to clean or not to clean

Snort. As a person who just earned a bit of money today by cleaning someone else's house, I cannot of course agree with this entirely, no matter how amusing the pic. And even if I didn't make money cleaning, I still don't think I'd agree. A (relatively) clean house (or at least, one that's not too messy) simply makes me feel better. I don't know whether it's a matter of the outside reflecting the inside, i.e., order in my house correlates with a more organized inner life, or if I just feel more productive if I've at least vacuumed in the past two weeks.

Now most of what I've learned about cleaning I learned from my mom, as I suspect most of us have. And my mom has a reputation for being extremely clean. But here is where it gets interesting. People who walk into her nearly spotless house automatically assume two things: a) that she loves to clean, and b) that she spends hours doing so. Both assumptions, however, are categorically false. Mom dislikes to clean (but likes a clean house which presents a bit of a dilemma), and actually spends relatively very little time cleaning at all. Ah, now how is that possible? Well, the secrets of having a house look clean without having to spend too much time is what I'll be passing on in future entries.

But not now. 'Cause I've spent enough time fixing someone else's house today who didn't know the secrets. This, of course, suggests another option as well. If you don't want to "waste" time cleaning, hire a smarty-pants like me to do it for you!