Weekend Cleanup

I had decided earlier this week that I would devote this weekend – or at least, put aside time – to cleaning. But when the weekend finally did come… I woke up and had no motivation to clean. I think, though, that once you start, you can’t stop – at least that’s how it is for me. I find an odd joy in cleaning. It’s like I’m waging war on germs and dirt and somehow I can trick myself into thinking I win.

Human beings are pretty disgusting though. As I was cleaning my room I was incredibly grossed out by how much hair was on the ground (I know, that’s really gross… but it had to be said.) It could have covered a small animal. I bet if you cut the long hairs shorter it could have been an entire hamster. THAT. IS. GROSS. I’m getting goosebumps just thinking about it. And if you really think about it, cleaning is sort of pointless too, because everything is just going to get dirty again. It’s really just an endless cycle – a confusing cycle – because you are a dirty person trying to make something clean and the moment you step over your freshly swept floors, doesn’t that make it dirty again? Unless your body is currently clean, but wouldn’t the act of cleaning make it dirty? And for the things that are sitting on the floor, if you move them out of the way to clean the floor, once you put them back isn’t the dirt that was on the bottom just going to get on the floor again? And then I normally use paper towels to clean, but that’s pretty wasteful because I have to throw the paper towels away, but if you use a rag and gloves, doesn’t that mean the rag itself will be dirty? Unless you wash the rag later but then your sink will get dirty again, and what do you clean the sink with then. Thinking about my feet is the worst… cleaning the ground means the ground was dirty and so my feet are dirty but I’m stepping on the ground again…

I think too much. I have a tendency to do that, and all these thoughts drive me crazy… But. Armed with Swiffer (my roommate has the fancy Swiffer jet kind! But I bought the regular wet pads and dry pads because I didn’t know so I didn’t get to use the fancy spray button) and broom, I believe I did the best I could and despite all the many thoughts about how paradoxical cleaning was, it does feel better to be living in a clean space.

THINGS I LEARNED WHILE CLEANING
1. Decide on a logical pathway. As I was cleaning the hallway I realized I was stepping on the mopped part to mop further… which just made my feet wet. I do not like wet feet.
2. Know your tools. I think next time I will try to buy the actual Swiffer jet pads so I can use the cool button! It sprays water! That’s cool!
3. Throw out the trash. Right now my trash can is full of the dirt and hair that got picked up… I just cleaned it up and I don’t want it sitting in my apartment anymore. So I will throw that out as soon as possible.
4. If you’re going to clean, do it all the way. I even cleaned the top of the refrigerator. Why, I don’t know – but hey, if I stand on a chair and look at the top at least I’ll know it’s clean!
5. When all else fails – just remember that sooner or later I’ll have to clean again! Yay!

I think as a reward for myself I will go to the public library and go explore coffee shops. I mapped out all the New York coffee shops that were listed in the best coffee shop list that Alice sent me, and am going to do my best to try as many as I can! I know, I’m a huge geek and loser for mapping them all out… but that is just who I am. Stay tuned for more coffee adventures to come!