Table decorations | Photo by Jonathan Blundell
This weekend our friends and family held a couple baby shower for My Life and I.
While the event was originally planned to be hosted at our friends’ house, we decided it might be best to keep things close to home with My Life getting closer and closer to her due date and our desire to avoid pushing her bed rest restrictions.
Of course, with company coming over, there’s a certain list of chores that must be done.
Vacuuming
Cleaning counter tops
Dusting
Cleaning dog hair off the couches
Yard work
Cleaning bathrooms
Etc., etc., etc.
It’s not that we don’t do these things on a regular basis, but let’s be honest — very few of you keep your house spotless 24/7.
As I was vacuuming up the dog hair off the couches for the umpteenth time, I mentioned to My Life…
You know, the key to owning a house is to make it look like no one really lives there.
And as I thought about that statement over the weekend the irony and truthfulness of this “big secret” seemed to ring true more and more.
If we’re honest with ourselves, no one really wants stacks of books piled in the corner.
No one really wants stacks of papers piled on the counter top.
No one really wants to see dust gathering on the furniture.
But often, life happens and these things happen as well. It doesn’t take long before it looks like our houses are really lived in.
And then as soon as someone mentions company is coming we rush to clean, straighten and make our homes look as though we haven’t stepped foot in it for months. We want folks to see our homes as spotless as if that’s some huge indication as to how we live our lives.
But what if we could stop all the tomfoolery?
What if we could stop all the charades?
Ahhh… so relaxing. Are you seeing and feeling what I’m seeing and feeling?
Probably not.
You’re probably thinking, “I can’t stop cleaning my house because people are coming over. I let them see the piles of clothes I’ve tossed in the closet. I can’t let them see that I have unwashed dishes in the sink.”
If that’s what you’re thinking — let’s paint another picture.
Imagine a home where you’ve decluttered and minimized to your bare necessities and perhaps a few niceties thrown in.
And because you’ve decluttered, there’s no bookshelf full of books to dust when company comes, only one small shelf that holds your top 10 treasured books.
And because you’ve decluttered, folding and hanging your laundry takes no time at all and you’re glad to get it down, rather than simply tossing it in a pile waiting to do it later.
And because you’ve decluttered, you can easily wash all your dishes after a meal, rather than letting the soak in the sink, hoping they’ll wash themselves.
And because you’ve decluttered, dusting gets done in a flash because there are far less shelves and trinkets on those shelves that need to be cared for.
What do you think? Could it be done? Could it really be lived out?
…Or is it just a pipe dream?
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Tags: Secret · weekend’s2 Comments
Thanks!
Yeah, when we can keep our house in order most of the week – it sure makes having company come over a lot less stressful.
And the easiest way I’ve found to keep our home in order – is to reduce the amount of clutter we have.
This was a great post, Jonathan! This evening, we had company for dinner and the getting ready part really didn’t take all that long. We cleared away a few papers, put the tablecloth on and voila! we cooked dinner. So relaxing!