The Cleaning Scramble
We do our best to maintain a decent level of cleanliness in our home. Granted, we do actively live in the place so it gets dirty and isn’t what we would deem as 100% clean a majority of the time. I’d say it’s “picked up” 4-5 days out of the week and the other days aren’t really anyone’s business…lol kidding. Life just gets a few wins every once in awhile. But anytime guests are expected, we force ourselves into a cleaning storm.
Growing up, my parents did this thing that used to drive me absolutely nuts. Before guests arrived, they would go on a full-blown cleaning rampage. We’d be on all fours scrubbing behind the toilets nobody could even see, flipping cushions around like we were staging a furniture store, and acting as if our house always looked like it was about to be featured in Better Homes & Gardens. Why the act? Why pretend we lived in a spotless fairytale when we definitely did not?
Fast forward to today, and guess who’s inherited the cleaning panic gene? Yep. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. And if you’re reading this, chances are you come from the same perfectly polished orchard.
But here’s the thing. It’s not actually about putting on some oscar worthy act of cleanliness. It’s about the much-needed reset. Life is messy, literally and figuratively, and every so often, your space needs a deep cleanse, a decluttering, a fresh start. What better motivation than the impending arrival of guests? That deadline is the magic ingredient that forces us to stop procrastinating and actually get things in tip-top shape.
Every time we wrap up this cleaning marathon, we have the exact same conversation. “Wow, the house looks amazing! Why don’t we do this more often?” As if we have dementia of the last 24 hours. The reality is, we could dedicate eight hours a week to deep cleaning, but we don’t. Life happens, priorities shift, and frankly, it’s not that important.
We love having guests for dinner, game nights, or out of towners for a weekend trip and not just because it brings a clean house, though it is a very nice benefit.
And if our guests happen to think we always live in a pristine oasis? We sure do!