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Monday, September 10, 2012

to the Window, to the Floor

So no I was not dancing and bootie shaking this week, and I think that would have been more fun than what I did.  I got on my hands and knees and was all over my floor, Cinderella style.

I have not been able to do get some household chores done due to the pregnancy, c-section, and now the baby.  No excuses, it needed to get done.  I even contemplated getting a maid or someone to get it cleaned at least this time.  But see here is my problem with that, I could not bear my house being this dirty.  I am a partial OCD cleaner and before all of this my house, per guests', looked like a hotel.  But to my defense I did not have a baby, my son is 13 and we were hardly ever home.  My house was spotless and really it was just maintaining it more than cleaning it.  Even when we have parties, I am the type that has the entire house cleaned a couple of hours after the party is over.  Nothing is left for the next day.  Again part of my OCDness, my way of thinking is if I leave it there for tomorrow it will stay there and accumulate more and be harder when I try to clean it later.

Back to now, since I have not been able to clean the house the way I wanted it cleaned, to me my house was filthy.  I was embarrassed for people to come over and see it.  So the thought of a maid coming to clean it made me get hives.  I told my husband I would give it a light cleaning before someone could come and completely clean it.  He said, "Then what's the point of getting you help!"  So I never let him get someone.  I told him I could do it.  My MIL told me, "Cleaning is no priority right now, worry about your baby and that is it".  But I know it is dirty and not to my standards, so I am going to clean my own house but not all at once.  So I have decided to break it down and handle 1 task per weekend.  Again, to normal standards my house is not dirty but my OCDness knows it is and it has not been cleaned like I am use to it.  So this weekend I tackled the floors and like I said Cinderella style.

My kitchen is not that big.  I have the fake floors. Linoleum floors that are beigey gray.  Funny thing is I picked this color because it kinda hides the dirt in the color and pattern.  I grabbed my handy dandy scrubber and started to scrub each square, one by one.  Yes, you heard that right.  Mind you, I use to do this once a month before the baby.  Yes, I had too much time on my hands, OCDness.  I sprayed each square and scrubbed it until i was cleaned.  Then I when over it with a wet mop.  Which there are more steps but since I am pressed for time, I didn't do.  Anyways, fast forward, my floors are sparkling clean.  My husband's joke, "I thought that was the color of the floor"?  My floor is ready for my Lil Bit to crawl all over it now.  I forgot to mention, my baby is crawling now, and I didn't want her to be crawling on dirty floors.

So how do you balance kids and household chores?  Do you have help?  Do you get down, Cinderella style?  I want to learn how to keep the balance, any suggestions would help.  Thanks!

7 comments:

Unknown said...

I'm just as OCD about cleaning as you are. And it's so hard to clean when the kids are around! I've hired maids, but they don't clean as good as I would like so I see it as money wasted. But the satisfaction of seeing it done right is worth my time.

Unknown said...

I have great help the hubs pitches in and does A LOT. We also have the kids use to doing major cleaning on Saturday mornings along with cleaning up after playing with toys. I think the biggest issue for me is laundry i dislike it with a passion.

presleyspantry said...

I agree with Ruby. Have your husband help out, delegate rooms for each of you and then have 2 days where on one day during the week where you do light cleaning and then one day on the weekend for the heavy day of chores. At least that's what works for us.

Eva Smith said...

I'm definitely considering getting help. I don't mind doing chores, but could definitely use some help.

Peruvian food said...

How about getting your man down to scrub the floors Cinderella style, and leaving the "prettier" cleaning parts to you? That's what I do ; )

Sujeiry said...

I don't have kids and don't know how women with children and work full time can keep their place spotless. I can hardly keep up with regular cleanings because life can get so busy and I just have to take care of myself. Kudos to those who can!

Bren @ Flanboyant Eats™ said...

We kept Sabbath growing up so my parents made sure we did our chores on Friday in prep for the Sabbath. Since it was 5 of us, we'd all have 2-3 to do and that would keep us good for the incoming week. It really worked for us. Everything was covered and taken care of in the house. The only two things that weren't part of Friday chores were the trash roundup b/c it was picked up by the county on Thursdays (still is) and raking the leaves during fall or raking grass after a cut! That had to be done whenever Papi did the lawn!