Housecleaning, this will be short, I don't do it.

     When my older two were young I cleaned like a mad person. They were not going to get dirty on my watch. I was on top of clutter, laundry, dishes, dusting, vacuuming, sweeping, mopping, etc. I was always doing something. The house was clean, the kids were clean, and I was exhausted. I was also incredibly resentful. I spent most moments of the day thinking, "I just cleaned that!"

     Guess what, I'm over it!

     I'm a housewife, not a maid. Dirt happens! I had to find a happy balance for me so that I could be part of this family without feeling like the unpaid help. Now I keep clutter under control and concentrate on the bathrooms and the kitchen, because those are the rooms I feel should be clean. We have this great rule in our house: If you make dinner, you don't clean up the dinner dishes. Woo Hoo! I came up with that...points for me! That doesn't  necessarily mean the floors in those rooms are cleaned everyday, though. I sweep when the floors feel crunchy. Mopping consists of putting a clorox clean up wipe under each foot and skating around the kitchen. I vacuum when I can see stuff on the carpet. I hand my little man the swiffer and let him take care of the dusting. That's right, nothing above 4 feet high is dusted. I'll get to it...eventually. I do try to do a load of laundry a day, but am not always successful. My middle son's room looks like a bomb went off, does it bother me? YES, but not enough to get in there and do something about it. Besides, if he wants to go somewhere bad enough it gets cleaned. I have the honor of being married to an amazing man who takes care of all outside duties, is open to some inside chores, and helps with the child rearing. Big points to him, since I'm not a fan of outside duties.

     So what does this mean? There are dust bunnies in the corner, spiderwebs on the ceilings, the baseboards could use a good scrubbing, but I'm much happier now. I'll worry about being spotless after the kids leave home. Besides, it builds up their immunities, right?

Julie

PS Warn me before you come over, I'll clean a spot for you to sit a spell.