For quite a while I believed my ex-wife was a hoarder and a generally messy person. I probably was right - at least from my point of view. Usually dirty dishes left on the counter, sweeping and washing rarely done.
See, I think of myself as a sub-par housekeeper in large part because of my ex's view. But dirty dishes are never left out (my boys might leave a rinse plate or cup by the sink). Laundry has always been done weekly (and in between if needed). Our floors in our old house needed a lot of sweeping as they were wood and the usually-open french doors to the back porch/yard meant a lot of traipsing in and out by the dog and cat and kids. We also lived on a canyon so a fair amount of dust would blow in. But from those home movies, I was keeping up with the sweeping and dusting pretty well. It almost looks like one of those photos in Apartment Therapy, minus the plants (I'm terrible with houseplants. Oops - that reminds me - it's after the first of the month, time for the once monthly watering of my snake plant, which is delightfully tolerant of neglect.)
My current house is definitely in need of some serious decluttering, but it's almost all my fault. My unfinished reupholstery project is still sitting in the middle of the family room (my weekend project, all I need to do to finish it is sew the new seat cover and staple if all back up with the staple gun.) I need to put away all the video tapes from my digitizing project (and start on the audiotapes I have). The usual weekend chores of mopping the kitchen floor, cleaning the guest bath (CMM keeps ours spotless and the boys do their own bathroom), and vacuuming/dusting. I'll also start putting out Xmas decorations, although I will probably wait another week to get a tree, as I don't want it to be dangerously dried out by Xmas.
The project I'd like to tackle next is my walk-in closet but I might wait until after Xmas for that, when I have the whole week off. I'd like to set up one of the drum kits downstairs in the living room with the new mutes that Santa is bringing me so I can practice without waking my sleeping son upstairs. That will free up a lot of space in the walk-in closet, and if I ruthlessly purge my clothes, I could turn it into a much better organized and accessible space. My biggest vice is not getting rid of clothes that no longer fit, in the hopes of losing weight and fitting back into them. But I'm in a mood to be ruthless right now. I can always buy cute new clothes if (when!) I get skinnier, right?
(Btw no one really uses the living room where I plan to put the drums. It's like our formal living room and nobody sits there except at holidays. The dining table at the end of the large room only gets used for Dungeons and Dragon games, which are on hold due to the pandemic. My vibraphone already lives there. I've even thought of one day moving the furniture from it altogether and just letting it be a music room. )
