On today's episode of The Busy Mom Diaries featuring Momma Lee, I will attempt to clean my whole house using my favorite cleaning products while ignoring the fact that my son has decided to be a Call of Duty character and shoot Nerf bullets around the house.
I don't consider myself a "neat freak." I can definitely deal with a little mess from time to time. By the way, when I say "a little mess," I mean a big mess, like someone who has a stack of papers in the corner of her closet and has yet to actually do anything with them. Or better yet, someone who has poured water in the pots and pans to let them sit and soak for a few days to get the dirty food off of them. Oh, it gets better. Someone who knows she has expired/moldy food sitting in containers and has yet to throw it out of the fridge, even though there's clearly a smell that has lingered for a couple of days now. Trust me, it gets worse.
Sometimes when the coffee hits just right and the stars align, I can get so much cleaning done that my laundry basket is empty, the dishes are done and put away, and my place is filled with the smell of Mrs. Meyer's Compassion Flower scent. But mommas, these days are fewer and farther between as I continue to fill my schedule with the everyday tasks of motherhood.
Cleaning pro tip? Pace yourself and delegate.
I used to feel like I had to get everything done in one day, and my cleaning took precedence over everything else I had to do. If I'm being honest, a dirty house irritates me and puts me in a really sour mood. After years of reflection and realization that nearly smacked me across the face, I realized that I used cleaning as a way to avoid what I really didn't want to do. Furthermore, I often equated keeping a clean house to "looking" like a good mom. I know, mind-blowing!
My son is 11, so I've had time to really reflect and think about this. I've learned a lot about myself and learned that organization is important, but so is the ability to pace yourself. Everything doesn't have to get done in one day, and the little things you do daily add up to the bigger goal. A quick clean or a quick "pick-up" of the crap laying around is just as good; don't let anyone tell you different. Deep cleaning will happen even if it isn't something that happens every day or every week, for that matter.
Lastly, DELEGATE.
This is hard for me because I like cleaning to happen a certain way. I'm the mom who'll ask you to clean something, watch you clean it, and then either re-clean it or say, "I got it." GUILTY as freakin' charged. My very intelligent 11-year-old has caught on to this. He'll clean something in a very questionable way because he knows how I am and knows that I'll take over.
Mommas, push through the pain and delegate the tasks. For those of us with older kids, adding a little extra to the chore board while being careful about which cleaning products they use will not kill us, and as I write this, I'm really reminding myself.
So, in conclusion.
Let the Nerf bullets fly and enjoy the video game simulations around your home. It'll be okay. The house will get cleaned at some point, and the smell of rotten food will get taken care of with boiling lemons on the stovetop.
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