No More Excuses

I keep thinking that someday I’ll get my house clean and it will stay clean. Some day it will be clean “enough”. Some day I will be thin enough. I was going to add “rich enough” but I’m not someone who is searching for riches. That’s my husband’s job. Of course I want to spend the riches when he finds them!

Let’s face facts. Our homes are never going to be clean enough. They are never going to stay clean. I clean my kitchen counter off every day and it is always a mess. Why? Because we use it! If we didn’t use it then there would be no reason to even have it. You can be happy with your home right now. You do your best and it is beautiful. Yes, it will be a little bit more organized tomorrow than it was today because you are working on it but don’t make excuses for it. Ever. When I go into someone’s home I don’t want to hear excuses of why it looks the way it does and neither does anyone else. It just makes people uncomfortable.

I have a neighbor whose house is always perfectly immaculate. I’ve been in it a few times and nothing is ever out of place. Every time I walk in the door she says, “I’m sorry it’s such a mess in here.” What! Is there invisible dirt somewhere that I can't see? Are there socks in a drawer that havn't been ironed? It’s creepy.

I don’t believe that a home can be too clean but I do believe a person can be too obsessed about it. It reminds me of someone who is anorexic. They are thin but they can’t see it. All they see when they look in the mirror is a fat person. They are sick and need medical help to learn how to accept reality.

I have a friend whose house is always a disaster. There are toys everywhere, the garbage cans are overflowing and the floors are sticky. It’s not because she’s lazy and doesn’t clean it. She has four little kids. She never makes excuses for the mess and I always feel completely comfortable in her home. As long as I keep my shoes on!