A friend posted on Facebook the other day that he didn't understand how other people who have full time jobs have time to go to the lake, visit friends, or have fun of any kind. He said that he and his wife spend the entire weekend from sunup to sundown cleaning the house, doing laundry, prepping food for the next week, working in the garden, doing yard work, etc.
I wrote out an answer, but didn't post it because I don't like to get into long discussions on Facebook. But here's my opinion: You figure out the things that are important to you, and that's what you do.
Of course, there are always things that have to be done -- housecleaning (to a certain extent), laundry, meals. I don't care if my house is spotless, and while I cook a "real" meal a couple of times a week, we're happy with sandwiches or leftovers, or picking up fast food, the rest of the time.
I'm sure Bob would love it if I would cook gourmet meals every night, but he understands that I need to do other things, like knit, read, sew, make jewelry. I'm happier, and he's happier as a result. I read a quote somewhere once that said, on their death bed, no one ever said, "I wish I had cleaned the house more."
If it's important to you to have a spotless house, more power to you. If it's important to you to serve a gourmet-quality meal every night, I'm not going to judge you. You can make your own salsa from vegetables you grow in the garden, and grind the wheat to make tortillas, and I'm sure they're amazing. But I'm going to feed Bob a ham sandwich, clean up the kitchen, and spend the two hours of free time I have before bedtime reading a book.
7 comments:
If they both have full time jobs - the facebook friend and his wife - then they could afford a cleaning woman to come in once a week - seems like that would solve a lot of their problems plus a neighborhood kid to mow their lawn - then they could go on vacation ocassionally and not be jealous of you!
Well, that doesn't necessarily follow. Both my husband and I have full time jobs, but I can't afford to hire someone to clean my house. I guess it just depends on what else you have going on.
Priorities. It's all about priorities. And those are different for every single one of us.
I agree completely. We do our housework a little at a time all week long so that our weekends are free for fun and relaxation, friends and family. Tonight, for instance, we might put in a few loads of laundry, vacuum and empty all wastebaskets. it only take a few minutes of our time every night, so even our weeknights are free to relax and have fun. It really is all about priorities!
Willa, I am *so* with you on that. Last week my hubby had a cardiac triple bypass. It really puts things into perspective. Somehow making sure the house is spotless and laundry is done just pales in comparison to spending time with my husband who was very fortunate to have found this in time before something worse happened. More power to the folks who want everything spotless or want to make their own bread, salsa, etc. That's great for them. For me, family time, reading, knitting, etc. are the things that are important to me.
Actually, where I live, it's inexpensive to hire a cleaning woman - only $50-$60 for 4 hours of work.
My husband and I are self employed and it seems we work almost every day at something or other that is work related but we do enjoy our down time and make sure we have it. The bathroom and kitchen are clean, dog/cat hairs relatively vacuumed, otherwise we would rather paint (him) and embroider (me) while listening to good music, or go out for ice cream or coffee, or pop over to Chipotle for lunch or dinner, or walk the dog, or read, and so on. Why work so hard? Life is short and we do indeed make time for the things that are important to us. Most people don't understand that simple concept.
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