sprite writes
broodings from the burrow

July 19, 2010


the sad truth of the matter
posted by soe 10:26 pm

Rudi and I hate to clean. And we’re lazy. Which means that neither of us cleans beyond the bare minimum (cat boxes get changed, dishes get washed, laundry is done, bed gets made(ish)). But short of that, we’re a piling kind of household.

This is not without problem, of course. As time goes on, I get stressed, discouraged, and agitated. Rudi goes out on longer bike rides to avoid the mess.

Eventually, it all comes to a head, usually precipitated by an impending visit by guests. Or, as is currently the case, our new mattress arrives just days before our vacation. And then we go into a frantic, day-after-day cleaning frenzy.

This is not a pace that a normal human can sustain. This is not behavior we can maintain. Plus, we just have too much stuff, which just means our piles get moved about, cleaned, and temporarily re-sorted.

So after the crisis is over and the guests have gone home, our piles creep back out. (There is that infamous tree-trimming party where after all our guests left, we looked at the bed, covered with stuff from all our public spaces that we’d run out of time to deal with, and just gave up. Rudi unfolded the couch and spend the night there and I shifted a few things and slept amidst the piles. It was a sad night we hope never to have to repeat.)

We don’t aspire to be ascetics. We’re both content and comfortable with a certain amount of untidiness. We like our books and music, our bikes and yarn. But we do seem to require some outside force to keep our messy tendencies in check.

What we really need is a standing weekly date when people come over. Then there’s only a limited time period when we can create new or reformatted piles before we have to deal with them again.

Would one of you mind volunteering to come for dinner every week? Our mental health would certainly appreciate it.

Category: life -- uncategorized. There is/are 5 Comments.



Too bad we don’t live closer, I have always wanted to do a supper club sort of deal and I could sure use regular visitors for exactly the same reasons. (although I do have extra places to put stuff now so that my bed can stay free)

Comment by Julie 07.20.10 @ 6:07 am

(do you, in fact, live in my house?)

The problem with those shows like Hoarders is that it makes me feel like we’re not that bad.
We have piles, and bare minimum cleaning, but my husband is better about getting to it, ie, his standard of ‘when to clean’ is a little higher than mine.

People that sweep every day (there are people like that) don’t get the enjoyment of appreciating a swept floor for several days after the fact.
Loved the post!

Comment by raidergirl3 07.20.10 @ 8:10 am

If we lived closer I’d help you out if you helped us! 😉

I need Rosie the Robot for a maid. Roomba just doesn’t do enough!

Comment by Jenn 07.20.10 @ 9:45 am

I’d offer if we didn’t have the pup around! And ask you to come to our house, for the same!

Although, sadly, having people over doesn’t usually get us to tidy up all that much. And with a house, we have more room to hide the junk. Hubby might maintain that most of that junk is mine (he’s maybe half-right).

Speaking of visiting, we should definitely do a cycling meet-up. Starting the second week of August, I’m supposed to cross-train on Wednesdays and Saturdays for my running goals- would either work for you? Just remember that I’m at the remedial stage of remembering how to ride a bike…

Comment by Mikaiya 07.20.10 @ 12:28 pm

[…] many of you looked at last night’s post, which immediately followed my post about housecleaning, and just shook your head at my optimism. It’s okay. I know it’s […]

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