It's become a habit during the last couple of years to spend time with my nieces at their home - not mine. Partly because it's so convenient. Their toys are there, their clothing, their special foods, their diapers --- all the gear you need to babysit a two year old and a ten month old. To be perfectly honest, though, part of the reason is that when your home is as chaotic and messy as mine used to be, you stop extending invitations. Because having somebody over means having to clean like a maniac before they arrive.
Last weekend, my sister brought my nieces over on Sunday. They're having some work done at their house and the washing machine and dryer have been disconnected, so she brought some laundry over to my place. It was a wonderful afternoon. Kitten fluttered about, investigating all of Auntie's knick knacks and jumping on the bed, while the baby - I'll call her Poppet - played patiently with a deck of cards. Picking them up, passing them one at a time to whomever was near, messing the pile about. The nicest thing about their visit was just how relaxed and un-tired I felt. I had a few things to do before they arrived to put my living room and bathroom to rights, but the housekeeping routine I've been carving out for myself has made such a difference! I guess I hadn't realized how far I've come until I was suddenly seeing the place through new eyes. My kitchen was clean, the bedroom was clean, my living room was tidy. And all this before I made any special preparations for their arrival...
What a change in just four months. My morning and evening chores have become practically natural. My weekly chores on Mondays through Thursdays still make me groan on occasion, but they don't seem nearly as tough as they used to. And the feeling of going to sleep at night having accomplished all of my missions for the day is so good. Just like a great day at work, where I'm busy, busy, busy - but knowing come 5:00 that so many of my "to dos" are done. My weekly cleaning-of-the-kitchen is far from a habit, but that, too, will come in time... One of my fondest hopes is that my nieces will have lovely memories one day of Auntie's house. That it was a cozy, clean, happy place with good meals and pretty things. It's amazing how children (even when they're one step removed) make your future a fixed target. Suddenly, that future is right in front of you and it's time for me to create that home I want them to enjoy visiting. Even Aunties feather their nests!
While I'm adjusting to the kitchen work and the dinners, it seems kind of convenient that my next mission is not a labor intensive one.
Do the bulk of the weekly food marketing on Saturday afternoons.
As I mentioned some time ago, the manual recommends that the housewife do the bulk of her marketing "on a day when local stores offer special prices. Often Friday and Saturday are bargain days." The authors of The Good Housekeeping Housekeeping Book (1947) also advise their readers to do some marketing twice a week, but suggest that Mondays and Fridays would be the most efficient days to do so. My plan is to do the bulk of my grocery shopping at the supermarket on Saturdays - probably Saturday afternoons - and to supplement it with a quick stop on Wednesday evenings at one of the stores where I buy organic milk, free range eggs, etc. The Wednesday trip alone hasn't added much in the way of efficiency to my household, but I'm hoping that the two in tandem will make a real difference.
8 comments:
I'm really happy for you that your journey has transformed your home. It makes such a big difference when a home is tidy and clean. It removes a layer of stress that we don't need. Great job!b
It is really stressful when your house is untidy and guests are due. You almost resent them, or are too tired to enjoy the visit, when you have to do a major clean before they come over. FLY Lady, an internet homemanagement guru calls this CHAOS--can't have anyone over syndrom--because your house is too messy. So good for you for getting a handle on it all, what a lovely thing to have in your life, and that of your neices!
I'm impressed. Send some house cleaning vibes this way, please.
Oh, it is wonderful that you are having your nieces to your house. They will have lovely memories. :)
I have three things to say to you:
I have enjoyed your blog from the moment I began to read it because
A) I love the topic
B) Your writing is EXCELLENT. It's informative and well-written.
C) I love how you, a person of the "younger generation," are beginning to get a vision for the next generation.
Too many of us, especially when we're young, are quite self-centered. It's so good to read that your experiment with another era is not only creating a wonderful place for you to live and entertain, but is also showing how to think others in a different way than our present society does.
Bravo!
Here's the "of" that I didn't type. It belongs between "think" and "others."
Bonjour Madame, I've still got a long way to go - but it was nice to kind of step back and see the progress.
Tracy, there couldn't be a more perfect anagram for chaos! (Is anagram the word I'm looking for?) And it sucks to not want people to come over because it's going to take so long to make things ready for them.
Packrat, those house cleaning vibes are pretty slippery fellas, aren't they? :)
Roxanne, you're so sweet. It's amazing what kids do to your outlook. All those things I used to envision myself doing "someday" and "one day" suddenly need to be done now. Like it or not, I'm a role model to those girls and want to be a positive role model.
Your progression is so great and such an inspiration - like you, until you posted about adding in the bedroom cleaning it had been several months since I had really "cleaned" our bedroom and it is almost frightening how much it accumulates dust!
Can't quite get the kitchen in yet... I am working on it though!
Thanks again for the motivation - i think of your blog every time I open our fridge!
rebecca77, I think one of the reason the dust can sneak up on us in our bedrooms is that many of us don't often see those rooms in broad daylight. Artificial lights at night don't really remind us that dusting needs be done.
Good luck in attacking that kitchen! I've scrubbed it clean three weeks in a row now, but haven't yet been able to do it in one "sitting." Always have to take a break. I'm still puzzling over how to fix that. The bathroom's one room that I'm REALLY not looking forward to...
Post a Comment