Monday, February 9, 2009

Confessions of a Recovering Perfectionist

In the past, if company was coming, here's what I would do throughout my whole house in addition to the typical dusting, sweeping and mopping:

Empty, clean, and reorganize every drawer, cabinet and closet

Scrub all baseboards

Take down, launder and rehang all window treatments

Wash all doors, handles and frames

Dust and wash blinds

Move all furniture, dusting the backs and vacuuming underneath/behind

Scrub all garbage cans, inside and out

Disassemble all fans/light fixtures and thoroughly clean before reassembling

Launder all layers of bedding - pads, sheets, blankets, quilts, shams...

Empty and scrub inside and outside of fridge

Pull out fridge and oven and clean underneath

Clean oven

Scrub dining and kitchen tables and chairs, including legs

Launder shower curtains

Remove all books from shelves, reorganize, dust each one, and clean shelves

Hang all rugs outside to beat out dust and freshen

I'm fairly sure I've left out several things, but you get the idea. It was not fun being me! And, understandably, we only had company once or twice a year. Those who have been in our home in the last couple of years know that now the pendulum has swung the opposite way.

Don't get me wrong...there's still nothing I love more than a house completely clean and fresh from top to bottom! The difference is that now I can function even when it's not.

What changed? I'll save that for another day...I have some spring cleaning to do...I'm hosting Supper Club Friday night!

7 comments:

jennifer h said...

Wow! I'm tired just reading that list!

Brandy said...

I second what Jennifer said! I'm worn out. I don't think I have EVER done all those things at once. You can come clean my house :0)

Lori Waggoner said...

As you'll see when I post part 2, Brandy, it's not a good thing! It's not admirable...it's just plain SICK!!

Anonymous said...

Speaking of being sick, I told John I felt like you yesterday. I rearranged the kitchen table and family room furniture (both on an angle) and vacuumed and dusted and wiped and got behind every piece of furniture to clean dust bunnies in the process. It felt good! But not to do every time someone came over. In fact, no one is coming over, unless you count Nathan's Spanish buddies who were working on a project...

Anonymous said...

That sounds like spring and fall cleaning. I hope you have recovered from this frenzy when someone comes over. Excuse me, I need to go clean. Joanie

The Boojes said...

Oh.My.Goodness.

Please feel free to come clean over here ANYTIME...esp after the baby comes! =) Wow. No wonder you never had company!

And now I have a new perspective on why you were so driven to organize the teacher's room! =P

livinginthemidwest said...

Wow, I don't think my house has ever been that clean all at the same time. I would love for my house to be that clean...but reading it makes me want to go take a nap. :)It would drive you nuts to live in Hawaii because of the open windows all the time. I dust and about an hour later it looks dusty again (plus the moisture makes the dust stick really well). The house never feels clean.