I can barely believe it.

The whole housewife thing never came naturally. So when I posted about my new cleaning regime, I was really hoping it would work.

But in the back of my mind there was that old nag who seems to take up residence in my head, "You've tried this before. You do okay for a few weeks, then you get bored and forget about it. You'll always be a messy housewife."

See, that's just irritating to have running in your head. And anyways, the cleaning still has to get done at some point, but I'd like Matt to be comfortable bringing people home whenever he likes, without feeling embarrassed. [Him embarrassed. Me? I could care less. I know I work hard, you know I work hard - so you can deal with some dirty dishes and some clutter!]

But I'm trying hard. And I've only missed [completely] one day, which I caught up the next day. I did miss half the house on Friday [vacuuming] but the kids were sick and I wasn't going to vacuum after bedtime for fear I'd mess with their already-messed-up sleep. But I wasn't worried because the floors weren't that bad - because I'd been following the regime for 2 weeks. We're now into a 3rd week and it's still working!

The other perk - beside the whole "My house is clean" thing, is that I have time to put into reorganizing or special projects, because I'm not letting myself get overwhelmed by cleaning *everything* in one day.

A friend put it perfectly - "I hate cleaning because I feel like I have to clean everything in one day!"

That's exactly what was happening to me. I didn't clean, then I'd get the "urge" to clean, feel like I had to clean everything, get overwhelmed, and then ignore it again for a day or two and have to start the process

all over again.

It's working ladies! My life is a bit calmer, my house is definitely cleaner, and I am a little bit happier.

Who knew?