But turns out I'm not really willing to pay the price to have that. I just prioritize other things. Now, if I live with other people it's a different story. I clean up shared space. No one else should have to deal with my mess. Past experience already taught me that this is an advantage of living with others. But, for right now at least, it's outweighed by other factors. So mostly I just deal with my build up.
Then sometimes I complain. My bathroom has been dirty for months. (I'm pretty sure the last time it was cleaned was by Benson. Benson left almost 5 months ago--and it wasn't the end of his time here, either.) Fortunately I don't share it with any boys, so it's not as bad as it could be. But piles of curls, gel on the counter/floor, dust, crud that builds up. I'll stop there; you all know what dirty bathrooms look like. Anyway, there are lots of other dirty or disorganized places in my house, but for some reason the bathroom has been symbolic of how I "don't have time to just clean my house." (hmmmmm)
So it comes up in conversations regularly, as code for cleaning my house/getting myself organized. Like this exchange that was repeated several times last month:
"What are you doing for Christmas?"
"Well, what I'm doing is X, Y, and Z. But really I'd be super happy to just stay home, read a book, and clean my bathroom."
A couple of weeks ago I thought about how growing up on Saturday morning we had Saturday chores. Had to do them before other things. Many battles, much whining, and a million injustices discussed, but they happened. And I thought how if I had children, we'd have Saturday jobs. So why don't I now? It took me over a week, but I finally made a chart. Four weeks, with four parts of the house. It's even on my big yearly calendar on the very public wall (just I, II, III, IV but I know what they are). I've decided that if I miss a week, I'll just skip that area and keep going next week. I'm pretty excited.
And this morning...can I have a drum roll please?....
I cleaned my bathroom!
Every single thing you could think of in a bathroom, I cleaned. It looks wonderful. And I feel fantastic!
(And then I went to the temple (in Montreal), so it was about as good as a Saturday can get.)
4 comments:
I am just like you Ruth! Now that it is just me in my house, I don't clean like I used to. I've found that I just close the doors to the places in the house I don't use as much because then I won't have to clean them: basement family room and bathroom (I just go down to flush the toilet once a week), guest room and bathroom, and office. Guess I should have just got a smaller house!
Lesli, That was actually a main factor in deciding to buy a condo versus a house. I said to myself, "Self, if you cannot wash your dishes or vacuum your floor in a one-bedroom apartment, what in the world makes you think you need a yard and the outer parts of a house to deal with?"
That makes me happy! Yesterday, I put our bedroom/ my desk area together, realizing that I had never really done so after moving. I think that was the longest I'd gone without a picture of the Savior in my bedroom, our bedroom!! It feels much better now...like a clean bathroom! Some of my changes will stay until we move, unlike a bathroom. Happy our mother taught us well...persist even when we have procrastinated cleaning and organizing!
Rachel
Rachel, We have been taught well! I think of Mother and of you when I'm trying to motivate myself to be better. I have to admit, I also often wish one of you still lived close enough to come over and give me a jump start by cleaning for me! Do you remember doing that at the DeeDee's apartment during law school. Ah, good times. :)
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