Discoveries While Deep Cleaning

The short version of the follow up to a previous post’s up-in-the-air-ness is this: We’re moving to Houston in the near future for Justin’s job. So…

We’re currently in the midst of getting our house ready to sell. One of the most obvious items on the to-do list is to “deep clean.” As our agent told us, “We want things to sparkle.” Of course.

What I’ve learned while deep cleaning my house is: how dirty my house was. Honestly, I’ve been astonished. How was I living in such filth without realizing it? Why didn’t I ever think to clean any of these nooks and crannies before? How come my friends continued to accept play date and dinner invitations to my home when it was in that condition?

I had begun with the wall murals. Crayons, markers (both washable and permanent), sidewalk chalk, pen, and lipstick had all been used by my little artists over the last two years since we moved here. I suppose because the additions were gradual, I gradually got used to them. We had originally been planning to do more extensive cosmetic upgrades to this house over the course of five years, not just two, so I had always assumed we would eventually prime and paint over the murals, and had never fretted about cleaning them up as they each appeared. This attitude backfired on me when I realized, last week, that pretty much every single wall in my house—not to mention lots of baseboards, doors and frames, and even the fireplace grate—had some kind of artistic or rebellious marking on it. Thank goodness for magic erasers! But what the heck? I have since packed away all the art supplies except one small cup of crayons that is kept out of children’s reach and will be used only under supervision until after we move.

As I was magic-erasing crayon marks, I noticed all the scuff marks and fingerprints on the doors and frames. So I cleaned those too. And the light switches. And the coffee table and end tables. And the bathtub. Etc.

Our agent came over to give us some pointers. She suggested wiping down the woodwork with Murphy oil soap, so I picked some up and started with a particularly questionable-looking doorframe. As I was following the line of the wood, I came to the kitchen cabinets, which are stained wood. I started wiping, and realized they were actually going to require scrubbing. I increased the concentration in my soap-and-water mixture and gave my poor little scrubbing muscles another workout. So many grimy hands (mine included—I’m guilty of barely rinsing my fingers or only wiping them on my apron before opening cabinets and drawers), so many oily and sticky recipes.

My goodness, the difference it made! The main living areas of the house have a brown-based color scheme, which I don’t love, but it would have been remodeled and painted eventually according to Plan A. At least, for Plan B, the wood is now a shade lighter and super shiny! (Cue the crab from Moana, amiright??) I hope someone will be able to envision herself cooking happily in my shiny wooden kitchen.

The same thing happened in the living room, where we have real wood paneling. (In a tasteful, fairly light shade, I must add.) I started out wiping down the upward-facing pieces of the accent trim, and quickly realized that the entire wall, especially near the ceiling, had a thin film of dust or just….age. So, I proceeded to wipe down every square inch of the living room walls. Up the step stool, down the step stool, swish and ring the rag, change the soapy water, switch hands for a minute because my back is a little tense on that side at that angle, wipe, wipe, wipe. And voila! Shiny walls.

One task I dragged my feet on was cleaning the French doors with slanted slats from top to bottom. Every individual slat would need to be dusted and then wiped. They were visibly gross. I’d never noticed them being gross before, but my eye had now become attuned to noticing the gross stuff that should be cleaned. *sigh* So I started with one of the attachments on the vacuum to get the loose dust layer, then began tediously wiping every slat, back and forth, both sides, both doors, four sets of doors.

While working, I was listening to this podcast. They were talking about having balance in your life: saying yes to the right things for yourself and your family, and saying no—even to objectively good things—when you need to. While working on the slatted doors in particular, the conversation turned to mom life with only very small children. Each of the women on the podcast has at least one kid already over the age of ten. They brought up moms of young kids beating themselves up for not having an immaculate home. “That other mom can do it, why can’t I?” They were so charitable in their response: Because you have small kids! Of course you don’t have a super clean and tidy house. Your children require so much time and attention just to literally keep them alive. Give yourself some grace.

OHHHHHHHHHH.

Right there in the bathroom, with a damp rag in my hand, my podcast friends answered my question. The reason I’ve never cleaned these nooks and crannies before is that I’ve been pretttty busy with three children aged five and under. I’d been feeling down on myself, like an exceptionally poor housekeeper—the feeling probably compounded by being tired of cleaning, too—but I got such a timely reminder that the core of my Vocation is taking care of the people who live in my house, who make it my home, not keeping dust out of the crevices of the house itself. I laughed out loud at how fitting their pep talk was for me in that moment! And I breathed a little sigh of relief.

Don’t get me wrong, I am totally thrilled with how clean everything is. I actually mopped all of the tiles in the house, and they have a pleasantly….soft?…..feel to them on my bare feet now. I love the shine to the wood, and the lack of murals on the walls. I don’t regret the time I’ve spent on the deep clean (and hopefully I’ll see a return-on-investment in the form of a quick sale of the house), but I no longer berate myself for not having deep cleaned the whole house before now, either. Still, I may try to implement a seasonal cleaning schedule for our new house after we move, so that all the tasks aren’t stacked on top of one another like this after two years. We’ll see. Life may get in the way again. I do have three small kids, who just tend to make stuff dirty, after all.

Tell me in the comments below: Who or what reminds you to give yourself grace when you need it?