A few weeks ago, I wrote about how I was trying to transform my housekeeping just a little bit, from someone who can’t stand scrubbing to someone who does it regularly. It’s working to an extent. More often than not, the sinks are in passable shape and the bathtub is certainly getting cleaned more often. Hurray for me!
I have one housekeeping secret, however: no matter what, the clutter is always cleaned up. That’s my housekeeping superpower. I walk into a room and clutter bothers me. Therefore, I clean it up.
I am lucky that my husband’s housekeeping superpower is different from mine. He likes very clean floors, so he sweeps and washes them regularly. This means that we have very clean floors in our house for at fifteen minutes, until the cats and the kid get on them again.
What’s your housekeeping superpower? If your house is a mess, find out what bothers you about it, exactly, and work to achieve that goal. Your house doesn’t need to be immaculate, not unless you’re inviting the Queen to tea. But your house does need to be a place where you can live happily, so it’s important that you work to your own housekeeping inclinations. Like clean dishes? Make sure that they’re all washed or tucked into the dishwasher. Need to have the beds made? Make hospital corners to your heart’s delight.
I used to think of my super clutter-cleaning powers as an impediment to getting other things cleaned up around the house. Now I see them as a way to make myself happy before starting on the other, somewhat more onerous housecleaning tasks.
Do you have a particular area where you focus your housekeeping eye? What bothers you, and what do you do to fix it up? Do you think that focusing on this area first will help you get to your other housecleaning or help you avoid it?