Expect Imperfection
Perfectionism can be paralyzing, just as a willingness to embrace imperfection can be liberating. Cleaning is always a work in progress because life is messy — the more people and animals that share a space, the messier it becomes. One of the best ways to adapt yourself to this reality is to expect that you probably won't be able to achieve constant perfection on every front all the time.
Once you've been able to relax into this reality, you'll be better able to develop cleaning systems that will be adaptable to a variety of circumstances. You might want to think in terms of developing weekly (or even daily) rituals. You could either plan to run a load of laundry each day (if your situation warrants that) or you could plan to devote a day each week to the laundry.
The FlyLady recommends that certain tasks be delegated to specific days — for example, you could plan to pay bills on Friday, do laundry on Saturday, and reserve vacuuming for Monday. This type of system can keep you from feeling overwhelmed, because you simply focus on the task that you've planned to do on a single day instead of feeling swamped by undone tasks and worrying about how to manage them all.
This kind of system might also allow you to keep your home more consistently clean because you'll be rotating through the major weekly tasks instead of procrastinating for weeks on end on the projects that you find least desirable.
Mahatma Gandhi was able to embrace his weakness along with his strengths. He wrote, “My imperfections and failures are as much a blessing from God as my successes and my talents and I lay them both at his feet.”
Whatever kind of cleaning system you adopt, allow for flexibility. Allow yourself to fail without becoming overly critical. Most people were never really taught to clean well — this is a skill that can be learned with time, patience, and persistence.
Different phases of your life will place different demands on you, and sometimes you'll find yourself in a messier home. Just be realistic about what is possible within the confines of your own life, pace yourself, and continue to take steps toward your goals. Know that you'll surely hit obstacles along the way, but if you're not too daunted by imperfection, you'll be able to overcome them.
A professional house cleaner offered this advice to Victoria Moran about cleaning: “You have to pretend you're cleaning someone else's house,” she said. “Stack anything that hasn't been picked up. Don't read the magazine, answer the letter, or play with the Frisbee. Just stack the stuff and clean.” She also said that the key to efficient housekeeping is to do the job “quickly, imperfectly, and without emotional investment.”
