01.27.2003
9:38 a.m.
Bribery is fun!
My husband resorted to bribery yesterday to get me to clean the house. We were at the mall, shopping for some new work clothes for both of us. I found two pairs of pants and a shirt that I liked at the Limited, but I was sad that I would have to use my credit card to pay for them. So, we go up to the counter, and he says, "Okay, I'll make you a deal. If you promise to have the house clean by the time I come home this week, I'll buy these for you. BUT, if it's not clean, I'll dig out the receipt and make you pay me for them." I said, "What rooms would have to be clean?" He said, "The kitchen, living room and bedroom." I thought for a minute, and said, "Okay!"
Whoo hoo! I get $77 worth of new clothes, and all I have to do is clean the house!
I have an aversion to cleaning. I think part of it is that I can't find anything after I clean. I have a crappy short term memory, and can't remember where I've put things. If it's all sitting out, I can find things easily. Another theory is that growing up with an obsessively clean mother warped me.
My mom is a social worker. On the days she would do home visits, where she'd visit clients who lived in houses that stank of urine and had old newspapers and trash laying around everywhere, she'd come home and immediately make us start cleaning. We'd have to clean our rooms, or the bathroom, or the living room, or the whole house. She was SO determined not to let our house look anything like her clients' houses. I think this caused me, when I moved out on my own, to finally say, "Alright! No more cleaning all the time! It's MY house, and I can be messy if I want to be!"
Unfortunately, this is not really the truth. My husband is way too tidy for that. So, I'm a slob to the point when I can't take it anymore, then I clean.
I think I can deal with cleaning three rooms this week. I'll do my darndest!
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