photo credit: Eirik Newth

No one ever died from sleeping in an unmade bed. I have known mothers who remake the bed after their children do it because there is a wrinkle in the spread or the blanket is on crooked. This is sick.

— Erma Bombeck

One of the advantages of working from your home is that you don’t necessarily adhere to a fixed schedule.  This allows for a degree of flexibility that can be wonderful but also can allow things to get out of hand.  With things being so busy, I’ve been working a lot on weekends and not quite getting to the cleaning chores.

To put this in perspective, you need to understand that I live in a zoo.  With the new kitten, the existing dog, the fish and the other cat, it sometimes feels as if I live to serve… them!  The kitten is wonderful and he requires a lot of attention.  In the last month since we adopted him, he’s gone from 1 lb. 6 ozs to 3 lbs 2 ozs, more than double in size.  This means that he can now get into stuff he couldn’t get into before and it’s a constant battle to keep him – and my stuff – safe.

With all the various animals, the pet hair, food and dust is getting to be overwhelming.  So, I’ve decided that I need to take back my house.

When All Else Fails, Go Backward

Many long years ago, I had family visiting three times a year, for an extended period of time.  I don’t have a large family, so it wasn’t various and sundry people, it was always my sister and her family and my parents.  They would come for Christmas (about 2 weeks) and then return three weeks later in January for a trade show that my sister attended (close to 3 weeks) and then once again in July – same trade show, different month.

During much of this time, my sister was having children and I was the designated babysitter while she was working.  Since I had never babysat as a teenager, this was quite a trial for the kids.  I had no basic child care skills.  During the first trip with my oldest niece, my father and I had child care responsibilities.  As it got later and the sun set, the baby got fussier and fussier until she was screaming.  Barney, the perpetual pacifier, was totally ineffective.  I was frantic.  I didn’t know what to do.  I opened the refrigerator thinking that although my sister had wanted to feed her when she got home, I was going to feed her anyway and I spotted the bottle of juice.  I hadn’t given her ANYTHING to drink in hours.  I gave her the bottle and she was immediately fine.  (Hey, I was worth every cent she paid me.)

By the time they all went home, nothing was where I kept it.  There was sand all over. (I live within walking distance of a park.)  And there were a couple of boxes of stuff left behind because it wouldn’t fit in the suitcases.

My ritual for “taking back” my house was to CLEAN.  Pack up the remnants of the trip.  Wipe down all the counter tops.  Run load after load of laundry.  Vacuum everything.  Mop all the floors.  Scour the tub and shower.  Etcetera.

As each counter top, or floor, or sink, was cleaned, I felt order return.  My house again belonged to me.

FREE Therapy – What a Deal!

The good news is that I’m not having company this holiday season.  At least, I don’t think so.  Anyway, that means that I can let things get as out of control as I can stand.  Depending on how busy things get, my tolerance for disorder may rise but then I reach a point where ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!  That’s where I am now.

Thanksgiving is a four-day weekend.  For some it’s prime shopping time, for me it’s avoid-the-stores time.  I suppose if I was looking for a big TV or some other game or gadget that I would be able to save lots of money on, I might hit the stores.  Aside from that, my personal strategy for this weekend is to wait until late, close to closing, and then run in and get whatever I need and run out.  Needless to say, I’m not a retail therapy kind of gal.

So, while many others are shopping ’til they drop, I’ll take this opportunity to put things in order and reclaim my life.  I have no illusions, I know there will be pet hair and dust again soon, but for now, I need the vista of clean floors and counters and bookcases and…

Order and cleanliness will soothe my soul.  What more could you ask for?  It’s great therapy and it doesn’t cost a thing.