As Eminem says, "I'm cleaning out my closet"

Wooh! I'm still trying to recover from yesterday.  No, I did not go out partying or anything like that.  I did what I call my "end of summer cleaning."  As you know I had a house full of people over the summer, but now it's just me and my honey.

So, going back to my old clean freak routine, I turned on my TV to the Music on Demand channels and listened to music, while dancing around and cleaning.  Am I the only one who does this? A task like this one takes the whole day for me so I try to have fun while doing it.  To list a few of the things I did, I:

1) Washed the dogs: a huge chore.  The toughest part is getting them in the tub, but yesterday wasn't so bad.  Gideon (our Great Dane) just walked in the bathroom and stepped in the tub.  Wow, I was so surprised that it freaked me out.  It's usually a chore getting him in the tub.  He'll go sit on the couch or in his crate because he knows it's difficult for me to move him (he's 120lbs).  Usually after he's in the tub, he gives up and allows me to bathe him. Once Gid was "so fresh and so clean" it was Eliza's (pit-Dane mix) turn.
     
  Thankfully before I tried to scrub off every inch of dirt off her, my husband text me to remind me that she was spayed 3 days ago so she cannot be washed.  Crap, I was so mad.  I had planned on keeping them with me inside all day while I did chores and I wanted them to be clean.  That didn't change my plans too much.  I gave her a "sponge bath" and she was good to go.  Also, I cleaned both their ears with some homemade doggie ear cleaning solution.  They were both so good inside with me all day.  They did give me some funny and confused looks as I was singing and dancing around the house.

2) Laundry: yes, the dreadful laundry.  I think this is my least favorite chore.  I don't mind throwing some clothes in the washing machine and dryer, that's pretty simple.  I hate folding clothes and what I hate even more than doing that is packing them away.

The frustrations of socks being eaten by the dryer monster, me tripping over Eliza with the laundry basket and having to re-fold clothes, not having enough space to store all our clothes (our house does not have enough closet space).   It's a necessary evil and I'm glad it's all done.

3) Cleaning the house in general: now I don't mind doing this.  You name the chore, I likely did it: dusting, vacuuming, sweeping and mopping floors, cleaning the baseboards, changing bedding and curtains, cleaning bathrooms.  I started in the kitchen and worked my way to other areas in the house including, living room, bathrooms and 3 bedrooms.  Noticed I left out closets.

So, I have a confession: no matter how clean the entire house is, the closets in the bedrooms are usually atrocious.  I think that's partly because I can't stand seeing clutter and we have a lot of junk.  So, I stuff all that in the closets--"out of sight, out of mind."  When we move I hope our new house has better closet space and I plan to buy storage containers to help me organize better.  If you have any ideas about where I can find reasonably priced storage containers that are sturdy let me know.  Also, do you have any other organizing tips/ideas?

This is not my closet, I came across this on photobucket--pretty organized, huh?

I was glad to be done and although it took forever, I feel good because now the house is squeaky clean and I can relax.  Also, this will make it a little easier for future cleaning.  As I was cleaning I thought about how it would be even more difficult when we have children.  More laundry, dirtier more disorganized house.  I wonder how I will do it all and still have time to do simple things like feeding my family, making sure the kiddos are not getting into anything harmful, tending to my own personal hygiene.

Also, I'm a little type A personality (well, more than a little) so I like things organized and done a certain way.  I hear that all changes when we have kids.  How do I deal with that?  I picture myself running around crazy with matted hair.  I've heard people say that you shift focus and all those little things won't matter anymore.  Well, what if I'm different and they still matter? Then what?  What do mother's with type A, clean freak personalities like me do?

I have some friends who are done with training and are practicing full time who hire housekeepers.  Others hire nannies who do it all, take care of their children, clean house, make meals, do laundry, etc. My honey is a great help, when he is not on call (he was on call yesterday) but we both will likely be working full time when we have kids.

Do I want to hire a nanny?  Right now, I don't think so.  First, I would feel bad, like I'm letting someone else take over my obligations.  I know I will be paying them but that would be so different from the values I was raised with.  I'm not completely writing it off or bashing it--I'm just considering whether this would be a good option for me.

Also, I am sort of private and that would be weird--someone doing my laundry...but I have undies in there.  LOL. I don't even let my mom do my laundry when she offers.  I guess I'll find out what works best for me when the time comes.  What about you--do you hire help?  Would you hire a nanny that does it all?  What do you do to make chores easier?  Mothers--how do you do it all?  What's your secret? 

Mrs. K