Clean Enough

I'll be the first to admit that I love a clean house.  In fact, not only do I love a clean house, I find it nearly impossible to function in a dirty house.  I come by this honestly though.  My mom and dad are both this way.  The way my brother and I earned an allowance growing up was by helping out with chores.  Once a week we were responsible for vacuuming our own room, dusting our own room & cleaning a bathroom.  We were also responsible for making sure the basement (our hang out area) was clean & orderly.  My parents were reasonable though in their efforts to keep the house clean  and tidy.  They rightfully expected that we hang up our cloths rather than throwing them on the floor & that we make our beds in the morning.  I am not saying our house was always spotless though.  After all, a family of four lived there.  A family of four in which BOTH children played soccer - in the rain, in the sleet, & in the snow- and had a constant flow of friends in and out.  I was allowed to eat in the family room on occasion and I even got to put my feet on the coffee table (mostly when my dad wasn't looking though!).  I am pretty sure I brought more dirt into that house with all my filthy soccer cloths than my mom and dad combined & that didn't bother them.  We didn't spend all our free time cleaning, not in the least, but we did clean.  We were expected to keep the house, our rooms, & the basement clean...  clean enough that is. 

From the time Dane & I moved into our current house I have been a "clean freak" you might say.  I would clean the floors, polish the furniture, & clean the bathrooms and mirrors at least twice a week.  I made sure everything in our house had a place and that at the end of the day, each item was in its place.  Dane used to tell me it was hard for him to cook because I was always right under him wiping up a spill or tossing something into the dish washer before he was done using it. I just couldn't help myself.  I was slightly OCD.  I knew it then, but I liked cleaning.  I liked the way a clean and orderly house made me feel.  I had the time to clean & tidy up, so why not?

Then Case came along.   At first I fought myself to not obsess with cleaning.  To not obsess with having toys strung out throughout the family room.  As crazy as it sounds, it was hard for me.  Over time though I have learned that it is OK to simply keep things clean enough and organized enough.  "Enough" being the key word.  Our house is clean enough that you don't have to worry about walking around on the floors and getting a bunch of things stuck to your feet, but you may just run across a fuzzy here and there.  Clean enough that you don't have to tip toe around Case's toys to get from point A to point B, but you may run into one of his trucks on your way from the family room to the kitchen.  Clean enough that we always have clean cloths to wear, but you will always find some dirty laundry in our hampers.  Clean enough that when the sunlight hits our dark furniture you may see a little dust, but you won't be able to write your name it.

I have made my peace with a little clutter and a little dirt.  The little fuzzies on the floor and the little bit of dust on the furniture really don't bother me anymore.  Silly as it may seem, I actually love running into one of Case's trucks in the middle of the family room floor.   Yes, I still hate a dirty house.  This is why I still devote myself to cleaning it once each week, but that is it.  Then I am done.  I may still tidy things up here and there, but I am not extreme.  I can leave the house without fluffing the pillows.  I don't have to open and file every single piece of mail the second Dane brings it in from the mailbox.  I finally consider myself "normal"  :)  I find myself to have accepted what I believe my parents accepted many years ago, probably about the time they started a family, and that is when it comes to the house being clean you do what is reasonable.  Our house is clean enough.