Mary vs. Martha

When it comes to tidying the house, I’m a total Mary. I can live in clutter for quite some time. A gift? Hardly. It’s a horrible habit, and one that I’ve lived with since I was a teenager. I remember leaving my stuff around the family room for days and my mom would ask me to pick it up, but I wouldn’t. It’s not that I was trying to be a bratty 16 year old or flagrantly disobedient, I just didn’t make time for it, I had other things to do besides clean. When my mom couldn’t stand it anymore, she would shove everything in a black plastic bag and hide it. That was always scary and helped ignite action, but I still tend to have what my mom lovingly refers to as “dropsie.”

I’ve really tried to get better and over my case of the “dropsies,” but it is honestly hard for me. If I have a few spare moments, I never think to myself, “This would be an excellent time to clean out the shoe basket, vacuum and do a few dishes.” No, I feel the need to work on a project on the computer, take a shower or anything else (blog).

I want to turn a new leaf though. This spring. Right now. We live in a small enough space so that I can change my habits on a small scale. I’ve enlisted the help of Pinterest and found some great cleaning/chore sheets. I need to personalize them, but at least I know what I need to do daily, weekly, monthly and yearly. I want to be an organized, clean housekeeper. I'll never be a "neat freak," that's not in me and not healthy, but now is the time. One husband, one child, one small apartment, 100% doable.

(Just so you know, I’m not a total slob. I clean and declutter, I just need to do it on a more regular basis. Life just feels better that way.)

Anyway, here’s to hoping I can pick up a little bit more of Martha’s personality.

Happy Cleaning!