By the title alone you have to be saying to yourself, “Well, yeah, of course you’re a she.” But if you look a little further, and maybe you already have, you’ll notice that it’s not actually the word ‘she’. It’s an acronym from a book I read recently (actually my mom introduced me to the book years ago, but I never actually read it). The book is called Sidetracked Home Executives, hence the acronym S.H.E.
For those of you who don’t know, I didn’t exactly grow up in a house that was clean. Some might even say, at times, it was down right nasty. Now, not to gross you out or anything, but to give you an idea of just how bad it was, I was always the one stuck cleaning the kitchen most of the time. When it was time to “clean” the kitchen, every dish we owned is dirty (and I mean that in the most literal sense). There was mold in many of the dishes and sometimes I even got the lovely pleasure of having maggots in them. (Did you’re nose scrunch up yet? I know mine is as I sit here typing this.) So needless to say, me and housework hasn’t always been an easy thing for me. Fortunately, I’ve never once let my house get to that point in any way shape or form.
The one area I struggle with is being able to keep my house spotless, or at least close to spotless. I can have piles of paperwork here and there. Sink filled with dishes. The carpet needing to be vacuumed. You know, a messy house but not nasty.
Several years ago my mom did show me the 3×5 cards system that the Sidetracked Home Executives book teaches about. I’ve tried it about 2 or 3 times in the past but it never quite stuck. It seems like there’s always something more important to do than do a thorough cleaning job in my house. I know that may sound bad, but it’s the truth.
So about a month ago I decided to pull out my 3×5 card box from the last time I’d done this system. It was in DeKalb when Mari was alive.
Here is the calendar I had taped to the top of the inside lid for me to use. As you can see, it’s 2006 and I’d stopped in September of that year.
Here is an example of one of the cards I had back then:
Here is the stack of cards I’m no longer using as most of them either got changed completely, or, unfortunately, they were about Mari and can no longer be use. ☹
I redid my system… again. I love using the neon cards as they’re more vibrant to me. I’ve tried very hard to stick with it and I did good that first week or so. Then I started to get, I guess, complacent about it and began forgetting to use them… again. Like today, I’m sorry to admit, but I haven’t touched the 3×5 card box since last Saturday. (I know, so sad. lol). Oh well. All I can do is to continue trying. I truly feel that over time I’ll either be in the habit of doing everything and won’t need the cards anymore OR I continue to use them until that habit is formed.
The one thing I will say is that I have continued to check every night to make sure all the dishes from the living room and anywhere else in the house are picked up and put in the dishwasher. I hand wash any dishes that need it. If the dishwasher is full, I start it and the next morning I make sure to empty it. For me, that is huge. I hate doing the dishes out of all the chores I have to do, as you can imagine, because of my childhood. So I’m proud of myself to at least keep this part up. I know it makes Keith happy.
So what do you think? Are you a S.H.E. as well? And remember, men can be S.H.E.’s too. Just sayin’. ☺
I grew up with a hoarder. Our dishes were squeaky clean, but the counters were full of papers and empty cans and bottles and whatever. My sister cleans like a fiend. I’m domestically challenged. Clean enough to be healthy, dirty enough to be happy is what I strive for.
Mary,
I’m so the same way. It’s hard learning to overcome living with someone who was a major hoarder. Put it this way, my mom still had fabric and patterns for clothes that came from the 70s that she’d kept, thinking she’d make them someday. I love my mom, but she has a very hard time getting rid of things. I was actually the same way for along time. I’ve gotten much better over the years. We just went through our garage last weekend and we got rid of a ton of stuff. Time to move here again in the next few months (Alaska → Florida).