Cascading downwards

I am stuck in one of those places where there is no good solution.

In our house, I am the slob. That does not mean I am a slob, but my threshold for dirt/messiness is somewhat higher than Rich's. Very seldom does the house make it to the point where I feel like cleaning. And frankly, I dislike cleaning. I don't mind putting things away as much (books on the bookshelf, clothes in the closet, cat toys away, etc.), because  everything looks so much neater when you're done, but the actual cleaning, which makes less of a visible difference, I hate. And I hate it twice as much when someone makes me do it when I don't think it's necessary. Rich will occasionally announce that we need to spend the next hour or so cleaning, which I never want to do. He likes to get everything done in one big push; I have more of a "5 minutes here, 10 minutes there" approach. Interspersed with rewards for myself, if I'm doing it all in one day.

Furthermore, I was raised by a woman whose philosophy was, "there are some things it's worth paying someone else to do, and cleaning is one of them." Hell, yeah.

Right now, he's stressed out about the upcoming fireman's test, and the house does get on his nerves when it's messy, so he asked me to help him stay on top of it for the next month. Which I totally understand.

So, now that my raise finally came through, I'm more than willing to get someone to come in and do the cleaning stuff every week or two weeks. Except, Rich hates the idea of a stranger coming in and cleaning. I think it sounds like the best thing ever. I wouldn't even mind being there while the person is cleaning, since he can get remarkably paranoid, though I wouldn't mind handing over a key to someone who came vouched for. But the main point is, he wants me (and himself) to do it, and I'd really prefer someone else to do it. Because I hate it, and frankly, when you force me to do something I hate, I do a freakin' half-assed job anyway. So if I pay someone, not only will I be happier, but it will get done better. But bringing someone in will just stress him out more, which is the last thing I want to do right now.

Sigh. I hate cleaning. This sucks.

I was so far behind on doing laundry, that I finally gave up and dropped it off at the laundromat for them to do. I'm regarding it as a special treat for myself. Plus, I can't fold fitted sheets to save my life, and there are three sets of sheets in there. So, yay.

Not having to do that enabled me to finally have time for the hand washing, which consists of items not really necessary for daily life, but nice to have (read: lingerie). Double yay (from me and Rich).

This has been brought to you by the Committee for Household Minutiae. We will now return to your regular programming.

Well, yesterday we finally got off our butts and did our spring cleaning. I have to admit, it did give me a nice sense of accomplishment for the day. Rich was really in the mood - he was even rearranging the kitchen cabinets and stuff.

I, on the other hand, was concentrating on getting the winter stuff out of my closet and the summer stuff in. I also managed to clean up the second bedroom enough so that someone could actually sleep in there with no notice (the bed was covered with miscellaneous stuff). At some point we need to get some kind of storage in there - the closet is slowly being taken over.

You know, it seems like an entire day off would leave you plenty of time to relax, and yet still get a lot accomplished.

Yet, inevitably, at the end of my day off, I have done absolutely nothing useful.

In my defense, yesterday was bitter cold, and there was no way I was humping laundry to the laundry room. That does not excuse the lack of cleaning, exercising, call-making, etc.