I promise complete honesty here.
Sometimes that complete honesty means telling you that I purposely didn’t show the still-cluttered area just outside the photo of the newly-decluttered one.
Sometimes it means posts like this one.
I’ve made it clear that I didn’t do very well over the summer at consistently doing my weekly cleaning tasks. But for the last three weeks, I’ve said that I “cleaned the bathrooms.”
Which WAS true. Really. It was.
Because I have two and a half bathrooms. So if I clean one and a half of them, that means I can say “bathroomS”, right?
And I wasn’t even intentionally telling a partial truth. In my mind, I HAD cleaned the bathrooms. The bathrooms that people can see.
As long as you don’t count those of us who actually live here as people.
It’s that truth-as-my-slob-brain-grasps-it thing. This blog has brought that kind of truth and truth-based-in-reality much closer together, but sometimes there’s still a gap.
I’m pretty sure that I did wipe down the potty in the master bathroom on those days, and that seemed like enough to count, since I couldn’t possibly be expected to actually clean it thoroughly. That would just take too much time for a normal bathroom cleaning day.
But today, partly motivated by the fact that some (obviously very close) friends are coming over Friday to help me work in the master bedroom, I saw how bad it was and decided to clean it.
Like, for real.
It didn’t take as long as I had imagined. The difference is amazing. It felt good to throw away the already-read-them-a-thousand-times magazines. How is an address book from my time working at a summer camp in the 90s in here? Why in the world do I not put away the haircutting stuff right away because it’s almost time for another round and I’ll just have to get it back out . . .?
And blah, blah, blah, and yada, yada, yada. All the normal why-do-I-put-these-things-off-and-let-it-get-so-bad stuff.
So please forgive my lack of complete honesty. It wasn’t intentional.
I love, love, love your blog! I can relate to it very well:) I’m a mother of two and my oldest just started full time kindergarten. I found you and a couple others just in time to help me out with my bad cleaning habits and organization. I’m starting small with my weekly chores, as I just wrote down in a notebook what I will do each day. Today was my first day and I’ve done everything on my list except finishing up the laundry and it was done by 2pm! I’m excited to say I woke up at 7am got my coffee ready and started my day in full force. I fed the kids, walked my daughter to the bus, went to town dropped of my computer to be fixed, grocery shopped, filled soap dispensory’s, did 3 loads of laundry and scrubbed my bathtub! All while dealing with my 2 1/2 yr old and feeding him lunch in between. I’m feeling accomplished for once:) thank you for all your wonderful posts!
I simply love your honesty! I am learning how to be honest with myself; and facing reality of my condition of my house, and my heart. Thankyou for continually prodding me in the right direction!
We are all guilty of it – well, I don’t know if those cleanies born organized people do, but all of slobs are guilty of it. We don’t even see it anymore – I remember once thinking my house was clean when people came over and then realizing when they left that it had been covered in yard sale stuff – so sad…. But, you are realizing it now – and, that is at least half of the battle, right?
I need to clean the kids’ bathroom…… and that statement alone is why I keep putting it off.
Love the picture. SO glad I’m not the only with Nerf bullets everywhere. Even the bathroom. 🙂