Housekeeping is not for wimps.

I wish I liked to clean.  I wish I liked to organize.  Maybe, then, my house would be more clean and organized.

Housekeeping, home management, cleaning, whatever you want to call it: I'm just not good at it.  I hate doing it and am very, very slow.  It seems to take all day to do a single room.  And even then, it still never really looks... done.  There is still clutter that I have no idea what to do with, or I miss details that make a difference even if you can't put your finger on them right away.

I've read lots of blogs and some books on home management.  I've seen lots of tips and tricks.  I've tried most of them.  I've seen lots of cleaning schedules.  There is one that floats around Pinterest that purports that to be a total of 60 minutes of cleaning a day, yet not only is everything picked up, all dishes washed, etc. but the room of the day has baseboards wiped down, ceiling fans cleaned, walls wiped down, and windows washed.  What?  I don't buy it.

Being in this position, it's easy to get discouraged.  After all, nothing stays clean.  Even if we didn't live here, dust and cobwebs would encroach at some point.  It's worse when there are little children dropping crumbs like Hansel and Gretel, not to mention their toys and clothes out of any drawers they can pry open.  You work hard to get a room looking nice, and by the end of the day, you'd never know you'd done anything at all.  My children are currently under training to pick up and put away, but they're two and one, folks.  It will be awhile before they are consistent and it's not just as much work (if not more) to help them and direct them than it is to clean myself.

Thankfully, I have a few pretty good reasons to try, despite discouragement and distaste:

1. I enjoy the room more if its clean.  My bedroom is the pit of our apartment: things get shoved in there all the time just to keep them away.  We spend so little time cleaning it that we spend very little time in it.  It's time to reclaim my bedroom, and I want to.  Which means I need to get on the cleaning/organizing bandwagon.
2. We hope that in the next month or so we will be expanding to the first floor.  Though we will not be physically changing domiciles, this is basically a move.  The single room that will function precisely where it is currently will be the bathroom.  Our living and dining rooms as well as the kitchen will move downstairs.  Upstairs, we intend to create and office, move our bedroom and the kids' bedroom, and make a nursery.  It's a move.  And with that comes the need to clean up, declutter, simplify, and organize.  I may do it slowly, hitting the rooms that are moving first, but it will happen.  Surely, it will happen.
3. I want to create a comfortable environment for my family.  I always tell Nick after I've gone on a rampage and gotten most of the rooms clean (our bedroom, again, always seems to get ignored) that I really do like our apartment when it's clean.  It's a little cluttered, a little small, but it's homey.  However, if it's slightly messy, that feeling is completley gone.  I want our family to enjoy our space, to feel restful and at home.  Hard to do in a messy space.

Really, housekeeping isn't for wimps.  It takes quite a bit of stamina and determination to wage war against the daily devolution towards clutter and mess, to keep dirt and grime at bay.  I guess it's time to toughen up.