Clean Enough

I used to be obsessed with housework. I followed a specific program that told me which week to clean which room, what tasks to focus on, how to declutter my home so I could thereby declutter my life. It was a good program, in its defense, and I still fall back on it when I feel the need to recommit to putting things in order. But for the most part, I made the decision some time ago to choose fun over function. I realized life’s too short to spend a beautiful, sunny Saturday cleaning the house when there are mountains to climb, trails to travel and sights to see.

Sometimes this decision comes back to haunt me. Dust bunnies roll out from under the bed, doggie slime-prints shine starkly on the sliding glass door in the morning sun, and with a sinking feeling I realize that my furniture is way past passing the white glove test. I try to ignore it. That little voice inside my head says, “Why clean when it will only get dirty again?” (At which point, my mother’s little voice inside my head answers, “Then why eat when you will only get hungry again?” I have never won this battle.)

At one point, in the years B.T. (Before Tuition), I briefly hired a cleaning person once a month. She was thorough and fastidious and had the worst attitude of anyone I had ever met. I believe her anger and resentment fueled her passion for cleanliness. Unfortunately, it also fueled things like breaking knick-knacks and slamming the vacuum into the wall. I regrettably fired her, pleading poverty (which by that time was more or less true).

Then I found FlyLady. Hers was the system I mentioned above, and her philosophy matched mine – that it didn’t have to be done perfectly. She had a much more palatable name for the dreaded weekly task of house cleaning – Home Blessing – and I was able to delude myself with that image for many years before deciding that I would better bless myself – and thereby make my home a less fractious place to live – by grabbing a hiking stick every weekend instead of a vacuum.

So that brings me to today. Last night I became conscious in a sudden burst of awareness (well, actually it was one of those damn dusty tumbleweeds escaping from under the dresser) that the place needs a thorough cleaning … badly. Dirt never takes a holiday. It’s time to pull out the vacuum, the mop and the dust rag. Ready my arsenal of cleaning fluids in their varying levels of toxicity. Take down the curtains, wash the windows, clean in the cracks and corners, remove the winter buildup from the blades of the ceiling fans. Yes! That’s what we need to do! Hunker down! Scrub, scrub, scrub till everything is shiny and new. Today is the perfect day for it … Sunny. Warm. Spring-like. Invigorating.

The perfect day for a bike ride.

After all, the dust isn’t going anywhere. And tomorrow’s forecast calls for rain.