Classification Essay #2

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, devoted to school, work, getting lunches packed, dinner ready and before I know it Saturday has arrived. As I sit listening to the morning news, having a cup of coffee, and reading the local weekend newspaper, it hits me. Just because it is Saturday there is no time to rest, the house has been neglected from being on the go all week long. Dusting, vacuuming, laundry, all those wonderful household chores, I think to myself what can I put off for another week, for a month and what could I put off forever?

For the obsessive-compulsive side of me I feel as though no household chore can go undone. Dishes need to be done every day, maybe even multiple times a day, vacuuming and laundry is on the list for every week, as is dusting and cleaning the bathroom. Now, I do realize that people aren’t going to think I live like a pig just because there might be a glass, a fork, and a plate in the sink, or a piece of lint on the floor, or having a towel in the laundry basket, but to me its like looking at a sink full of dishes or a mound of dirt on the floor. It’s like a girl who is a size 2 looking in the mirror and seeing a girl who is a size 12. After looking down through the household chores I have decided dishes will stay on the every day to do list. Laundry will always be every week. What if I need that favorite top to wear with those shoes? Vacuuming could be put off for another week. There are only two of us living in this house so the floors really aren’t that bad, plus we rarely have company anyways. But the cleaning of the bathroom will stay on the every week list. Do you even realize how many germs are in a bathroom?!

Since there are no children, no pets, and I have baseboard heat the dust particles don’t accumulate too quickly in the house. People have told me for years that I worry about the small stuff in life. No one is going to come over to the house with a white glove and run it along the top frame of the door just to see if I forgot to wipe that when I dusted. I blame my freakish-behavior on not wanting to get sick from germs, not from being obsessive-compulsive. Do you know that most dust-particles are made from dead skin? YUCK! As I take a gander throughout the house and since I just dusted last week, I don’t think a few more weeks will hurt if I move that down the list of things to do. But of course, it will be checked weekly just to make sure it isn’t getting out of control. If so, out comes the rag and polish!

After contemplating about what I could put off for household chores forever I have come to the realization that it’s impossible. I can’t get away with not dusting or vacuuming or cleaning the floors or bathroom. Just think of the dust, mud, grime, mildew, and germs that would accumulate from not cleaning. Laundry is certainly a must. I can’t afford to wear a new outfit everyday. The only way I can figure that I can get away with not doing another household chore for the rest of my life is by playing the lottery and winning the millions in order to hire a maid.

I wish that my obsessive-compulsive behavior would allow me not to be concerned with every dust particle that may be lying under every piece of furniture I own but I also don’t want to be classified as living in a pig sty. I realize that this is going to take years to overcome, but now that I have distinguished what I might be able to put off for a week, a month, or forever. I realize that my friends and family aren’t going to judge me for the way the house is or isn’t in order. I feel as though a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. So for all the women and men out there who feel like me with the household chores looming over their heads; put away those mops, dust rags, and brooms and get out there and enjoy life. Life is so short you have to take it all in while you still can otherwise before you know it; it will be over.