We all know that I fight clutter. Chaos is my natural state. But I fight it. Constantly. And most of us know that I hate to clean. Housework, to me, is worse than a root canal. As a result, between my clutter and uncluttering, and lack of cleaning, my place is a mess.
One of my goals in life is to be able to socialize at home. You know, to invite people over and have a conversation or activities in my house. Maybe host the writing group or book club. I’ve never done that because the place is always a disaster.
As much as I try, I’m a mess. And so is my house. It is a source of constant embarrassment. Although I’ve stopped buying stuff for the most part and have definitely stopped buying stuff for my stuff, I still haven’t gotten a handle on things. Until recently.
Recently (last month), I hired a house cleaning service. It has taken me a long time to conclude that it’s okay to do this. I keep hearing my mother and her cronies tsking about being too lazy to do my own cleaning. But so what? I am lazy when it comes to housekeeping. I hate it and, as a consequence, I’m no good at it.
So once a month, now, a crew of two comes in, spends less than 3 hours here and my house is clean.
Funny thing, once the house is clean, I suddenly don’t have a problem picking up after myself. Things get put away once I’m done using them. Trash and recycle get taken out before they’re overflowing. And–this was a real eye opener–it’s suddenly easier to make decisions. I schedule appointments for things I’ve been putting off. I’m buying things I’ve thought about and then tossing the catalog, or more often, just tossing the catalog.
I’m not just thinking about doing things. I’m doing things.
Who knew? Well, my non-messy friends did, but I didn’t believe them. Now I do.
(For readers in the Denver area, check out athomecleaning.co or contact them at info@athomecleaning.co. You won’t be sorry.)
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