The saying is “the calm before the storm,” but when it comes to cleaning house, it’s more like “the storm before the calm.”
Because how ironic is it, really now – that the house is never more a disaster than when it’s being well cleaned?
I’m not talking about the quick cleaning, when you shove clutter into drawers and closets, then dust and polish surfaces and mop or vacuum. No, what I’m talking about is when you finally come to a reckoning with those misused drawers and closets.
And their being full and less useful may not necessarily be the result of misuse by shoving miscellany into them. It may simply be a factor of time: After so many months, or years, belongings accumulate and crowd the storage spaces.
Every now and then, when you’re about to tackle housecleaning and chores, you get the feeling that it’s not going to feel tidy and organized unless it is so to the very bones of the house.
Cleaning and reorganizing storage areas means getting stuff out of them first. That stuff has to go somewhere – piled on tables or dumped on the floor.
It requires a lot of decision-making and some really tough choices, usually more so mentally and emotionally than logically. There’s all those clothes that once looked great, or will look great but you haven’t worn them yet – and surely you’ll lose those 5 pounds you’ve been meaning to forever, in the near future, if you put your mind to it.
Or they still fit and hopefully they’ll come back into style some day, or you need to get around to sewing on missing buttons, or you just need to find the right top to go with those pants.
That need to face uncomfortable realities also comes to sorting through the craft area: Will we really complete this project that’s been setting idle for years? Will we use these materials again? And why, oh why, did we buy that expensive stuff we haven’t gotten around to using?
In the kitchen, we have to get rid of expired food, and those exotic or unique ingredients that were purchased with the best of intentions but never made it into any recipes. Facing reality: What is the likelihood that we’ll look up a recipe to use them, then go to the specialty store to buy the other ingredients the recipe calls for, then actually cook it?
In the various utility drawers we separate those pens and markers that write from those that don’t. There’s a myriad of rubber bands and paperclips and doodads in assorted drawers: Will we collect them all together or just dump the stuff in the bottom of the drawer into the trash can?
After hours, or even days, of this deep organizing, we feel a real sense of accomplishment. Though the living room or kitchen or both are a shamble of messy stacks and piles of stuff, the back of the closet is the cleanest it’s been in ages. It’s a great feeling.
Then the doorbell rings.
Someone has dropped by unexpectedly and catches you in a complete disaster area.
“Don’t mind the mess,” you say. “I’ve been cleaning.”
To the contrary, it looks like you haven’t cleaned anything in months, or longer.
Do they believe you? You see the reality of the situation in the other person’s eyes.
After the unexpected guest leaves, the easiest thing to do is just shove everything back into the closets and drawers, and do some surface cleaning, just to restore your dignity.
