Confession: I have been doing a terrible job at cleaning my house.
You know how there are some people who really thrive on having a clean house? Or those people who can’t go to sleep at night until they wash the dishes? I’m not one of those people.
My house isn’t super messy because my husband is a bit of a neat freak. He is one of those people who thrive on having everything in it’s place. We struggle with toy clutter, but we have two little kids. It is their job to play! Besides the toys, if something else is out of place it is because of me – not Nate.
When Nate and I got married it became clear pretty quickly that he was the tidy one and I was the clean one. I could leave a dirty sock on the living room floor and not even see it for days. However, I would notice the dirt in the house much sooner than Nate.
We argue about this probably more than anything else. Nate hates my clutter and I just. don’t. see. it. The soap scum in the shower? Nate doesn’t see that. Our brains are seriously wired differently.
I am trying to do a better job of putting things away and not making piles of things to deal with later. I still have several hot spots that seem to always attract my clutter, but I am improving and making compromises.
After Noah was born I barely cleaned a thing because my mother-in-law gave me an amazing baby gift – a cleaning lady for 5 months! She came to my house once a month starting in September 2012 (plus 1 free cleaning before that). I cleaned once or twice before she started in September, but then I didn’t need to worry about the house until February.
Every 4 weeks my cleaning angel would show up for a couple hours. She would fully scrub the bathrooms, hand mop the bathrooms, scrub the kitchen sink, vacuum all the floors (including the steps), mop the dining room, and hand mop the kitchen. Her arrival each month was great motivation for me to tidy the house, dust all the rooms, and wipe down the kitchen appliances. She did all the jobs I hated doing and I did the rest. It was heavenly.
Now it is back to reality and I am seriously struggling to get my groove back. After adding Noah to our family, I never got back into a good cleaning routine. I haven’t mopped floors in months. My bathrooms have been disgusting. My kitchen stays nice because Nate enjoys cleaning up every night after supper. I’ve been striving to keep the house more tidy for my husband, but this place really isn’t clean.
Today Grace is spending the entire day with her grandparents. It has been wonderful to have alone time with Noah. My day has been filled with one-on-one play and trying to give this house a good scrubbing.
While cleaning today I realized that I’m often putting off cleaning because the job seems too big. My thought process looks a little like this…
I should really vacuum the living room, but look at all these toys on the floor. The kids are just going to be in the way while I try to put the toys away. Besides I should probably dust in here before I vacuum. *sigh* I don’t want to dust. Ok, well if I vacuum should I do the couch cushions too? It is been forever since I did those. These kids keep interrupting me. Oh man… I just don’t have the energy for this.
And then I don’t end up doing anything!!! Instead I need to just clean something! ANYTHING!!
Today I am starting the Just Clean Something Challenge. Everyday for the rest of July I am going to clean something. I am going to force myself to stop over thinking it and just do it.
I won’t be following a cleaning schedule.
I won’t be making big goals.
The only goal is to clean at least one thing every day this month. It might be as simple as dusting one mirror or as big as cleaning an entire bathroom. I don’t really care what it is. I just need to start doing something!
Who’s with me? Could you use a kick in the pants? I would love to have you join the “fun.” I’ll be posting periodic updates here on the blog and you can like my page on Facebook to read my daily updates. Each evening I’ll post a “Roll Call!” on my Facebook page for you to share your accomplishments. You are also welcome to post before & after photos on my timeline. If you blog about your experience, feel free use the graphic above and share links to your posts in the comments section of my update posts. I look forward to seeing what progress you make this month!
Accomplishments from Day 1:
- dusted living room & dining room
- vacuumed living room
- scrubbed & mopped full bath
I don’t plan on doing this much everyday, but I wanted to take advantage of having one less little one around.
UPDATE: I completed this challenge! Want to see how I did?
What is your biggest struggle with keeping a clean house? Time? Motivation? Family members messing it up? Are you going to join the Just Clean Something Challenge?
Ha, sounds like you all have the same “couple issue” that we have. 🙂 I’m probably more bothered by a dirty house than it sounds like you are but while clutter bothers me a bit, it’s something I can overlook pretty easily. My hubby though hates it and so I’m like you and have been trying hard to work on those problem areas.
Looking forward to see how this challenge goes for you!
I’m definitely the can-live-with-more-clutter than my husband spouse! I see the clutter but my motivation is lacking — wish I could figure out whee the motivation went! Your clean something challenge is my style because its flexible and achievable. I’m in! And excited to see your updates. Today I tidied my 2 year olds room.
I am all about flexible and achievable! I look forward to seeing what you accomplish this month. I’ll be posting daily “roll calls” on my Facebook page where you can share your progress. Plus I’ll have occasional updates here on the blog.
I’m going to join you! I agree that the stuff that comes with little ones can be a hindrance. Since both of mine are in a transitional phase (starting walking and starting kindergarten) I feel like I can also get rid of some stuff. I am going to add to my challenge to get rid of one thing daily. I’m going to call it operation G.R.O.S.S- Get Rid of Something, Silly.
HAHAHA! I love Operation GROSS! Are you a blogger? You totally need to do a series on that title! Thanks for joining in. I look forward to seeing your updates on my occasional blog posts this month or my daily “roll calls” on my Facebook page.
I have a similar problem. In my mind sunday is clean house day every week. I had to set aside a day because I was having such difficulty cleaning my house! On my weekends to work Monday is clean house day. And Chad and I kind of separate jobs. He dusts and vacuums the upstairs I do the downstairs and do the bathrooms. When clean house is Monday its a little “lighter” and I just hit the highlights. Perhaps you should add something to your daily routine. Such as mondays do bathrooms, tuesday clean kitchen etc. instead of all at once.
Angela, that is a good tip. I know a lot of people who base their cleaning routine on what day of the week it is. I never liked the idea of being that structured, but I might need to give that a try.
I am joining you on this minus my blog today. I folded 3 baskets of clean laundry and put them away! YAY!
Whoa. You put them away? That is always a huge accomplishment for me! Haha!
Wow I have the same problem! My bathroom has gotten disgusting in the three months since my son was born. I’m on board with your challenge, and I think I’ll extend it a week into August since I’m late to the party.
New babies are just the WORSE for cleaning routines! 🙂
Thanks for joining the challenge! I look forward to hearing your accomplishments.
I LOVED reading this blog post when I found it on Pinterest! It seriously sounded like I wrote it. I thought no one else understood that yes my house can be cluttered but it’s still clean. My husband & I are exactly like you & your husband. Thank you so much for this!!
I am glad this post resonated with you so much, Angela. If you decide to do the challenge on your own sometime, please let me know how it goes for you!