I wrote an article on cleaning a while back. Just another view on this most tiresome of pastimes...
How do you feel about chores in the home? Are they just part of life and just accept them as something in your daily routine? Do you get irritated and stressed at having to do them regularly especially if other members of the household are not pulling their weight? Do you detest them and will do anything in your power to avoid them?
For some people the act of cleaning is therapeutic and provides an enormous sense of satisfaction to have a home to be proud of. However, these people are often on edge when visitors enter the home as the fear that standards can drop drop very rapidly.
The key is to just keep on top of the work that needs doing. If you complete the essentials and don't postpone them indefinitely the problem will always be manageable. The danger is that once you reach the point where the work that needs doing is overwhelming you have no inclination to do any work at all.
We all look on chores in different ways but for those who don't always have a duster in their hands, there are some interesting questions that arise...
- If we are expecting visitors, why is it that we strive to make our home look more attractive for the benefit of someone else and not us?
- Why didn't spend the time doing the chores anyway when our home is supposed to be our place of sanctuary and security?
- In any case, why are we concerned what others may think of us when how we live our lives is of no business of anyone but our ourselves?
When in the process of selling our homes for instance, we can become fastidious when we really have to. We can go completely overboard and clean to a standard that we wouldn't normally dream of if it was for us personally.
There are a couple of reasons for this. First of all we want our property to be seen in the best possible light which will increase the likelihood of a sale. Secondly, we want the people that come into our homes to look favorably on us even though they are strangers - no-one wants others to think that we live in stinking squalor. Therefore we set too into making the home look the best we can muster...well, some of us do.
It's the same if you sell your car. You get the wax polish out and you vacuum in every nook and cranny to make it spotless but you rarely, if ever, do it for yourself.
I have noticed how much calmer we are as a family when we recognize the effort we have collectively put in to make our home a place of which to be proud. It's also very rewarding to know that we won't have depression thrust upon us when walking into a room because there's a load of chores to do.
We are also safe in the knowledge that should anyone turn up without warning we can welcome them in with open arms rather than direct them to a place in the house that causes the least embarrassment.
There are always things we can be doing but to have no washing up to do, carpets to be cleaned, dusting to be done, or clothes to be ironed and put away is a joy unconfined.
It just depends how much you want it and how much pain you attach to doing the work as opposed to living in chaos. It's up to you.