Ranting and Raving

I have a wonderful new post all planned out but instead, I need to get something off my chest. I HATE house cleaning. I mean, I really HATE it. I know, I know, no one likes it, but it just has to be done right?

I guess this ties into my blog, in that a lot of my negativity in life revolves around the state of my cluttered home. Sad. I am forever apologizing to anyone who will listen that it is so "messy". To which all of my friends kind heartedly wave their hands in a dismissing way and make sympathetic; non- committing noises. Everyone, it seems to me, apologizes profusely for "the mess", even if it's made up of 2 dishes in the sink, while the rest of the house lies in a scrupulously scrubbed paradise. I feel like I'm stuck in a never ending cycle of cleaning and mentally yelling at myself for not getting more cleaning done. It's never good enough! And even if I can get it looking half way decent my 2 and 5 year old quickly take care of any area they might have not yet destroyed.

At what point in our history did houses stop being houses and start becoming art that you live, cook, bathe, and sleep in? Every wall must be adorned with beautiful well thought out pictures, toys should never be seen, clothes should always be hung in an organized and pleasing to the eye closet. Furniture is no longer furniture but large abstract puzzle pieces that must all match each other and compliment the room.

Okay, don't get me wrong, I really want my house to be clean and hygienic as well as a pleasant environment that my family and I actually want to be in. It's the self castigating for not having everything "perfect" at all times and under all situations that get's me down. Know the feeling? The harder I work the more there is to do, and just when I get on top of the laundry there's another 6 loads waiting for me.

My particular brand of happiness is two fold, reduction of stress and negativity (notice I said reduction, and not eradication) coupled with layering on more positivity. So if most of my daily negativity revolves around my house, it makes sense to me to try to reduce that stress. I've been thinking a lot about how I can do this and I've come up with a few ideas.

Number 1. Stop putting myself down for not having a perfect house! How odd that my self esteem should be tied to how beautiful the architecture I'm living in is.

Number 2. Stop saying I'm sorry. If I was really sorry, I would work night and day to correct the situation. I do the very best that I can everyday so why am I sorry about that?

Number 3. Make the job more pleasant. For me this is listening to music or audio books. I love audio books!

Number 4. Seek help. Why do I have to do it all myself? Should I be less proud if I didn't do 100% of it? Why can't husbands and kids help? Also, I'm not adverse to the idea of paying someone to help me. Cleaning maids are soooo expensive, but I well remember the days of being 12-15 years old and yearning for a little spending cash. Possibly there is such a person in my neighborhood who wouldn't mind vacuuming once a month for less than minimum wage? If someone did come in to help clean regularly I don't think I would work any less, I would just have a cleaner house which equals less being upset with myself. Win!

Number 5. Blog about my loathing of scrubbing poo out of toilets for a living for sympathy and support. Done.

I just had to get that out there. Something about winter makes me crazy over home chores. Throw in one part cabin fever, one part loss of motivation due to constant cloud cover, and fill the rest of the way up with never being able to leave the house because of sub zero temperatures and you've got a recipe for an episode of Hoarders.

Thank you for listening to my mad, mad ravings. Down with the institution of home perfectionism!

Janae