I have no big life-changing advice for this post, but the concept of surface cleaning has been jiggling around in my brain for several days now.
Last week, at a moms group meeting (a small, five person one), I stepped out of my comfort zone and told real-life people about my blog.
BIG step for me.
So, naturally, the subject turned to housekeeping. Out of the five women there, four said they majorly struggle with keeping their homes in order. Only one is someone whose house is always clean. And she’s one of those Neaties who is kind and helpful, and understands that not everyone is like her.
It was a relief that I felt understanding and acceptance after sharing my big secret.
As we talked, someone (a struggler), said something like, “I can DEEP clean” and the Neatie said, “Oh, I only surface clean!”
And so the phrase “surface clean” has stayed with me.
And I’ve realized that I don’t know exactly what it means.
I think it has something to do with how my mother can come to my house, not throw anything away, or even put anything away, but somehow . . . she makes everything look better. Neater.
So, I’m trying an experiment. I’m allowing myself to just straighten. Not purge, not declutter, not completely re-organize.
Just straighten.
I really have no idea if this is what she was talking about, but I figure it’s worth a thought.
This morning, I straightened the always-overflowing-and-messy-and-irritating corner in my kitchen.
Here’s the before:
I forced my self to just straighten. Not remove anything. Just rearrange and try to make it look better.
After a few seconds and some “NO, just straighten!” self-talk, it looked like this:
Simple, but also difficult. It was difficult not to turn this into a project. To just say, “I’m going to make this look a little better. I’m simply turning this from a corner-with-a-big-pile-of-stuff-in-it . . . into a corner-with-lots-of-stuff.”
Is this beyond confusing?
See, I tend to give up before I start. I honestly don’t see the point in doing what I did here. Why even bother doing anything if I don’t have the time to commit to going through each and every item, determining whether it should be there or not?
But then my home ends up with so many of those un-straightened piles that I can’t figure out where to begin.
While it still doesn’t look good, it does look better.
And once it was straightened, I found it much easier to identify the things that weren’t supposed to be there. In a few additional seconds, I had moved the can-opener, the sandwich baggies, the paper plates, etc. and it looked like this:
I have nothing profound to say. I have no guidance to give. I’m just trying to figure out how other people keep their junky corners looking decent, but mine end up as piles of anonymous items.
I personally think I am a slob that has somewhat figured things out. My biggest success was finding a home for EVERYTHING. I can't have anything that is a ??? because that item will simply stay in it's spot on the floor/counter/table forever. Because everything has a home, when I "surface clean" it means just putting everything back in it's home. Maybe my floors aren't mopped and my toilets aren't scrubbed but because everything is in it's place it gives a certain illusion of clean. Good luck with figuring it all out.
I wish I knew how many "Secret strugglers" are out there. In my church I'm surrounded by perfectionist who all compare how often they mop their floors a day. I cannot relate to that at all. I hate being the only one, or thinking I am, that struggles. If you know of other blogs where people share like you do, let me know! 😀
If it makes you feel any better, I’m willing to bet at least half of them are inflating their count of “how many times I mope my floor daily” in an attempt to keep up with the rest of them! 😉
People who mop every day probably have a really clean floor and it takes about 3 minutes. Also, what is mopping? I would guess they just wipe over the traffic areas quickly because the rest is still clean.
There should probably be a chart like the pain chart at the hospital. Level ten mopping is the whole bucket, scrubbing, toothbrush thing and level one is swish, swish with a swiffer if you see a spot. Don’t be intimidated by a minute or two of swishing, Jenny!!! They are not working THAT hard.
My floor often benefits from the sink or dishwasher flooding, I call that a level 15.
level 15 lol!!! My daughter dropped some ice in front of the fridge and left it there. I wiped up some edge of the fridge dirt after the third time I stepped in ice water. That has to be at least a 5!!
I certainly understand being intimidated by those around us. In our 1st house, my good friend 2 houses over was a Home Ec major with 4 children, whose house was always doorbell-ready. I struggled to even get a shower with just 1.
My current neighbor is a professional organizer! Compared to these, I always felt like a failure, with all my clutter. But I’m making progress and love this community! I feel at home…
@Jenny omg I am totally a struggler too. The only thing I have managed to do is keep my sink cleaned out every night before I go to bed. I'm lucky if my floors get mopped once a week, hah actually every two weeks! (I have a blog too you're welcome to come visit)
@Noni, I think that corner looks great now! I agree with Simplify having a home for everything really just takes the guess work out of straightening. If you have to stop and think about where to put something, even a little corner can get overwhelming. And it's hard to have a home for everything when you still have clutter and multiples of things when you only need one. I've been decluttering for years and have only just now gotten my kitchen to where everything has a home. Meanwhile my bedroom looks like a landfill. It's an ongoing process, but don't give up purging – the less *stuff* you have, the less stuff you'll have to straighten.
I think you are so right, that having a place for everything, or NOT having one, is the issue here.
And Virginia, I'm always amazed in the comments at how many people understand these struggles. And check out the blogs that linked up for the February decluttering update. They're kindred spirits!
I think you're onto something with the a-place-for-everything idea. I'm like you, always have "hot spots" that attract piles of junk. The desk I'm currently sitting at, for example… well, let's just say I'm glad I don't have a webcam.
I have a more negative idea of surface cleaning– I always thought surface cleaning was what I was doing when I was in a hurry, like when someone calls and they're on the way over. Things like making the surfaces (counters, floors) look presentable without really digging in and getting down to the hard parts. Like when I clear the counters by hiding most of the stuff in the cupboards below, without taking the time to figure out if that's really where the stuff belongs. The cupboards might look like heck, but on the surface, the house looks clean.
I like your idea of surface cleaning better!
I AM WITH YOU! I am finally learning that small quick cleans can make a HUGE difference over time! Great post!
I surface clean when I feel completely overwhelmed. I decided one day that I was going to actually leave the master bedroom open when company was coming over and did a surface cleaning on it, it was presentable to guests and then throughout the week I was able to go back over it and deep clean but without ever getting a feeling of hopelessness because it looked clean.
I think the neatie mom only surface cleans because that's all she needs to do. Some people are just naturally tidy. That mom's house probably never gets to the state my house does. It's probably just in her nature to be tidy just like it's in my nature not to be.
I agree with Simplify. A place for everything is a major key point. But then so is putting everything back in it's place as it gets used.
I'm like the Neatie in your group, a surface cleaner. 30 or so minutes a day and my house is straightened up enough that I wouldn't be afraid for anybody to walk in. But….don't ask me the last time that the bathroom was completely cleaned or the floors washed! The most important part for me is that it LOOKS clean.
Your line "While it still doesn't look good, it does look better" is actually very telling. Sometimes you have to pick your battles. Not everything you do has to be about decluttering or deep cleaning. Sometimes straightening is enough.
I totally agree with GoodEnoughMommy, if you don't have alot of clutter to deal with, then a surface clean would be all you need.
I can clean house, spotless… as long as you don't look behind the closed doors. It is easier to make the 'surface' look clean than it is to really deal with all the things that pile up and build up that end up playing with our sanity.
I think there is time and a place for both of them. Stacking everything on the coffee table into neat piles, while in the long run probably isn't the best solution, if you have five minutes until company shows up, it is better than nothing.
Those of us that have clutter issues, have to dig underneath the surface to work on understanding why we do things and to work on changing our ways.
I wish I was a natural Neatie(Im sure my husband does too!) It's definitely a struggle for me!
LOL- I realized that I do this all the time! Even if I can't like, sweep or do all the dishes, if I just re-pile it more neatly, it looks so much better. Or, if the living room floor is a mess and I'm too tired to deliver everything to its home, I can throw it in a basket to be worked out tomorrow and the floor is clean. Interesting…so I guess I'm a good surface cleaner 🙂 I'm ok with the house looking clean even if it hasn't be scrubbed- with 4 kiddies, nothing stays scrubbed for long anyways!
Maybe I can just surface clean my house until I figure out how to keep it real people clean. Fake it till you make it, right?
For me, what you described is tidying. Surface cleaning is actually cleaning (dusting, vacuuming, wiping) the main surfaces–floors that you see, counters and big furniture pieces). Regular cleaning (such as weekly cleaning) is cleaning everything (ie, behind furniture, moving knick-knacks when dusting, moving counter stuff when wiping), and deep cleaning is normally a combination of purging and cleaning, and involves taking everything out of a space, getting rid of stuff, cleaning the space, and putting everything back in an organized fashion.
My mother (God’s gift to cleaning, haha) always said that if main surfaces are clear and clean, and garbage cans are empty, a house will look quite clean, even if it’s really not.
Love your blog even though I’m more on the normal side. I still find ideas from you. But, so many people I see pile their dried laundry up In the living room. I really don’t understand why it gets done in the living room. secondly, I think deep cleaning is when you get every corner of house washed and vacuumed etc. Surface cleaning happens on a house where every person puts things away right away and wipes up spills etc as they happen. Then you only need to surface clean. Wipe off counters, tables, sweep or vacume etc as everything is already put away and nothing is actually dirty. But this doesn’t always happen in the real world. Look forward to your blogs. They are informative, funny and honest. Good stuff
For me, laundry folding happens in the living room because (1) I can watch my kids play while I fold (including the baby crawling around), (2) I have a big surface area to sort into many smaller piles, and (3) I can watch TV if my folding happens at night (and sometimes my intentions get pushed to the evening).