Cleaning houses and Oprah
Posted on January 30, 2005
Filed Under Relocating
What timing. I’ve been Tivo’ing [Oprah](http://www.oprah.com) (yeah, I know Tivo hates when it’s used a verb, sorry) and I just watched [Friday's show](http://www.oprah.com/tows/pastshows/200411/tows_past_20041118.jhtml). The subject was, “How Clean is Your House?” and they had those British women from the [Lifetime show](http://lifetimetv.com/shows/clean/index.html). We just spent time attacking the clutter in our house, so how perfect was it to watch that show now?
They showed a very extreme case. Watch the video on Oprah’s site above if you didn’t see the show. I’ve always had challenges in this area. Nothing **AT ALL** like on the show. Not even close. But at the same time, every time the doorbell rings I panic a bit since I never feel that my house is clean enough. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being Martha Stewart (pre-jail, of course) and 10 being the woman on the Oprah show I’d say the worst it ever gets is a 5-6, and it’s probably a 3-4 on a daily basis. Now it’s about a 2 and it will stay that way until we sell it, even if we have to tie our children to their chairs (just kidding).
It was an interesting show, and Oprah was rather brutal with the woman, insisting that she get professional help. Yes, it was *that* bad. I saved the show so I can show my mother, “See, I’m not as bad as you think.” One thing that resonated with me is the perfectionist nature of the woman who left her house clean and put together but on the inside was a mess. She used to be a neat freak, but when her life fell apart so did her home. She had food in the kitchen that she hadn’t thrown out in years and they found more bacteria on her dining room table than in her toilet. Ewwwwww. Thank goodness she didn’t have children. It opened my eyes, though. Like the woman on the show, I am the type of person that if I can’t do something well I’ll go to the other extreme and not do it at all. When my house is messy it’s not that enjoy living that way. Quite the opposite, I *love* when my house is clean. My whole mood brightens and I feel at peace. But with me it’s a mixture of being very busy and very lazy. I’m constantly fighting against my tendency to procrastinate. I know that when it’s a priority to keep my house clean and organized, I’ll do it.
I took some pictures yesterday to share with our realtor (and my mother, to show her our progress in getting it “sell ready”). Why not share them here, I figure the world will have access to the interior of my home soon enough.
A huge selling point of our home is the storage space. Starting with the pantry:
This is the master bedroom closet:
One side of the kitchen:
And the other, leading to the pantry:
Living room:
Family room:
Emily’s room:
Upstairs bathroom:
I regret that the house never felt “finished” to me. There’s that perfectionist in me. If I didn’t see or couldn’t afford the window treatment that was just right, I left the windows bare. I always thought I had time for those decorative touches, and the time never came. I’m told the simplicity and neutrality of my minimalist decorating style will hopefully make the house easier to sell than if I had painted walls dark colors. We’ll see.
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Is there any chance you have a video copy of the Oprah show, May 9th, 2005. I’m interested in the dog whisperer segment in high resolution. Please let me know urgently, I can pay you for your time. Sincerely Michelle Day.
I wish you had asked me yesterday…I Tivo Oprah everyday but I only save one episode. So today’s show (May 10th) overwrote yesterday’s (May 9th). Good luck finding the one you want.