Showing posts with label Cleanliness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cleanliness. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Everyday is a Crisis.

Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh,

A lot of people know about Flylady. She's pretty popular...but for some reason the only thing I really do is the crisis cleaning. I don't like to do my cleaning in little spurts during the day. I prefer to get it all done at once and then relax!

So like I said, I do the crisis cleaning...just a little modified.


The only thing I really do differently is that I only take 10 minutes in the bathroom and I do 5 minutes in each bedroom putting away clothes and toys and making beds, etc.

I find that 15 minutes in the kitchen and 15 minutes in the living room allows me time for everything, because I don't do everything every day. If I vacuumed inside of the sofa and chairs one day, the next I'll probably be wiping down lamps and tables instead...

Before we go to bed, we do one more quick pick-up and my apartment stays looking half-way decent, mashaAllah. It's not pristine or sterile (like my husband wants), but I don't usually have a problem with drop-in guests.

Fi aman Allah!

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Getting "Clean and Tidy"

Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh,

My husband thinks I'm filthy. Not just messy. Not just untidy. He thinks I'm filthy.

I admit, I don't vacuum daily sometimes. I admit, I don't mop daily. I admit that I only clean the bathroom every other day....and the inbetween day will invariently leave some of my hair on the floor after I've brushed it out.

But I feel like my family and my happiness is more important that a house that is hygienically clean. And anyway, I don't want to live in a sterile environment...it's not healthy. Literally.

I think my husband gets it from his mother. She's the kind of person that washes the walls with soapy water and a huge brush about once a month. She squeegies her floors and vacuums daily. The countertops in the kitchen are cleaned many many times a day and the beds are ALWAYS made even after midday naps.

Now, I love my mother-in-law. She's a wonderful person and the clean stuff comes naturally to her. But it's kind of annoying. If I put anything down for two minutes, it might just be missing ("put away") by the time I come back for it. And I wouldn't dare leave anything sitting on top of a dresser or table...I'd never find it again after it had been "put away".

That's not exactly the kind of environment I want my kids to live in either. My husband grew up without toys. I'm not sure whether that was a result of my father-in-law thinking toys were kind of useless (I'm not sure if he thinks that way) or whether it was a result of my mother-in-law not wanting to deal with the mess. When I'm in Syria with my kids, they have toys...but a very select few that get stuffed into a bag and put back into a closet as soon as the kids are done playing.

In my home, there are *usually* toys on the floor. Our phones are usually lying around on a table. My daughters' bedroom is always in disarray and my own bedroom looks kind of undone by the middle of the afternoon after naptime. My books and my husband's books look fine in the bookcase, but I don't mind if my daughters just throw their own books onto the shelves in whatever order they please. I go through the bookcare about once every two weeks and organize it for them, but the rest of the time don't care.

But then, I don't think that I'm dirty or filthy. The dishes get done, the kitchen gets wiped, the stove and fridge get cleaned and the table gets cleared and wiped. The toys do get picked up at least once a day. There are clean clothes in the drawers and closets and there are dirty clothes in baskets. I vacuum under cushions and I dust tables and lamps. The toilet and tub get cleaned and the sink/vanity is almost always orderly.

Anyway, that's my little rant for the day.

Toodaloo.

Fi aman Allah.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Cleanliness is a part of our religion.

Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh,

I'm just soooo tired.

Sometimes I think that my husband has OCD about cleaning. Okay, maybe not about HIM cleaning...more about things being clean. Which means me cleaning.

I'll be honest, it's tiring. Not so much the cleaning, because I'm not horrible messy or dirty. In fact, I think I'm pretty average as far as that goes. It's the comments...

"When was the last time you vacuumed under the sofa cushions?" as he looks on disdainfully after pulling one of the cushions on said sofa.

"When was the last time you clipped the girls' fingernails???"

"Did you vacuum under the sofa? Why is there a toy under the chair?"

"Look at Jayjay! Look at her shirt! Doesn't she have any clean clothes?"

"Do you call that clean???"

"I thought you wanted to clean the bathroom?"

It's getting to me.

I used to have a pretty elaborate routine and my husband seemed to be satisfied. Then I went to the hospital to be treated for chronic severe depression and I've been slacking off pretty much since. Now given, I don't let it get to the point, where I couldn't invite people over...but sometimes I need 20 minutes to tidy up and wipe down the kitchen table...

Fi aman Allah!

UmmJayjay

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