It gets me down and I can't stop myself from feeling guilty all the time about not doing enough housework. So I've decided to work my way through this guilt I feel by actually doing something (about the housework). I won't afford a cleaner (so many I've had in the past have done nothing more than a lick and a promise - please promise me you'll never come back) which has led me to believe that I could do the housework myself. Well I know I can, but why do I not?? I procrastinate as though I were back at uni with an essay due in tomorrow morning with an extension of a few weeks (or months) Once I get started, of course there's no stopping me. Except for the desperate need for a cup of tea/coffee, a biscuit, morning tea, lunch, to go to the shop, to make a phone call.........
Why do I even feel guilty? I think it's simply because the bathroom needs cleaning and the floors need vacuuming and mopping and every time I move I sneeze. I'm not working at anything else either (except for writing my blogs which are new and quite an addiction at this stage) so I've quite literally run out of excuses. No more can I procrastinate and do other things instead of housework. As you must realise, I don't have the answers or any housework help at all, but I'm working my way through it!
I have received much advice over the years and here is some of it:
My mother: Do the whole house on one day a week - you feel so good when it's done - well I have no doubt about that but is it achievable for ME? Mum can never be disturbed on her housework day - it doesn't get changed for anyone or anything. I can't do that so we'd be back to the guilt again!
An aunt of my late husband (whom we visited on a Sunday afternoon while she was happily cleaning the lounge room): Do one room a day - then you never feel as though you are doing much at all really - sort of a good idea in theory, however once I get the vacuum cleaner going I don't like to stop (just in case I leave it sitting in the next room for a month or so) I like to keep going through the whole house. This of course gives me a great sense of achievement as well as an almighty backache.
A friend (a couple actually): Don't do housework because you waste water and those cleaning materials are bad for the environment. I agree to a certain extent but it's not what I'm looking for (although they have no guilt which is half my problem).
Compiling all this information so far leads me to conclude that what I need more than anything else (and I know it would work) is MOTIVATION. Now motivation doesn't come easy - to me it's overtaken by procrastination. How is it possible to be motivated about housework????? This is the question I will leave myself to ponder over the next day or two - when I get back home faced with a lot of things that need doing!
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