Housework vs. Priorities

Cartoon by John Wagner

I cannot remember when and where I found it, but I love this cartoon.  We identify with Maxine so many times!  Let's face it, there is only so much time in a day, a week, a month, etc. and unfortunately housework is present in all of those.   But like Maxine, it is not necessarily a priority all the time.  So when is it a priority?

It would be great to say never, but that would not be practical.  Housework needs to be assigned spots in our life just like everything else that is important or necessary.  Having clean clothes, clean floors and clean dishes are essential no matter how much we dislike taking care of them.  The trick is to find the right spot--the balance.  In all honesty, I hate housework.  There is not one part of it I enjoy or even like.  I would put it at the very bottom of every to-do list if I could.  Our culture has been designed, however, to require some household tasks be done on a regular basis. 

We could find anything and everything else to do with no time left for it unless our life is governed by priorities.  That takes resolve, commitment, self control and persistence.  None of those is easy or fun I will admit.  But they are essential. 

One place to begin is to make a list, on paper preferably, of the things in your life that are important.  Rank them in importance and be sure to put maintaining your home in the list even if it is at the bottom.  As you review your list, assign time in your day or week for each of those things. 

To get the housework done, you will need to break it down into its unique tasks and assign time for each of them.  Some will need to be done everyday and sometimes more than once such as loading the dishwasher or preparing a meal.  Some less often as in laundry and some rarely as in cleaning carpets.  For those who hire help in housekeeping, assigning tasks to those personnel is just as important.  If you make time in your schedule for the necessary chores, there is a greater chance of  accomplishment.  And when they are completed, there is a certain amount of satisfaction in seeing them done.

As a word of warning, do not put so many things in your schedule that there is no room for housework.  This is a form of procrastination that I will talk about later but it is a very easy trap for those who cannot say "no" to everything but housework.  Until then, work on that schedule.

It's Not Just About the Housework: It's Stress

If you stress about the amount of housework left for you to do, the housework you hate to do or the housework required of you, then you are putting your health at risk. It is generally known stress takes its tole on the human body. It is often the cause of high blood pressure, headaches, and fatigue, just to name a few of its maladies.

Think about it. If you eliminated all housework from your life, would that be a stress reliever for you? I think it would for most of us, myself included. There are just so many hours in a day, so many things to do and housework seems to be the one thing that never gets completely done. In fact, some household duties are ever present no matter how many times you tackle them: dirty dishes, laundry, and mail to be opened, sorted or filed, just to name a few. For mothers of babies you can include dirty diapers.

Is there an answer to eliminating this killer? No, unfortunately it cannot be eliminated for most of us but there are answers to make it more manageable.  Getting order in our time, our homes and lives in general is the foundation for making the changes that will get control of the problems with housework.

In future posts, I will share my thoughts from the experiences I have had, the knowledge I have learned, and the skills I have developed.  These have come through careers as a teacher and professional organizer and life as a wife, mother and grandmother. 

So you are not alone in this journey.  Be encouraged there is hope, there are answers and strategies to move forward.