There. I said it.
I. Hate. Cleaning.
But I love order, so I try. I really really try to have this “stronger than dirt”, “power of Pinesol”, kinda living space. The kitchen though, is the bane of my existence.
I absolutely hate cleaning the kitchen.
I blame my lack of domestic savoir-faire on being a creative. You know, being one of those artsty types. Then, it was a lack of time. Then, a lack of interest. Followed by post-partum depression coupled with bereavement. That became depression, and overall malaise.
I’d have spurts of perfect kitchen order. My sink, perfectly shined. Dishes washed, dried and put away. Magazine ready counters with home grown herbal accoutrements; after all, who doesn’t love the smell of freshly cut basil or lavender? Oh, and isn’t rosemary divine!!
I was a devout follower of The FlyLady for a good while, and, she’s really on to something.
I’m just not into cleaning.
But, I had a spurt yesterday. A cleaning out of the refrigerator spurt, and this is what I discovered:
Yep. Last month’s dinner, neatly tucked away, in my Family Dollar tupperware.
I mean, WHO lives like this?
I do. I spend lots of my time talking, reading, writing, laughing, teaching, and mom-ing. I don’t even realize that I’ve run low on storagewears until after I’ve mommed, and I’m putting away leftovers in the name of not wasting food.
When I get down time, I’m completely down. As in, asleep.
But remember, I try. So somewhere in between all of that, I make attempts at organizing.
Making my kitchen look like the commercials. Because all of the moms in the commercials have their entire lives together, and even when they don’t, it’s nothing a fresh pot of coffee the snap of a finger and a Wet-Jet mopping system can’t solve.
So, I put on a pot of coffee. I wash dishes. Dry them and put them away. Match all of the storage containers to their tops. Which brings me to this damned bowl of corned beef and cabbage stench, and this dilemma:
I just paired all of this damn Family Dollar tupperware. I don’t want to throw it away, because that’s wasteful right?
Right?
Ask me how many hot damns I gave about a waste, in that moment.
You see, I knew full well, (we all know) that opening that little click top bowl, would ruin my day. Would ruin my son’s day.
The smell that was trapped underneath that little click top, would be the backdrop to life as we knew it for the next 12 hours.
And let’s face it: A 24 piece click top tupperware from the Family Dollar, costs about $12. Which is 50 cents per piece. That means that that bowl, is a dollar.
You know I threw that shit away, right?
Made a list of things to get from the Family Dollar.
And decided to stop making excuses for the fact that I just don’t like cleaning, and take small steps to clean, like it or not. One such step:
Do one task a day. This takes the pressure out of an otherwise overwhelming situation. If I approach the feat of cleaning my home as a single task, I’d be swept into a black hole of despair. Knowing that I have to clean the kitchen on Wednesday, means that I have hours to get my kitchen done. And hours is enough time to get distracted, and still get the job done. More often than not, because there’s so much time left over, I wind up tackling some other housekeeping task, though there’s no demand to do so.
And, I’m giving The Fly Lady another shot. Her’s is the only system that works for me. She even factors drinking water into the mix. I dig her. She makes cleaning, not feel so:
We’ll see.
Is it just me?? Leave your comment below!!
