Clean my house from top to bottom

I got my cleaning ladies back – the one has recovered from her surgery, so I should be able to focus more on getting rid of clutter and leave the heavy cleaning to them. I’m just not a neat person, you know? I try. But it’s summer and I’d rather have my kids at the park, the beach, the pool, riding bikes, going on picnics than parked in front of the tv while I clean all the time. Excuses, excuses, I know. But this will let me focus on the gazillion loads of laundry I have to do, getting rid of old toys and wading through all the old magazines and paperwork. It’s stupid, but having cleaning ladies makes me feel like a failure.

I received a large, pretty wicker basket as a gift many years ago and had been using it as a toybox in the family room. At first it was pretty and useful, but as time went on the toys became so numerous that they were piled to the top of the basket and spilled out onto the floor until the whole corner of the room was one big mess of toys. We got a new couch for the family room this week and before the delivery people came the kids and I moved all the toys downstairs and to their bedrooms. The family room looks great now, and we won’t be storing toys in it any longer.

Part of the problem is that I have a big house, and it’s a big job to clean it. I had a cleaning lady who quit, which my sister thinks is hilarious. It was because she had to have back surgery, but my sister still gives me a hard time about it. The thing is, even when I had the cleaning lady, no one noticed that the house was clean because of all the clutter. I mean, no one saw past the books piled on the end tables to notice the gleaming floor.

But I’ll take it in pieces. Start small. For this week I want to clean the laundry room and the four bathrooms. Completely clean and decluttered.