Housekeeping Fail #374 or Top Ten Signs Cleaning is Overdue

I spent the majority of the day yesterday cleaning up our master bedroom.  It was such a mess, it really did take that long.  Ours is always the last room in the house to get attention from me on my rare cleaning sprees.  The main living areas are first.   The kitchen, living room, dining room and main bathroom all get a good cleaning at least once a week.  The kids’ bedrooms are a bit more infrequent because they’re upstairs and out of sight of general drop-in company.  But they do get picked up before playdates and such.  Not so with our own room, it seems.

I usually shake my head at myself in disgust and close the door, moving on to something else rather than tackle our bedroom.  It makes me wonder if I’ll ever grow up and leave this adolescent phase of having the messiest room in the house as my own.  Maybe it’s some psychological hang-up in my subconscious.  My parents are such neat-freaks, I always chocked it up to rebellion while I lived at their house.  Now I just wish that gene had passed down to me.

At any rate, I sucked it up and made the time to do it.  The main issue, as always in our room, is clothing.  I hadn’t changed over winter to summer clothes until yesterday.  There, I admitted it.  I realize summer is already half over.  I know the calendar says July.  I had plenty of excuses (most of them being the temptation of just leaving and hanging out at the beach), but for whatever reason, the clothes just piled up.

We were getting dressed daily from our summer bins, usually neatly packed and stored under our bed.  Only now they were pulled out as sure-fire tripping hazards, and left open for wardrobe choosing.  My drawers were still packed with sweaters and long-sleeve shirts.  And the top of my dresser was piled high with all of the clothes from both seasons, folded and stacked into piles awaiting either an empty drawer or bin.  I literally couldn’t see myself in my dresser mirror for the stacks of clothing.

As I got into a rhythm, though, I watched the stacks dwindle and peace of mind was restored.  It’s such a great feeling to wake up in a clean room and know where everything is.  I know this.  I just wish I could keep up good practices all the time.

Which brings me to this list.  This is my reminder for future seasons to not let it get so late before I tackle the regular upkeep of a clean house.  Somebody email me this list next time you come into my house and worry that we need an intervention.

Top Ten Signs a Good Cleaning is Overdue

1. You haven’t seen your favorite shirt in weeks and summer is almost over.
2. You find Pull-Ups at the bottom of a stack of folded laundry and your youngest has been potty trained for months.
3. $56 might fall out of the pocket of your winter jeans as you store them for next season. (Cha-ching!)
4. You forget what color your bedroom carpet is.
5. Stuff is stacked so high on your dresser surface, you can’t see yourself in the mirror.
6. The shorts you want to wear are in a stack in front of your face, but you’re afraid of the avalanche that may occur if you pull them out of the pile.
7. Your excuse for not working out is that you can’t open your bottom drawer, where workout clothes are kept, for the pile in front of it.
8. You’d rather get dressed straight from the dryer than deal with finding anything in your room.
9. Making the bed doesn’t help improve the appearance of your bedroom.
10. Your ankles are so bruised from tripping on clothing bins, it looks like you’re wearing dark socks with flip flops.

There you have it.  My confession of what a horrible housekeeper I am.  I always thought I’d get my act together someday and grow up.  Apparently, age has nothing to do with it.  Next time a friend tries to get me to go to the pool or do something fun and I tell you I really should be home cleaning, don’t try to talk me out of it.  Trust me, my house really needs it and my family will thank you!