No, it's not a Mother's Day gift-gone-wrong. I bought that thing for myself more than ten years ago. It makes me feel better, because my home is not immaculate. I like watching Clean House because I know that I am not that far gone.
Today I followed this chain of links: Ebeth posted about Erin's post about Jen's post about Totally Together Journal, which is a fairly new homemaking website, and which I actually do follow.
Following all the principles is another ball game. There are only 7:
Number 1: Make Beds Right Away
Number 2: Do One Complete Load of Laundry
Number 3: Empty All Garbage Cans
Number 4: Keep Your Kitchen Sink Empty
Number 5: Clean Up After Yourself and Help Children Do the Same
Number 6: Bathroom Wipe-Down
Number 7: Before Bed 10-Minute Clean Up
but somehow those can get away from me. And the worse, of course, is the second half of number 5. Sometimes even the first half of number 5.
I don't do too badly about cleaning up, but I do tend to leave signs around that I've been through. When I vacuum, the chairs I've picked up stay on top of the table until they're needed again. When I mop the bathroom, the wastebasket stays in the hall until two days later when I get tired of walking out into the hall to toss a tissue. Unfortunately, my kids have inherited this behavior--in triplicate.
Granted, Little Brother is big enough to do some vacuuming (with a handheld vac) but he isn't coordinated enough to be able to "tangle up the cord" when he's done. Actually, he tangles it up just fine. He leaves the whole mess in the middle of the room where everyone else trips over it until I come along and wind up the cord neatly and put away the vacuum.
I love reading about home organization and systems for keeping a clean house. But the road to a clean house is not paved with good intentions. If it were, I'd have an immaculate home.
At least I can console myself with the fact that I must not be dull.
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