Argh! Saturday arrives AGAIN! It’s painfully regular and seems to return immediately after leaving. If Saturday mornings for you involve sleeping in, some elaborate breakfast other than the quickie, out the door portable one you usually have weekdays, then GOOD. FOR. YOU!
Saturday’s in my house we clean. 😒
All week long it takes a Herculean effort to stay on top of the havoc we reek on this ol’house while still getting weekday jobs done and Saturday mornings reflect our failure in the massive accumulations we find. As I sit in my arm chair and enjoy the beautiful farmhouse views from my window, giving my coffee time to lure me back to life again, I tend to look around the house at colossal loads of mess requiring clean-up, thinking to myself, “How can I get out of this?” But to ignore means to readdress the issue tomorrow and I know Sunday is no relaxation day amidst mess, and Monday is unproductive while having to beat back last weeks remnants. So I sigh in submission and pull from my Mary Poppins carpet bag the tools that suck me from my chair into cleaning queen.
Call in a friend……
Misery loves company and it really makes a nasty job fly by when you have someone to share it with. I like to recruit a friend and share the job in exchange for dinner out together later that night on me, or sometimes in exchange for my labor over at their place next. A sister, neighbor, mother or mother-in-law could be a nice accomplice as well, but for me it’s usually a niece or a fellow mom-friend.
Positive Reinforcement
I need a deadline; a light at the end of my tunnel to push me forward into Saturday’s cleaning, so setting a timer is so helpful for me. I work well under pressure, with clear deadlines and a goal post, so from nine A.M to noon it is and the kids always scooch ahead of me with the tidy and pick-up while I cover the actual cleaning behind them. These are really two completely separate jobs and very difficult to do in one clip without help or burn-out.
Next, having a reward at the end to motivate you through the clean and commend you at the close of it is the cherry on top of my victory over the Saturday setback. Dinner out with a friend, shopping with my teenage daughter or sometimes a visit over tea with a fellow mom-friend are common ways I reward myself for sticking to the job over running away and playing hooky. Not to underestimate the sheer value in sitting back in a clean and orderly home when your finished, taking the time to enjoy my work is priceless.
Things that DON’T Help me but hold me back are…..
A lot of people I know say, “Put on a podcast,” or “Pray as you work.” Neither has ever helped me even if it DID work for me. I do love podcasts, and music but they are distracting. I’m ALL-IN neither and the division of focus just makes the job longer for me. The most I can do as far as prayer as that can never set you back but only speed you forward, like St. Isidore with his angels when he took the time to attend daily Mass before his work, is to dedicate my submission and loyalty to the painful work as a gift to God in restitution for my faults and offenses in hopes of it producing a smile from Him instead of a smirk and eye-roll which I’m sure I invoke that more often than the smile. But both podcasts and prayer DURING the task send me off in thought rather than focus on the present job and I’ve noticed myself wiping the same spot over and over while deep in thought over something not to mention I have kids who help me along the clean so I really need to tune-in versus out and communicate with them along the way. My teens try to out in earbuds to get them moving and I don’t allow it. Nothing peeves me more than calling them repeatedly while right in front of me, meanwhile they just jiggy along jamming out to some song heeding not a word I say. So I’m a pick one and be present, all-in kinda worker.
These two simple things really help me stay on track and jump over Saturday morning setbacks. Try them and see how they effect yours. Or maybe you have another suggestion that works for you; I’d love to hear about it in the comment section. I don’t use Facebook or social media platforms so I really enjoy the connection with my readers. Happy Saturday!
Her House 