Friday Feature: Tidiness is Next to Cleanliness

I grew up in a spotless home which was, in large part, my mother's way of responding to growing up in a household populated by family members who didn't do such a great job of picking up after themselves. When she and my grandmother moved in with my grandmother's mother, it was in an era where men weren't necessarily expected to pick up after themselves -- something my mother's uncles took full advantage of. I never knew my great-grandmother and, by the time I knew my grandmother, she lived in a home that was both clean and tidy, but that wasn't the setting in which my mother's formative years were spent.

I, on the other hand, have never really minded a lived-in house -- except when company is coming. When it comes to home maintenance, I love to organize and decorate, but I don't really enjoy cooking and I'm more lax about cleaning than my husband would like. We also tend to be bothered by different things, which leads to us sharing the upkeep. He cleans more than I do and I tidy up more than he does. 

So, I was intrigued yesterday when I saw the headline, "My Grandma’s 30-Year-Old "House Rules" Taught Me How to Keep a Clean Home," and further intrigued when I saw the post was from apartment therapy.com, a site I enjoy. 

As it turned out, the mystery magnet was more about tidiness than cleaning, with most of the advice centering around the idea of not letting things get out of control in the first place. Not bad advice and, admittedly, easy to follow. 

I will say, though, that the last piece of advice was my favorite, and it's a piece of wisdom I keep trying to impart to my husband, with very limited success. What is it?

Well, I guess you'll need to read the piece to find out :-)