Everything I Learned about Housework, I Learned from Mrs. Norman

When you walk into Mrs. Norman’s house everything is spotless. Mrs. Norman was the mother of my very best friend, and in her house there was nothing out-of-place, and not a spot of clutter visible to the human eye.  It looked like a model home and not just once a week, but every single day.

As a girl my home was full of love and valuable lessons but less than stellar organization. Leaving my house to head to Mrs. Norman’s, meant walking into what seemed like a dream home.  Even then I felt drawn to order and efficiency (along with the great people who lived inside).

I spent most of my free time there from age 9-18.   Don’t get me wrong, the house was alive and bustling with three children and a fourth (me), along with anyone else from the church youth group who would wander in and out.  It was definitely a well used and a loving home.

But amidst all that bustling, there was a secret to the insane cleanliness. Are you ready?  Clean as you go.  I know this is not ground breaking, but to see it in action and how much it worked really does feel amazing.  It was just a given, after something was used, it returned to its home. And every item actually did have a home. You never left plates on the table, you never left toys on the floor, or clothes on the bed.

I don’t want it to sound like a horrible, rigid thing, but the expectations were followed and the clean up (or consequences) were predictable.  There was no question of if I would get reprimanded or not. Now that I have my own children, I know how much they thrive with the predictability that order (not chaos) brings.

I remember one of the first times I was there to witness my best friend doing her chores.  She had to clean the bathrooms and I wondered why she needed to clean bathrooms that didn’t seem dirty, (and they weren’t dirty). Then I remember how fast she cleaned them.  It was a quick wipe down and the disinfectant did all the work.

Totally different from the scene at our house where it seemed like I was on the floor scrubbing, Cinderella-style (childhood exaggeration of course).   We had chores every week too, but there wasn’t the daily, leave the bathroom looking nice mentality.  We got to the end of the week and the bathroom had already become a chaotic mess.

Of course now I realize there was a lot of behind the scenes work going on by Mrs. Norman herself, but she also established clear expectations.  As a young child, I absorbed the idea of clean as you go because I saw the benefits at work.

True, you might be saying, “That is great, but I can’t (and don’t want to) live like I am in a modal home.”  I agree and my home now looks anything but on most days. Still, these tips are ones that can make cleaning and organizing a home easier, and less of a dreaded and overwhelming task.

• Pick up after yourself, especially when you are moving on to a new task
• Do a bit each day– so when you do your big job you don’t have much to straighten/clean
• Put the dishes in the dishwasher immediately (I am still working on this one)
• If you have a cleaning day, follow a routine so you don’t get sidetracked onto other projects