Diane at Still the Lucky Few just posted How to Stop Doing Housework—and Start Living. I have to admit, I’ve never let housework get in way of my life.
Her post reminded me of a glorious weekend in Ithaca, New York over 50 years ago. When we first arrived at Cornell we were warned that Ithaca was one of the places in the U.S. that had the least amount of sunshine. They were right, the weather mostly sucked — long grey winters and hot, humid summers. But there were a couple of weeks in the fall when the weather and scenery were spectacular.
So there I was that weekend in a small apartment that desperately needed uncluttering and beautiful weather outside. A no-brainer — I went for a walk and started mentally writing this piece:
To do or not to do, that is the question.
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The pangs of conscience and an unkept house,
Or to take a broom against the sea of clutter,
And by opposing end it? To dust, to sweep.
And if by sweeping we could end those thousand
Bits of lint that homes are heir to,
‘Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished.
To dust. to sweep, to scrub—
Perchance to scrub again. Aye, there’s the rub.
For when our backs are turned what kids may come
To renew once more our endless toil?
There’s the respect that makes calamity of such a life.
For who would bear the sight of such disorder:
The litter strewn about the floor,
The unemptied garbage, the unmade beds,
The piles of laundry in the corner, and
All those countless dishes that make a hell of home,
When she might her own heaven make
For a few hours’ work?
Who would risk the pains of gossip,
To be torn apart by neighbors’ tongues?
But for the curse that all wives face,
That every task today completed returns again
To haunt tomorrow, poisons the will, and
Makes us rather use that time we have
Than waste it all on efforts futile.
Thus foresight doth make laggards of us all,
And the native healthy hue of resolution
Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought.
And so, valiant woman of zest and zeal,
With this foreglance her spirit wanes.
And lost forever is her will.
Colette wrote,
What a wonderful life I’ve had! I only wish I’d realized it sooner.
That has seldom been my problem.
LOL!!!
I love it. your own version of Shakespeare!
I grew up with a Saturday schedule of ‘cleaning.’
but more I think to teach me how to work and to be thorough.
my mother was not a cleaning freak. she loved LIFE too much!
I hated ironing the most. and today I never iron! lol.
and yet I always loved ironing Bob’s shirts. go figure.
and we always lived minimally.
that is probably the great joy and secret of minimalism.
there is not that much to get dirty!
let life’s adventures begin! XOXO
I have a lot more stuff than you do, but the advantage of an apartment is we can’t accumulate too much and there isn’t that much to clean when the spirit strikes. 😀
Oh, I’m glad you made the right choice to write this rather than clean. , For numerous years I’ve not let cleaning interfere with my way of life. Now, if I could only get off square one and move more rapidly with downsizing. Did Shakespeare say anything about that you can paraphrase?
😀 Not that I know of, but tammy is a minimalist, so maybe she has some good quotes even if they’re not Shakespeare.
Love your words!
Yesterday I ignored overwhelming mess in the house and went outside and enjoyed my little pool.
Other times I’ll escape outside to garden.
But if I’m inside, it’s too much to ignore and I find myself getting nothing done.
No cleaning and no creating.
I’ll never be a true minimalist but I definitely need to come close to it so that I can stop my procrastination.
I’m very good at tuning things out when I get involved in a project, then I unclutter when there is a lull. If I can’t find something then I seriously do some organizing, but on the whole it works fine.
Wow! I am impressed with your creativity.
I copy/paste my comments on STLF blog post.
Let me admit that I am a neatness freak perhaps more so than your average American housewife. A martinet father had instilled that in me from childhood and I can no more leave my bed undone with a counterpane over it than I can jump over the moon. My room is tidy, spotless and well lived in. The common space that I share with the rest of the family is not so and the less said the better about the rest of the rooms at home. I try and bring some sense of neatness to the garden thanks to a professional gardener who comes daily.
I think that I am typical for most Indian homes. One or two neatos, common space somewhat slapdash and the rest just chaos. We live and let live and don’t blow gaskets if there is some amount of untidiness around.
As long as you have your own neat place, that should help a lot.
A wonderful version of Hamlet’s soliloquy! Jenny and I do the absolute minimum of housework. As long as the place is reasonably presentable, that’s enough for us. We’re usually spurred into frantic activity when visitors are due. The rest of the time we sit outside enjoying the sunshine and vowing to do some housework the next day – or the one after or the one after that.
Work is precious, save some for tomorrow, or the next day, or…
I think I inherited the “only essential housework model” as I remember my sister telling me that she loathed it as well…
I kind of “wipe over things” occasionally I will look at some piles – throw out anything, and then neatly restack them 🙂
I remember Rebecca property manager last time saying that another PM had suggested that tenants be told to “tidy up” but R said that she didn’t think that was their authority to do that…I pointed out that my “mess was in relationship to art…”
btw I still can’t get Still the Lucky Few – website to work…I actually have unsubscribed – all I can see are the pictures, and the template stuff like Reply…