It Never Fails

For the last few years, I’ve really struggled with keeping my house in a reasonably-clean state. My husband and I work full time, we are super busy with two kids and all their sports, activities and other stuff they do, and sometimes I admit that when I’m done with our busy days and I could possibly get in some deep cleaning, I don’t. I just don’t. I’m tired, I’m mentally and physically done, and I frankly I just have better things to do. 

I have tried to follow the Fly Lady cleaning system for over 10 years now. I loosely follower her Zones idea and I try to do her cleaning tasks more often than not. Other than that, I’ll usually plan a bunch of cleaning tasks at the beginning of the week and then bust them all out on Friday or Saturday. I can find so many things better to do than clean, and I usually do them! 

So essentially what my cleaning plan comes down to is to do the basics daily such as clean off counters, keep the kitchen sink clear, sweep/mop if it’s really gunky, and do at least one load of laundry a day. Other than that, our deep cleaning happens hours before company comes over or when I just can’t stand it anymore. 

I grew up a little different. My mom worked part time, so she would usually do most of her errands on the weekdays she had off. She would then do a full house deep clean every other Saturday. From what I can remember, our house was always clean and tidy.  For some reason, I always feel like a failure when she comes over and my house is in a bad state. It’s nothing she’s ever said or even implied, but I always feel like I’ll never live up to how she used to keep our house.  Thus, the reason why I always frantically clean up before she comes over to visit. 

Which leads me to my rough moment this week. My kids had went to my mom’s house for a few hours, allowing my husband and I to get some very focused work done. My mom volunteered to bring the kids home later in the day. She had text me to let me know that she was on her way, and I let her know in a responding text that I was still on a work call but would hope to be off by the time she arrived. 

Well, I was not off that call when she arrived. My mom sat and chatted with my husband and kids for a little bit until I was finally off the call and could go out and join them. 

As I walked into the room, my mom was sitting at the dining room table. The dining room table where we had enjoyed our family dinner of cheeseburgers and fries the night before. The dining room table that I had completely forgot to wipe off after our dinner. 

Ugh. 

The table was filled with crumbs and even a burger chunk or two. Gross. Usually I handle all the dishes after dinner (which my husband always cooks since he’s our chef) and then my husband or I will finish up the whole process by wiping the dining room table. For some reason, somehow, that evening before we just had not done it. Usually right after dinner we are busy with showers and chatting and spending time as a family, and I know I must have just told myself I would get to it the next day. 

Except the next day was filled with getting kids to sports camps (and picking up a friend on the way), getting kids to grandma’s house, and OH yeah, getting a full day of work done! Yikes. 

Of course my mom never said anything about the mess, and of course she never would. But ugh, I have been beating myself up ever since. I try SO HARD to keep our house a basic level of clean every day and it’s always that ONE DAY that I don’t do my basic tasks that bites me in the ass. 

That’s why I have as one of my top 10 goals to “always have my house company ready”. This means, no matter what, we could have anyone stop by and our house would look presentable. I guess I still have some ways to go with that goal. 

How was your week? Did you have any “ugh” moments?