Friday, January 2, 2009

The Housework Experiment.

In our house there are two very diferent opinions on how housework should be done. I have been experimenting with the two viewpoints over the past week and have made some interesting discoveries.

Tim's Way: Start with a very clean house. one would venture to say spotless. Then through out the day be constantly cleaning, picking up and only stop briefly in the mid afternoon. This is a good system although you end up feeling like kind of a slave to your house and kids(at least i do). Also, schedule more intensive cleaning for certain days of the week. Like clean the bathrooms on thurdays etc. Be sure to schedule these on your ical so that the computer will remind you what chore you are supposed to be doing instead of blogging.

Alison's Way: Start with a house that is as clean as you felt like making it before you went to bed the night before. If it was a bread baking night, dont expect the kitchen part of the house to be very clean. Then just let your kids do what ever they want all day, drag any toys out to the living room, scatter cereal all over the kitchen floor, and cause general mayhem while I am reading blogs or surfing the internet. Then, after the kids go to bed at 8 pm, spend about an hour getting the house close to its almost clean status. Do the daily chores if you feel like it.

I have come up with a modified way, kind of a hybrid of the two. Start with a really clean house because tim was home the night before and he cleaned it up while I was putting the kids to bed. Clean as you go until lunch time. then give up and sit on the couch the rest of the day. what a loser.

maybe someday i'll get it together...for now i guess i just have to be satisfied with letting tim clean the house once and a while so it doesnt become a complete pig sty.

10 comments:

chelon:) said...

i am all for your way!! much much easier :)

Robin said...

I have to say that I can so relate--my way is definitely a hybrid of the two variations you mentioned...only they rarely involve the man of the house (who shall remain nameless) doing much cleaning, though we can all make plenty of valid excuses for him. :) What I have learned from this inability to do everything all the time is: 1.) Cut myself some slack--like almost all the time, 2.) Just don't let people see it unless I get to 3.) Decide that it really doesn't matter how clean my house is because life is sometimes better when I just don't care that much. Just remember that you can have a clean house when your kids are all grown up and out of it, and you will miss the mess (or so they say.) :)

momu said...

Rule for maintaining and surviving with small children: never start something you won't be able to finish.

Tammy said...

I have to say I am more for Tims idea. I love starting out clean. It is much easier to keep clean. If I let it all go then things just keep piling and piling until I never want to clean any thing.

Stephanie T said...

You totally have to try Fly Lady. It has completely transformed our house. Like as in you, know my "little dirty secret room". It's so not there anymore. My house isn't perfect and I'm constantly working on cleaning out my closets, organizing, and getting rid of clutter. Heck, I'm not even perfect at fly lady. I just keep my sink shiny, do a load of laundry most days, making my bed, and spending 15 minutes working on cleaning my hot spots. But it's totally made a huge difference. I'm down to cleaning for about an hour each day and my house feels more peaceful and organized. And the rest I just let go.

Sarah said...

um... you could always go with my husband's way which is to be happy with the mess and just watch football all day :)

Kevin said...

at the risk of being jumped on (as i believe i'm the only guy to post so far) my parents messed with my head or something when i was young. i'm pretty ocd on a place for everything and everything in it's place. if i pull out the salt for a recipe or something... as soon as i'm done i put it back. not when i'm done cooking or after dinner... as soon as i'm done with that item. this tends to keep places pretty clean. but i've also notice my wife and i have different pet peeves on which areas can be dirty and which ones can't. either way... i like tag-teaming it.

stampinashley said...

Alison-- I already have some "before" pics up, and even a half way one, I'll take a new one and post all 3 together, so you can get a side-by-side.

I can't even believe how much better I feel about myself after having lost the weight! Awesome!

Bonnie said...

Orrr.... you could go with my method. Just let it get so messy that when Dave gets home he cleans it. After all, I'm taking care of the kiddos all day, who has time for cleaning after that!

sena nabila said...

nice blog
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