Get down and tidy

So I'm really really rubbish at housework- not in a "I'm too incompetent to physically manage these tasks," sort of way, although the fact that I burnt myself cooking no less than FIVE times last week would attest otherwise.

No, I'm rubbish at it in a "really there are a thousand and one things I would like to do and the washing up isn't one of them."

This means my house is fairly messy.  It also means that I have a panic whenever anyone is coming to visit.  So I've been in a mad rush of procrastination and housework avoidance all day to get out of having to tidy before my outlaws arrive tonight.

One of the only ways I'm able to muster any kind of enthusiasm for cleaning is with musical accompaniment.  I have playlist on my ipod shuffle and I stand at the sink belting out songs, boogying my way through mopping up.
Here are my top two cleaning  songs:

This is The Ark with Hey Kwangoma! from their 2006 Album, State Of The Ark



They are an amazing swedish glam rock band that I have loved for a decade.  They sum up happy lovely dancing fun for me.  And my single days!  And Scandinavia.  The only downside about meeting my husband was leaving Scandinavia and staying in Blighty- I don't think I've stopped morning for Oslo yet.

Then it goes to Patrick Wolf



This song just makes me feel so powerful.  In fact the whole Lupercalia album is so incredible that I gave birth to my second child with it playing through my headphones.  The opening chords just give me a feeling of joy in my heart immediately.  I've seen him live more than once, but the best was at the Laugharne Festival with Patti Smith in 2007/8- a rock legend I had adored since a teenager, having an impromptu jam with Partick's violin- it was magical, and, through the magic of teh internets I can share it with you now!



So my advice is, if you can't muster any enthusiasm for chores, find some music that gets you going and use it as your spoonful of sugar to help the monotony of housework go down!

Zen and the art of keeping house

I'm a perfectionist, so much of a perfectionist you'd never know when you look at me.
You see unless I'm going to do something perfectly I don't bother doing it at all, really I hate to fail so I just don't try.

Until I met my husband my life was dominated by chaos.  There was no point cleaning because, well things would never stay clean.  No point tidying because things would never be perfectly organised.

Well I was both wrong and an idiot.  The thing about having people that live with you, that you care about (every roommate/ flatmate I've ever had: there is no apology large enough!), is that you cannot let them wallow through all your mess everywhere.
I started with baby steps- when me and my husband first moved into together I started doing the dishes- before the plates got so bad  that the easiest solution to the mess was to throw them out.

Sidebar- one of the ways that I knew, deep in my toes, that me and my husband were it:
The first night he stayed over he hung out in my flat while I was at work all day.  I told him when I left not to go in the kitchen.  That was because it was a health hazard.  Beyond a health hazard.  There were dishes in the cupboard under the sink, thats how bad it was.  When I came home he didn't say anything, but I went to get a drink of water, after bascially locking him in the living room, only to discover he had cleaned everything, every mouldy cup and encrusted plate.  And because he didn't want to embarass me he hadn't mentioned it.  That folks is both chivalrous, gallant and down right kind.
Side side bar- my only advice in finding a life partner- above all things they should be kind.  My husband is the kindest person I ever met.  I will have to blog the story about him nearly getting left behind at seven sisters overland station once.

Anyway to return to the point of this post- when we got married I starting trying to organised enough about laundry that I had clean clothes to wear- (this one is trickier now we have two children, there is so much laundry).

And when we had children I started to get serious about things like routine and cleaning and tidiying, because  well, it didn't really seem fair to bring them up in squalor or leave all the cleaning to my husband.

So I tried things like flylady, but it wasn't really my thing, although I do shine my sink whenever I can these days.  The most useful thing I took away though was the idea that, something was better than nothing.  I little bit of cleaning and straightening is better than sitting on my couch feeling overwhelmed.  It has helped.

Last year I brought a few organising books.  The best of the bunch were A year to an organised life, which I've dipped in and out of but which I have resolved to follow in its entirety next year, I might even blog it!  Its a bit... american for my British sensibilities, but it certainly gets me think about how to organise in the right way.

The other is The Housewife's handbook, which is just excellent.  Full of little tips and answers to all your essential housekeeping and cleaning questions.  I especially liked the routines and habits section at the end- it's given me a real framework to start to manage my own household.

So the big question, am I organised, is my home showroom perfect.  Well no, for one I've got 2 under 2 and for two I've just moved house- those are my excuses and I'm sticking to it!  But I am starting to get there.


(Blogger note: Full disclosure, some of the links above go to my amazon affiliate which, if you purchased the book from the links, would earn me a few pennies.)