Fedore Writer

During an ordinary week, my sister and I maintain a livable standard of cleanliness in the home that we share.

Our definition of “livable” is simpatico. For example, one or the other sweeps our wood floors at least every other day, we wash our dishes and wipe down surfaces in the kitchen twice a day, do laundry at least three times a week, and vacuum rugs on the main floor (which we call Switzerland) maybe once a week.

On our kitchen counter, a framed message with a 1950’s woman scrubbing a bathtub reminds us that “a clean house is a sign of a wasted life.” We use this message to justify spending our time on more fulfilling things like crafting or writing, preparing meals and baking, gardening, walking our dogs, and making memories with friends and family.

This routine and our standards have felt comfortable, until I opened a Cleaning Authority brochure mailed to our home last month. I can’t decide if I feel inspired by the four-quadrant list of cleaning tasks or if I feel chastised.

In the eight years my sister and I have lived in this house, I have wiped down doors and door frames maybe once. The baseboards? Once. These tasks involve buckets and step stools and kneeling on hard floors. Ugh. Wiping down windowsills and dusting blinds has happened once a year. I can’t remember the last time I individually dusted knickknacks.

I love a clean house. I just don’t love cleaning. I also don’t love feeling like I have substandard cleaning practices. Herein lies my dilemma.

Sometimes, I’ll put off cleaning my bathroom or putting away my clean clothes for a day and when I finally get around to it, it takes all of ten minutes. Afterward, it feels great when my bathroom is fresh and clean, and my clothes aren’t sitting on a chair in my bedroom. It’s also frustrating that I had procrastinated in the first place.

My sister and I are hosting for the holidays, and I plan on using the Cleaning Authority’s list for the living area to make sure it sparkles for our guests. It’s not a wasted life if the sparkle is shared with others, right?

I’ve trimmed the brochure and have hung the quadrant on our fridge for a visual balance between the 1950’s woman and exemplar cleaning practices. There’s a middle ground in there somewhere. Maybe I’ll find it. But first I need to go clean my bathroom.

For inspiration, go to: Cleaning Authority’s Deep Cleaning Rotation System.