Keeping House

I was raised in a very clean home.  I have many memories of the extensive chore charts, and lists of chores we had to do: morning chores, evening chores, Saturday chores, Roomopoly (a job game my parents created) for summer chores. All strictly observed.  I can picture my Mom easily with a broom in her hands, a bucket and sponge nearby, on her hands and knees scrubbing, or in the garden weeding.  Don't get me wrong, I have many memories that don't involve chores or work, but in my recent house keeping evaluations these tend to stick out more than usual. 

Despite a small lapse in my teenage years, I am a particularly neat and clean person.  Cleaning isn't exactly enjoyable to me, but it's something I can have control over (in some sense) and I love living in a clean home.  It's important to me.  And it's important to my husband.  I have a system I've had for years that works for me: certain jobs get done on certain days of the week, and there are random extra jobs that get done each month and many larger jobs left for a time known as "spring cleaning".  And spring is in the air.

I've pulled out my spring cleaning checklist and adjusted it to meet our new home's needs, and in taking inventory of what needs to be done, I've realized there are many things I used to clean more regularly that I just don't anymore.  Truth be told, I am becoming a little less anal about how clean we keep our home.  The fridge has been cleaned once since we've moved here, instead of once a month.  Now that my washer and dryer aren't in the kitchen and have their own little room with a door to hide them, well, they need a good cleaning.  And the kids' bathroom just doesn't get cleaned as much because 1)I'm not in there to see all the disgusting mess; 2) I have two other bathrooms to try to keep clean; and 3) it's disgusting.  My kitchen cabinets don't go all the way up, and so as soon as I moved in I swore to clean up there and lay tin foil down so that every few months I could just roll away the tin foil with all the dust and grime and lay down new tin foil.  That never happened.  The list goes on, my friends.  And my list is quite long.  Then there's the question of when to get it all done.  Not just spring cleaning but regular cleaning.

My days consist of loving four children and a husband, feeding all of the above, getting them to all their respective activities, reading to them, playing with them, buying everything they could ever need or want (running errands), getting outside with them, exercising, homeschooling, making sure our clothes, dishes and bodies are clean, rinse, and repeat.  By the end of the day, I don't really want to do a lot of cleaning... though I love mopping at night when little feet are sleeping and I know my floors can enjoy going a full 12 hours or so absolutely clean.  My toddler (and my cat) love to follow me around helping and getting in my way equally.    The kids do have jobs, and some of them are even more help than hindrance now.  I always tell Mr. Man you can tell we had a good homeschooling week when the house is a wreck, yet at the same point I can't concentrate on teaching when the house has zero order.  Finding a balance without feeling the guilt is always a quest.  I guess that's why it's good I occasionally have people over for dinner, or company come visit (my mother-in-law is coming later this week) and then I give the house a good scrub down.  Hopefully my children will learn to enjoy clean and order, and learn how to clean, but also remember that at this very minute there are crumbs on the table and floor from the cinnamon buns I made them for lunch, there are water droplets all over the windows from us playing and splashing in the hot tub, and every last pillow, sheet, towel and blanket is all over the family room with all the chairs in a great creative fort and castle.  In all of my house keeping, I need to also keep it a home.