Yesterday, I was chatting to another pre-school mum about housework. I commented that there's less time for housework now I have children."Yes, I know!" she said. "I used to vacuum and sweep the floor 2 or 3 times a week. Now I only do it once a week. And these days, I only do half the dusting each week. One week I dust upstairs, the other downstairs."
I'm not sure we're on the same wavelength. Isn't dusting something you do when the shelves are nice and fuzzy?
My favourite quote about housework: "A house becomes a home when you can write 'I love you' on the furniture."
If you need more reasons not to dust, check out dust if you must. Image is from morguefile.
8 comments:
That's a great quote! I'm newly married (not quite 3 months), adjusting to looking after my home, and trying to finish my PhD. Housework gets a bit neglected! Still, I am aiming to dust and vacuum this afternoon...
Well, Dave and I are both allergic to dust, so I consider myself a bit of a dust Nazi - and I still only dust once a week.
I have been thinking about this very thing lately...whether there's a point at which we're just wasting time with housework if we do it too often (ie. mopping a floor takes pretty much the same amount of time to mop whether you leave it 1 day, 3 days or once week - or more - so maybe we need to deliberately aim for less sometimes and spend the other time doing something else more valuable...).
It depends so much on your situation, doesn't it? - what you can live with, what pleases your husband, what is welcoming to visitors, whether you have white floors, etc. etc. I guess the main issue, as always, is what is loving (is cleaning an idol? does it serve those around you?).
What do you think?
My Grandmother has wisely said "A tidy house is the sign of a wasted life". Of course, you don't want to push that too far (which she didn't mean either!), but I think her point has some validity.
Bec
I'm with you on dusting.
And more helpfully...
I think the key is hospitality. I think it's fair to say we ought to have a welcoming and hospitable home and cleanliness and tidy-ness should serve this end. For some of this will mean working harder at cleaning, for some of this will mean stopping focussing so much on the floors and focus more on the people. For some it will mean being humble enough to let people see the dirt.
Another important thing is having hearts swept clean rather than floors swept clean.
YOur point is a good one, Rachael. It seems to me that sometimes, it's actually more hospitable to not have an immaculate house - it can make people feel inadequate in their own homemaking, less relaxed and paranoid about their kids touching anything in your house. And probably less likely to invite you around if they're not having a perfect house kind of day.
I think hospitality sometimes happens over an unswept floor and toasted sandwich better than over an immaculate floor and three-course meal. Not always, of course, but sometimes.
Bec
There's a balance somewhere, isn't there, and it will look different for everyone.
I have been to houses which were so messy and dirty I felt uncomfortable. I have been to houses which were so clean and shining I felt completely intimidated.
And it's not just an issue of visitors, but also what helps our family. I can't imagine either extreme (where the kids can't find their school things on Monday, or our husband his socks / where we yell at kids and husband to get off our clean floors) is particularly helpful!
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