A De-cluttered Me

I made my bed this morning.  For the fourth day in a row.

If you know me, this is kind of a big deal. In general, I don’t sweat the small stuff when it comes to housework. And making my bed has always seemed like the small stuff.


The kids watched me make my bed this morning and wanted to help. Caught in the excitement of my bed making, they asked if they could make their own. I’ve been making their beds the past few days and wondered if they’d noticed. I played it cool, hiding the cartwheels I was doing internally, and said, “Sure. Good idea!”


I’ve been scrubbing, cleaning out, organizing, weeding, donating, and doing it again lately. I look around me, the floors clear, the counter tops uncluttered, and the closets tidy, and I feel lighter. Rather than my usual play catch up, always feel behind, never really satisfied by the state of the house, I wake up to the sun shining on a place I feel good about it.


Here’s the thing: I’ve never wanted to be considered a housewife. I don’t get a kick out of scrubbing floors. I dread a pile of laundry. I don’t want to sacrifice play time with the kids or me time to maintain an immaculate house. I don’t bow down to the perfect house gods.I’ve always appreciated a clean home, but never really appreciated maintaining one.


Something clicked in me this morning, though. I suddenly got why a friend of mine mops her floors the same days each week.I understood why another has laundry day. I got why my husband wants to do the dishes immediately after dinner while he has the energy and motivation, even if the kids are being crazy. We all know that living in cleanliness and order feels good, but no one wants to be battling their home every day to get it that day or tackling huge messes every Saturday.


I know it’s an antiquated term, but while I’m no housewife, I do want to be a homemaker. This week, I’ve felt calmer and happier and I’ve passed that along to the children. I’ve led by example, building a routine of clean as we go, and the kids can feel a difference as well. Don’t get me wrong, they aren’t suddenly thrilled by the “Let’s pick up the toys before we turn on the tv” or “We can’t go to the library until we put away these books.” 


They do, however, like having the floors free of clutter. They like knowing where there toys are. They like having clean spoons whenever they want them. Most of all, they like having a mom who isn’t stressed by the mess, frustrated by the clutter, or yelling at them to pick up after themselves.


I’m not going to suddenly stress if my bed isn’t made one day or start nagging my kids to make theirs. I still think they’re the little things. But I’m finding that some of those little things elevate your house to a home and that makes them something other than a chore. 


This morning, oddly, I looked forward to making my bed and I naturally rinsed those dishes and got them into the dishwasher and suddenly I got it. It isn’t about having a perfect house, impressing people, or stressing over cleanliness. It’s actually about maintaining peace and order externally so you can feel it internally.