I am fortunate to have a cleaning lady... well, ladies, since it is a team of three... come to my house once a week to vacuum and scrub and make my home sparkly and pine scented.
I used to have them come twice a week. Also, I used to have a nanny. But now I work part time, so I have more time for that stuff (yeah, right) so no nanny, and one time per week for the house cleaning.
On monday, I was actually pretty proud of myself. It had been three days since the cleaning and the house still looked good. Not bad, considering two of those were "stay home days".
By tuesday, the disorganization was growing. By wednesday, it had reached critical mass. By thursday, I realized that I needed to clean for an hour or two before my cleaning ladies showed up to clean on friday.
I realized that it was a slow decline; my house is never quite as clean as when the ladies first leave, but it takes a while to reach that point where it makes you a little bit crazy. So I did the math...
I figure, I keep up with the mess and clutter at a rate of 90%. 10% mess seems not too bad, really. But then take 10% more the next day and 10% more the next, and it accumulates pretty rapidly. And by accumulate, I mean the dust, and the shoes, and the toys, and the endless catalogs that pile up everywhere. It turns out that the line is crossed once you hit 59% clean- or 41% chaos.
Of course, Greg wasn't here for two of those days. That means that my mess was actually less... he doesn't help, he just adds to the chaos. So maybe this week wasn't a true indicator.
On a side note... our elementary school is having a Go Green initiative, and I have signed up to receive all my notices via email. "No Paper" is my motto. If my school can have a No Paper list, and phones can have a Do Not Call list, why can't the USPS come up with a "No Catalogue" list too?
And now I am off to clean. I need to be prepared for my ladies.
4 comments:
OH the catalogues. They just keep coming, don't they? I have some show up for stores I never even knew existed! One would think, with all this attention on going green, they'd trim down those mailers!
There is a no catologue list:
http://www.catalogchoice.org/
There is another website where you can opt-out of the credit card offers too, but I don't remember where that link is. The bummer is that if you buy anything from a company, they can start sending you catalogs again. So you might get rid of them until you start buying again....
I think we've gotten a Pottery Barn catalogue every day for the last week. At least that is what it feels like. And, for the record, my house is always a mess by Friday. That's what weekends are for---straightening up before a new week begins!
Love the math! I have a cleaning lady who comes...once a month. I am contemplating getting rid of her since I don't have the extra cash AND I have not ssen her since October. Ugh.
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