A Temporary Domestic Goddess

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imageCleaning is something I have always been bad at. It isn’t that I can’t or don’t know how to do it – I was taught how to cook, clean and sew from an early age – it’s simply that I don’t want to. Well, that isn’t totally true – I keep myself, the cats and my clothes clean, but when it comes to daily organisation I am distinctly lethargic.

I’ve always been this way. I think it stems from watching my mother obsessively clean the house on a daily basis – she was desperately unhappy for most of our childhood, using cleaning as a way of having some sort of control in our household, and would often spend her cleaning sessions shouting at us to do various chores, which she would then do inevitably again after we had finished because we hadn’t done it properly. Cleaning was always a negative experience, and this mentality has followed me into adulthood.

That, and I’m admittedly just plain lazy.

The Bloke is the opposite and does the day-to-day maintenance of the chores, while I do the cooking, which I am very grateful for. However, he finds it very frustrating at times – I am capable of destroying a newly cleaned room in a matter of minutes, and while I never intentionally set out to undo all his good work, I often have to retrace my steps and pick up after myself when I realise the chaos that I have caused.

However, every so often I will bite the proverbial bullet, make a list and blitz my way through the house.

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After having to work on a number of my days off this year, my headteacher had very graciously granted me a couple of days in lieu last week and I couldn’t be more grateful. For the first time in a while, I had a little bit of time to myself.

I took my mum to the station after she had spent the weekend, and when I got home I realised just how much stuff needed sorting out. The house isn’t filthy by any means, but everywhere I looked I could see lots of small jobs that have been ignored because my heavy work commitments meant that I have lived in a state of simple existence over the last few weeks.

I decided to do something about it. We are in the middle of a heatwave here in the UK, so lots of clean washing went on the line outside. I dusted, vacuumed, organised and shredded months of out-of-date paperwork. My clothes were hung in the wardrobe. My chest of drawers were put in order. The bathroom and kitchen underwent a deep clean. Even the cats reluctantly received a brush.

Six hours later, I sat down in my living room with sore feet, an aching back and, more importantly, a sense of feeling lighter than I have been in a long time, and I’m determined to do some more later on. I’m not sure how long this temporary urge to clean will last, but I’ll certainly go with it while I can!

What about you guys? Do you enjoy being a domestic god/goddess or do you begrudgingly do what you have to as quickly as you can?

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73 thoughts on “A Temporary Domestic Goddess”

  1. Ugh… cleaning is a necessary evil. I… like you.. will admit I am plain lazy! LOL! On the other hand, I want my house to be somewhat clean and organized, I would just rather pay someone else to do it! I do have just a couple of things that I stay on top of. One is laundry. I do not let it get out of hand. I do a load of something every day or every other day but I really don’t mind. My kitchen may get a little cluttered but not for long. I HAVE to get dirty dishes off my counter and out of my sink. But I may go a week without sweeping my floors.. ha ha!
    I am completely OCD when it comes to paperwork though. (filing not withstanding) that may pile up for a month. I HATE TO FILE! But I do! eventually…
    So enjoy the moment while it lasts and send some my way if you have any left over! LOL! 😉

    • Thanks Courtney! I hate washing up, so The Bloke mainly does that, and I’ve just shredded a ton of paperwork because Im useless at keeping it all in order but don’t want to get rid of it ‘just in case.’ I’m a complete hoarder of it!

  3. Suzie, I can only clean if I am listening to 80’s music! *LOL* I used to be what they call a, “neat nut”; however, now I am just a, “tidy is okay by me” girl! I turn up the 80’s music, and that’s when the dusting begins! 🙂 Cher xo

  4. Oh, I hate cleaning! Especially bathrooms. But I have to do it and so once a week I grit my teeth and get on with it. I always feel better when it’s done, and try not to lose it when my family come along and make it dirty again 🙂 My husband does help out, to be fair, but the lion’s share falls on me as I work from home. I’ve thought of getting a cleaner but a) they’re expensive and b) I’m very particular about the cleaning products I use – I try to avoid harsh chemicals – and so I don’t know if they would use the same methods. So I guess I’m stuck for now. I just feel it takes away from my writing time. As for those jobs like clearing out cupboards etc, they happen when they happen, when I feel like doing it. I do try and keep the house tidy on a daily basis, it’s just the actual cleaning that I dislike doing. So I completely empathise with your post!

    • Thanks Helen! I’m going to be at home for the next two months so I don’t really have an excuse, but I’m totally with you on the cleaning products I use! I think I need to do more of what you do and keep up with it on a daily basis…

  5. I’m exactly the same! Currently I’m begrudgingly playing housewife while looking for full time work, but it is the most frustrating thing to clean all day, and then by the next day (if not by 8pm that night…) you are back to square 1! I must admit, my ‘cleaning’ is a quick Hoover, washing dishes, making sure a fire is lit and that we both have clean underwear… It’s pretty minimalist!! And when I do a big clean I do feel like the house looks sooo much better and get a little sense of achievement, then I get sad that my life revolves around that at the minute. Oh well, onwards and upwards, and when I do find work, I dread to think how messy the house will get!! :O

    • Haha! Not at all, although it’s not something I was excited about! Please forgive my late reply – Ive just found a whole bunch of comments in my spam folder!

  10. I can keep stuff in order but I can’t clean. That dusting, mopping, under the bed, over the chest of drawers etc. is not my cup of tea. Ugh! I find these things such a waste of time.

    • I totally agree – Ive got better things o be doing with my time haha! Please forgive my late reply – Ive just found a whole bunch of comments in my spam folder!

  11. Growing up we all had chores and a once a week whole house cleaning day. My mom and her mother were obsessive cleaners. My sisters and I all have some weird cleaning obsessions. We call it the Jensen Gene – my mother’s maiden name. I must say, I find cleaning calming. I often use it to avoid other more important tasks. I ALWAYS feel a huge sense of accomplishment when I finish. So . . . carry on and enjoy :-). Who knows when the urge might disappear??

  12. I don’t love housework but I do the basics and occasionally go mad with the duster. I have a grumpy face when I’m doing it and keep thinking about all the other important and more enjoyable things I could be doing instead. And I begrudge being the only one in the household doing it. I’m only happy when I feel everyone does their fair share (which is rarely the case). Sorry Mummy, but I think I’m allowed to blame you for this! I am the only girl in the family with 4 brothers and as a whingy teenager I always had to help out in the home but the boys NEVER had to do a thing “because it was a woman’s job”. I felt very hard done by. I didn’t think it fair at all! So maybe this is why I’m not a fan of the hoover and those other cleaning tools that are somewhere in the house – unless I’m getting help! I have an image of a maid on my vision board 🙂

    • Wow that sounds really tough! I grew up with two younger sisters, mum and dad, and my father didn’t even know how to use the washing machine, but I think that was because my mother was a cleaning obsessive and like having the control of the house even though she worked full time, rather than it being a woman’s job… Please forgive my late reply – Ive just found a whole bunch of comments in my spam folder!

  13. Oh! We must have been on the same wavelength. I almost killed myself with cleaning activities the other day. I started with the lawns, mowing both the front and the back (in 95 degree weather). Swept. Cut back the palm fronds that I am sure have been attacking the Pool Guy every time he comes through to the back yard. Washed all the sheets, made all the beds. Vacuumed, mopped the tiles (which I hate doing). Put the laundry away, did a boatload of laundry. Went to the grocery store. Dusted. Cleaned Shirley (the turtle’s tank out) and then collapsed. Our house smells so good and is so amazingly tidy. Now I feel like I can attend to other stuff that has been weighing on my mind. And if anyone in my family even thinks of leaving a mess somewhere I will hunt them down and torture them.

    • Haha! I’ve got the whole Liam Neeson speech in Taken in my head now! Thanks so much for your comment and please forgive my late reply – Ive just found a whole bunch of comments in my spam folder…

  14. I don’t mind cleaning but I tend to do a small amount of it everyday instead of just one big clean once a week. I’ve discovered that housework is good for my hips and waistline which means I can celebrate with an extra bottle of red 🙂

    Keep up the good work and if you really enjoy doing it then I’m sure I wouldn’t object to you becoming my housekeeper 🙂

    • Haha – I like your attitude towards it Hugh. I need to start adopting that. Thanks for the job offer – travelling down to Hove might be a bit of a trek though! Please forgive my late reply – Ive just found a whole bunch of comments in my spam folder!

  15. I feel your pain and I am pretty much the same way, and it’s frustraiting to no end for me to watch my son turn out the same as well LOL

    • Haha! I suppose it goes one way or the other – they’ll either be the total opposite of their parents or exactly the same. I’m the opposite of my mother, and my younger sister is exactly the same when it comes to cleaning! Please forgive my late reply, I just found a whole bunch of comments in my spam folder…

  16. I do most of the housework during the holidays, and get paid £20 for three hours, which isn’t bad. I like putting everything in order, but hoovering the whole house hurts my back and it’s a pain to drag around a large, lumber some vacuum cleaner..

    • I totally agree – ive seen loads of adverts for those lightweight cordless things but id have to take out a second job to buy one haha! Please forgive ,y late reply, I found a whole bunch of comments in my spam folder.

  17. Same here, Suzie…mum is a cleaning freak when I was growing up. Just like you too, I have had my bouts of temporary cleaning goddess, I feel good about it, and then for some reason, am not able to repeat that same industriousness the following week 😦 This reminds me, I got to sort out and file that paperwork piling up on the table…oh dear! hahaha…

  18. Funnily enough I spent last weekend on a cleaning blitz too. My problem is I tidy things away but forget where I’ve put them. I can see them in my mind but have no idea where they are. I love minimalism and would quite happily throw something away if there was nowhere for it to go. We have been in our house for 3 years and I’ve not yet used the loft…

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