will never forget how I groaned inwardly as I forced myself to do some housework. The silent groaning must have gone on for five minutes solid. It was so hard to get myself to do something. I don’t know why. I knew it would be hard but I was shocked at how strongly a part of me resisted.
Yup, I relate to this one. I have had one big non-negotiable since I was married (34 years ago!) – dishes have to be done before the end of the night. They cannot be skipped, or left till tomorrow. I grew up with this rule and the SHE ladies also advocated for it. Coming into a kitchen not piled up with messy dishes in the morning is a game changer. But yes, it IS a physical thing when the temptation to skip it “just this once” comes over you. Took my husband about a year, I think. The good news is, thirty plus years later, we don’t even think about it – and at least one of our adult kids absorbed the habit too.