A clean house miscellany

• I'm writing this in a house that is clean, CLEAN, CLEAN! So here's the new plan: D. and I have someone over for brunch once a month. Brunch because it's an easy meal that leaves one time to relax and chill out afterward. Once a month because that way we'd actually keep the house in fairly reasonable order. I cannot tell you the HOURS it took to get the house into its current clean state, mostly because I'd stopped cleaning at least two weeks before I went to South Africa. It was pretty grim. Here's a hint: I finally finished emptying my suitcase and got it down to the basement this morning ... almost four weeks after I got home from the trip. Yeah, it's been ugly. 

• Of course, when I say "the house is clean," I should admit that there is a box filled mostly with papers that need to be filed, papers that instead of filing I stuffed into a cardboard box and stuck under the desk. Now, over the past week I did actually go through the mounds and mounds of the paper that was taking over the living room, so all of these papers are legit and I didn't just throw all the junk into the house into a box. But I felt I should be honest in the midst of my clean-house gloating.

• Oh, and I should also acknowledge that, while I sit on the couch writing this, I'm eating tortilla chips and hummus. So it's entirely possible that the pristine house won't stay clean for all that long.

• But that's why I then need to have someone else over for brunch in May! A grad school friend used to say that "no one really vacuums except when someone's coming over"; whether or not that's true for everyone, it's certainly true for us, so clearly the only available option is having guests over regularly -- not frequently, mind you, since I'm increasingly introverted as I get older, but regularly.

• D. doesn't actually get any real joy out of a clean house -- that is, she's no happier in a clean house than a messy house, since she has this amazing ability to just not see mess at all, which is great for her mental health but terrible for the state of our house -- but she does enjoy socializing, and she knows that I'm a basketcase having people over unless the house is really clean, so I think having a social deadline means that, as happened this time, we'll actually work together to clean the house, which doesn't really happen otherwise. Not only that, we actually got inspired enough to clear off some cluttered surfaces and decoratively place knick-knacks on the now-dusted surfaces, so the living room and dining room are both prettier places than they were a couple of days ago.

• All of this is on my mind not only because I'm writing this post in a house that is, did I mention, clean!, but also because I've been reading an interesting post and comments on couples and chores over at Wandering Scientist (linked to by Nicole and Maggie, who are going to be doing their own post on the subject as well).

• And some day, when D. is out of school and we're out of debt -- which is to say, not any time soon -- we are so going to hire someone to clean the house every two weeks. I long for that day. In the meantime, the social-interaction-as-cleaning-motivation will have to work.

Comments

[Janice]

A clean house is a thing of beauty. Sadly, with two adults, two teens, two dogs, two cats and one snake (the latter confined to a cage!), this house will never seem clean enough for me.

*sigh*

[Jackie]

I would like to second Janice's sigh about the house never really being clean enough, and also your sigh about being out of debt.

Clearly, I'm in a sighing kind of mood!

[Gone To Ghana]

I used to have this same issue. I am perpetually cluttered. Fortunately, when I moved to Africa I was able to afford a full-time maid. Not only is it the best investment ever, but my house is clean for at least 8 hours of the day!