From Messy Mom to Pristine Parent

If I thought I was feeling run down and grotty after a week of both Pickle and I being plagued with various maladies, it’s nothing compared to how the house must be feeling. I make no attempts to conceal the fact that I’m far from being a domestic goddess (picture the opposite) so if I’ve not even done the little bits I usually do, the mess and grime is just compounded even further and it makes for a very sorry sight. I’ve reached the point where I really want to turn things around. And I know I’ve said this before, and I’ve made half-arsed attempts… but this time, I mean it. I’m on a mission.

I often sit back and try to analyse exactly what my problem is. Why can’t I keep my house tidy and clean like other people? What’s stopping me from achieving that? It’s easy to blame it on things out of my control: if we had a dishwasher, the washing up wouldn’t be as bad… if we had a tumble dryer, there wouldn’t be as much washing everywhere… if Pickle wasn’t into everything, there wouldn’t be so much explosive mess at the end of the day… but the truth of it is, I am just quite lazy. And I prioritise other things over tidying. I have never made it part of my daily routine.

I guess there’ll be two types of people reading this. The first type will look at me like I’m some kind of monster. Wondering how on earth I could live my life like this and be flabbergasted by my slimy living conditions. You may be surprised! A lot of people who have only ever seen me outside of my home are shocked to discover how untidy I am. It’s not what they expect! Apparently I give off the impression of being quite organised and ‘together’ but… it’s all a facade, I’m afraid.

The second type is the one I’m hoping will sympathise with me. You’ll be looking at these photos thinking, oh thank God there’s someone else out there like me. I really hope there are people out there like me. Please say hello if you are. At one point, I thought everyone lived their life like this – and that it was normal to only run around your house like a loon hiding the mess in whatever cupboards and cubbyholes you can cram stuff into when your Mother in Law was due round, but apparently it’s not. Most people manage to keep their houses in a presentable way most of the time. I think I’m in the minority, not the majority…

Whether you think I’m disgusting or not, welcome to a new category of posts on this blog. The Cleaning category. A way for me to document and motivate myself along this journey of self discovery from Messy Mom to Pristine Parent. Yeah, they may not be the most thrilling or exciting of posts – certainly not as dramatic as my day volunteering for the Fire Service – but I’m hoping that by publicly shaming myself, it’ll get me on track. Right, now I’m off to continue watching Cleaning videos on YouTube for further inspiration…