The Happy Homemaker

Posted Monday, April 27, 2009 11:55 AM

By Kelly Fodel, writer of the popular online blog Kellybeans 

If you were to venture into my home right now, you would be shocked at what you’d find.  It’s pretty much a lesson in extremes.  Portions of my home are in exquisite shape; clean, organized, virtually ready for a magazine cover.  Those also happen to be the areas of our house which might be viewed by someone stopping over for a visit.

And other areas of the house… well, they are my dirty little secrets.  Take, for example, the master bathroom.  Dirty sinks.  Toothpaste spots on the mirror.  A yucky bathtub.  A toilet that is growing some kind of greenish- reddish stuff in it.  My bathroom is disgusting.  I think I last cleaned it… a few weeks ago?  Maybe?  Let’s put it this way: I can’t remember when I last cleaned it. 

It’s simply an issue of time management.  I don’t have a lot of spare time, thanks to my working at home part-time and my full time job of raising a child.  And if I’m gonna be honest, I sometimes take my few minutes of down time and use it for my own personal relaxation.  You know, time for me to check a few blogs, or eat, or maybe even shower!  Cleaning just goes by the wayside.

However, we’ve been recently toying around with the idea of selling our home and moving closer to my husband’s workplace.  The possibility of putting this house on the market has whipped my butt into shape and I am starting to clean and organize with a fervor that I didn’t know was possible.  Enter www.flylady.com and her home cleaning/de-cluttering tips.  I’m enjoying the structure and finding that I am getting rid of old stuff I don’t need or use anymore.  I also realize that I can keep on top of the cleaning by consistently doing a little each day.  It’s not rocket science, but I guess I needed a nudge in the right direction.

This housekeeping thing just isn’t easy, especially with the demands of kids, partners, work, and life getting in the way!  How do you manage your cleaning?  Any tips?  I’m all ears! (But if you say you have a full time housekeeper and cook, well I might not be your friend anymore!)  Just sayin’!