Goal: To Take Housekeeping Seriously (But Not Too Seriously)

Each time we had a new baby it was like I leveled up in a video game. You have mastered level 10 of Tetris, and now BAM! let’s increase the speed from “yeah-good-luck-with that” all the way on up to “nope, just impossible.”

Was I ever good at the actual housewife part of the stay-at-home-mom life?

Ehhhh. It didn’t matter too much. I didn’t feel like that was my real job. My job was caring for the kids and cooking dinner. So long as the children were well taken care of, towels and underwear were clean, the dishwasher was run every night, and everyone got to eat, I was a smashing success.

Then last year they all went to school, and it began to dawn on me that all “that junk” is actually my main job all day long. Grocery shopping, school supply providing, cooking, and cleaning— that’s my job. Blehhhhhh. I never wanted to do any of that mess. How did this happen?

So what did I do? I decided to mainly give myself a year to chill, and also I bought a dog. Then we got orders to move, so I spent most of that year unpacking and re-packing our stuff up.

I’ve gotten somewhat skilled at un-packing and re-packing a room.

Unpacking is finished now, so I spent a couple of months wallowing around the house. I was sad about things, unmotivated, lonely, bored with my housekeeping job, and watching out the windows as soon as it was time for the kids to get home. Being around people is important to me!

Thankfully, I am happy to report that I am past the sad, homesick phase of the move. No more wallowing.

Having three sets of company come and stay with us was a badly needed jolt. I couldn’t let them see me all pathetic. I must get my act together, so with all the gusto I could muster, I set to putting my house in order.

Giving this noble thing a try

I vowed to turn this thing around. There’s no excuse for my house to be messy anymore. I DO have time to clean it, and I DO have time to do all sorts of things, like writing on the calendar, baking, and even dusting.

What I’ve been missing was the want to. The want-to is surprisingly important.

But right before Nonna and DaddyO’s visit, energy, motivation, and optimism all showed up. Yep. I used my Fly Lady skills, my Fitbit stopwatch, and set to work.

First, I went down to the basement and dug out more fall decorations and replaced spring silk flowers with fall ones. Yes, I use silk flowers, mostly from Big Lots and Hobby Lobby. This makes it impossible for me to kill the plant.

I set my Fitbit stopwatch. If I promise myself I only have to clean up a room for 10 minutes, it makes it way more doable. Confession: I gathered up 7 pairs of shoes from the office and hauled them up to my closet. Yes, I am the kind of person who takes her shoes off exactly where she’s sitting and leaves them there. 17 years of complaints from Alan has failed to change this about me, so you might as well accept this flaw.

What do other people do about shoes?

You are sitting on your sofa, want to kick your feet up, and so you take of your shoes. Then later you forget about said shoes. You need to run to the bus stop to pick up the kids, so you grab a different pair of shoes and repeat the vicious cycle an hour later.

Isn’t it funny how when you finally attack the giant tower of papers on the kitchen counter it turns out to be 90% recycling? I mean that’s what happens when you don’t empty book bags straight into the recycling bin.

This post is rambling, so I’ll spare you all the details of the 4 rooms of cleaning I did. You should just know that I have the most surprisingly high feeling of accomplishment, and guess what. This is the most amazing part:

At the end of the day, our six-year-old came inside and said, “Oh, great job cleaning today, Mom!”

That felt like sunshine and joy. Someone noticed my work!!!!

“I am going to do this again tomorrow I vowed!” This high pace of accomplishing things was kept up for quite a few days until I came down with some sort of laryngitis/cold.

Until I do enter the workforce again, and who knows how long that will be as we still have many summers and military moves to get through, this is my job. My goal here is to take it seriously again, even the oh-so-mundane house-cleaning part. I’m even going to write things down in the Google calendar, send out Christmas cards on time, and declutter on the regular. I mean it!

Why am I blogging about this?

Well, I’ve had many fits and starts before and never stuck with it much. I don’t want to end up spending the days walking and reading Facebook. A clean house and fresh baked goods at least give me something to show for my days, so I want to stick with this.

It’s really just a matter of deliberately finding joy in my work and purposing to do it better. The moving slump has been dealt with for all of us here, and life is getting good again.

Plus, Christmas is coming, so life will NOT be all vacuums and dishes. I’m trying to take housekeeping more seriously, but let’s not get carried away. The fun is still important too!