I’m not a bad housekeeper. I keep the important things clean enough so that there isn’t really any visible crud to make us–or pop-in visitors–uncomfortable.

But, you know, the out-of-the-ordinary gets neglected. The things that are aside from the vacuuming, bathroom cleaning, kitchen scouring, living area dusting. So, twice a year, I do a Big Clean. The first one is typically before my son’s birthday in November–that way the house is clean for holiday guests and we’ve shifted crap around (and out) to make room for new crap that will be brought in for his birthday, Christmas and my daughter’s birthday (in January). The second Big Clean usually happens in the middle of summer right before someone visits from out of town. We clean not only for the guests. It’s not just so they don’t think we live in squalor. It’s to keep up with it all periodically so we don’t slip into squalor little bit by little bit. It’s to stay on top of the clutter and grime so we don’t get buried underneath it.

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