Cleanliness is next to Godliness...

...and my house has been an unholy mess for far too long!

I am officially back on my housekeeping schedule, and I'm sure glad this week is over.  Monday, clothes laundry day.  Tuesday, front room, dusting, and carpets.  Wednesday, bathrooms.  Thursday, kitchen day.  Friday, bedrooms.  Saturday, bed linens and towels laundry day.

Breaking the housework down like this is amazing--everything gets done.  My most loyal readers will recall when I started the regime.  Dylan was about 8 months old when I read a book called "Home Comforts, the art and science of keeping house," and it changed my life.  Seriously!  But then I got pregnant and I was ill for most of my pregnancy.  Then Martin's job changed, and we had another baby.  Major upheavals in my life. 

Well, I woke up last week and thought to myself, "Self, your baby is nearly a year old and you are in pretty much perfect health.  The house is disgusting and it's making you miserable.  No more excuses--sort it out!"

So I have.

Almost.

See, most of the housework gets done every day.  The focus days are just for really big, deep cleans.  So the first two weeks of getting back onto the house cleaning schedule are hellish because all of the little jobs that you've been neglecting for so long have to be done, and when they've been neglected things are extra dirty.  So the kitchen took some major work and elbow grease to clean the cupboards, windows, behind all the kitchen appliances, etc.  Next week will be a little bit easier, and the week after that will be easier still.

I didn't mind having a dirty house before I spent almost every waking minute in mine.  Now I feel all icky if the house is untidy and dirty.  It's my own fault for letting it get this bad, really.  Having Martin home for most of the day on weekdays makes it harder, for sure.  Partly because he is is such a slob and is hard to clean up after--seriously, I could just follow him around and clean up the trail he leaves in his wake.  But mostly, I lack the discipline to do housework when he is home.  I'd rather just hang out with him.  Saturdays have always been my least favorite day of the week because he is gone all day, but they are fast becoming my favorite.  Simply because I get a lot done.  I have 11 hours to do it all!

I feel like I can relax and be creative when the house is clean, so maybe Dylan and I will do an artsy project when he wakes up from his nap.  Could be fun...

And maybe I'll feel a bit more "godly" at the end of this day?