I like to consider myself an organised person. I write many to-do lists, and get great satisfaction in ticking items off (which I usually why I add things like 'eat lunch'). However I must confess that one area in which there is zero organisation, is at home. Although we generally do have a 'shopping night' on Mondays, this is mostly because by the end of the weekend all the food is so long gone that we have to go shopping or else decide to not eat any more. The main problem is the vast chasm between how our place looks most of the time, and how it looks when guests are expected. Basically, the couple of hours before people are due to arrive, I freak out. I try to make Husband join me in the freaking out, but he doesn't seem all that concerned. He does politely humour me though, and does help out considerably. However this huge gap in 'regular clean' and 'guest clean' might explain why invitations to have people over aren't all that forthcoming right now!
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| Don't worry, it's nowhere near this bad! [source] |
Someone once said to me "true friends invite people over regardless of the tidiness of their house". I assume it's because supposedly true friends won't really care about how it looks, they're there for the company. I still can't bring myself to subscribe to this though. I feel that it's respectful to put in the time and effort for your friends. However, the other reason is probably that if I can fool these friends into thinking I'm this clean and organised all the time, I can still fool myself that this is the case.
Something needs to change though. Besides the fact that the pre-guest freak out isn't all that fun, I don't actually like seeing the house so cluttered and disorganised. That's as far as I've gotten in the matter however - thinking something has to change. What I can do about it though, is still a mystery to me!
Do you have a regular schedule to keep your house organised? Any suggestions (please!)?
Damian and I are all too familiar with the pre-guest freak out :) The mad flurry of organizing, sweeping, vacuuming, scrubbing and dusting...then we don't clean again until the next time we have company! kidding...we're not that bad...always ;)
ReplyDeleteWe always do the mad dash before visitors. But I try and have people over once a week so really I just have a day of doing all those big jobs that I can't be bothered to do all the time. Also having one small job to do everyday makes 'mad dash' time easier. For example; Make Monday ironing day- so at night when you are watching TV or something, iron while you do it. Tuesdays could be a quick vac. I also like to follow the '10min rule'- whatever you can do in ten minutes. You will be surprised how much you can do in ten minutes (you could vac the whole house in that time usually). And if you get the hubby on board and do it at the same time you will achieve more!
ReplyDelete@TIH: ahh! so perhaps I should invite people over MORE so I clean more? interesting...
ReplyDeleteotherwise having a vacuum day etc is good too. thanks :)
whilst I don't have a house, my room is exactly the same. always messy, but it's organised chaos
ReplyDeleteThanks for this post - I am just the same - glad to know I'm not alone! Hehe, offering you mutual moral support in the quest to a tidier home!
ReplyDeleteI'm super messy as well. Unfortunately so is my husband. So our apartment always seems to be a mess unless we have company coming over.
ReplyDeleteAs a college student (and one who has her own room), I feel like I clean my room every other day. I try to keep it clean, I really do, but something's always out of place.
ReplyDeleteHowever, when my mom says she's coming by (we go to the same school), I do the mad dash to clean, etc. I usually take advantage of the fact I have two closets. (Though she recently told me that while she wants me to keep my room clean at home, she doesn't worry about how clean my room is at school. Go figure.)
And don't forget the huge gap that often exists between "imaginary clean" (which is how you envision/fantasize that the inside of your house looks like) and "reality clean" (how your house actually looks like).
ReplyDeleteI have found that clutter and mess is a result of not having enough places to put things / storage availability. That and just pure laziness which is the result of me having four water glasses in a room at any one time. Thankfully that is my worst mess though.
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