Yesterday I went to the Container Store. It was insane. I nearly got into a fistfight trying to find a parking space. Standing in an interminable line to purchase my Elfa file storage unit, I couldn't help but wonder - what are all these people doing here? I knew what I was doing - I was in the middle of a serious post-holiday cleaning and organizing binge. From the looks of it, I was not the only one.
It happens every year. Around January I go through my equivalent of a spring clean. I resolve to be neater, more organized. I will turn a corner. My house will be one of those houses, the house that is so neat that you are filled with shame thinking about the mess you left at home. But no matter how noble my goals - scrub the bathtub every week! All mail sorted and filed immediately! No dishes left in the sink! - I can never quite measure up. I have three jobs. I have hobbies, dangit. I have friends. Somehow having the neatest house always seems to fall by the wayside. Somehow I am always the person frantically cleaning 15 minutes before people come over, and then apologizing for the mess. Again.
The cleaning binges are lovely and productive while they last, but eventually I succumb to fatigue. Eventually I find myself like I am now, sitting on the couch, drinking a beer and staring at the detritus of old bills and dislocated boxes. What's the answer? Should I just try harder? Will this be the year my house is finally, blissfully clean? Or will this be the year I finally make peace with my shortcomings? Maybe I won't apologize any more when people come over. This is my house, I will say. This is how I live. It's not perfect, but neither am I. Welcome.
The answer, I think, as in so many things, is somewhere in between. So here is my cleaning resolution for 2012: I will try harder. I will be more disciplined. I will clean out the cat box and put the dishes in the dishwasher, even if I am tired. I will make my mother proud. I will strive for the perfect house that I know my house could be. But when I fall short, I will forgive myself. I will remind myself that life is short, and living is a messy process. I will be thankful for every day of my beautiful, messy, unperfect life in my beautiful, messy, unperfect home.
Image: Allie Brosch, from her excellent blog about Why I'll Never Be an Adult. (If you haven't read it already - you need to.)
8 Secret Spots to Hide Valuables at Home
The Live/Work Studio of Robert Siegel Handmade Ceramics
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Howard Butcher Bloc...
10 Easy Vacation Meals to Feed a Crowd
Recipe: Chopped Brown Rice Salad with Grapes and Pecans
At least you have a Container Store! Las Vegas does not have one, nor IKEA! Well that is my excuse for not being organized-lol. Online shopping is not as much fun.
Credit where credit is due- that pic in the header is from the blog "hyperbole and a half".
That Hyperbole and a Half post is my favorite of all of them. Just brilliant. Please credit!
all-purpose cleaning - bucket and scrub brush w/ hot water, pinch of salt, lemon juice, TSP (TriSodium Phosphate) and/or Borax, and white vinegar. maybe some hydrogen peroxide or bleach added.
Add real TSP from paint store to dishwasher detergent - spotless dishes!
Hey folks - there is a credit at the bottom of the post. Allie Brosch is the creator of Hyperbole and a Half, and there's a link to the original post.
I like your Carrie Bradshaw "I couldn't help but wonder..." :)
I hear ya. It felt so good to get that dang tree out of my house and vacuum like a madwoman.
thenestinggame.com
Allie's blog should come with a warning sticker. I almost laughed to death the first time I read it.
Agreed - hyperbole and a half is the bee's knees.
Ha! Last night here in Boston they showed a syndicated episode of 30 Rock where Liz Lemon visits the "Compartment Store" & is convinced she will thereby start a whole new orderly life.
So you spend your time working, doing your hobbies, and doing things with your friends, so housework comes in last? Sounds about right to me.
Unclutterer just had a great post on small changes you can make to live a tidier life. It's totally doable!
http://unclutterer.com/2012/01/03/seven-routines-and-guidelines-to-live-as-an-unclutterer-no-super-powers-necessary/
Hello twin sister !
My personal resolution for new year's is to have a place for everything, and throw away what doesn't fit in my house or life. Just that. I figure I'll never be the perfect housekeeper, so I'll satisfy myself with knowing that if I didn't have a busy and wonderfully interesting life, I could put everything back where it belongs and have a minimalist house. I just feel good knowing that everything belongs to somewhere.
Oh, and I'll also stop apologizing when people come over. A 2 years-old, a cat, a baby on the way and a huuuuuge renovation of the house: who am I trying to fool anyway by pretending the house could be clean and neat ?
Well done! You said exactly what I have been thinking about now that Christmas is finally done. I have had this desire to organize and clean and declutter my home to an extreme level but it is one day at a time. Thanks for the motivation!
As a kid, I was not allowed in the living room after my mother had vacuumed, so I wouldn't mess up the "tracks." I resolved then and there that neatness would not be my top priority. My house is messy most of the time, but I'd say my family is pretty happy!
A friend of mine reminded me to not only buy boxes to put 'stuff' in but to actually get rid of stuff altogether and thats better than organizing and storing what you have! I'm doing both by the way and then I'm going to throw even MORE stuff out. Its only 'stuff' after all.