Picture taken from http://organizingsolutions.info
I come from a very clean family–one of my Dad’s first memories of me is when I mopped up my own juice spill when I was two years old (which I’m sure I learned from watching my mother, who is the cleanest person I know). Unfortunately, that go-getter attitude towards cleaning that I had when I was two did not carry over to my adult life, or even to my teenage life (or even over to the next year of life, I’m afraid). I think my mom has been telling me to clean my room since I was old enough to start accumulating too much stuff (a.k.a., preschool). I just always had better things to do than clean, it seemed–extracurricular activities, reading, friends, work, school…cleaning, for me, has always been a weekend thing: wake up Saturday morning, cook up some creamed eggs over toast, then clean the house for 4 hours. And this system worked just great for my early college years, because I always had roommates who were willing to clean on a daily basis :).
The cruel irony of my personal bad habits when it comes to cleaning is this: although I am not, by nature, a very clean person, I am VERY used to living in a clean house. If anyone has ever had the pleasure of being at my mom’s house, you know that it is always immaculate. Therefore, I expect to live in a clean house, but don’t have the tendencies towards making it that way. Oh cruel, cruel world.
Now that I’m married, I’ve found that my “roommate” seems to have the exact same cleaning habits I do, but that he doesn’t require quite the same standard of perfection of cleanliness.
Translation: our apartment has turned into a fire hazard.
And the time has come to do something about it.
So this month, I’m asking you for your advice:
-How do you split the cleaning duties between yourself and your significant other?
-What strategies do you have for maintaining an orderly home despite a busy schedule?
-I have way too much stuff and not enough places to put it: do you have any organizational strategies for me? Any cute ideas you’ve seen on Pinterest to make a small space hold more stuff?
I welcome your answers to these and any other comments you might have. I will try my best to try them all. And in my report at the end of the month, if I tried your suggestion, I’ll make sure to credit you with that in the post.
Wish me luck!