Deep-Cleans and Deep-Magic

Photo by Suna Valid on Unsplash

I am a procrastinator by nature. In professional terms this is called “deadline-driven.” In private terms this is called, “will do almost anything ahead of what they are probably meant to be doing, but in a productive way.” Of course as I’ve grown older I’ve learned how to hack the system a little. I rearrange what I have to do in such a way that there is a perpetual list of important tasks taking turns in the spotlight: maybe one will bow out, but another equally important item is ready to take its place. With a bit of luck and a good podcast, they all get accomplished eventually.

And I can - I really can - set aside procrastination and get the job done when I need to. In these instances, I often plan a little reward for myself afterward. (Yes, we should probably all raise an eyebrow at a woman in her thirties planning a little reward for merely getting the job done…but it works, I tell ya. I deliver on my word.)

To know me is to know that autumn is my favorite season of all. The colors, scents, temperatures, clothing items, seasonal foods, and even the motifs of woodland creatures, warm things, and nature oddities delight me. The feeling evoked by all this is where I am most at home: cozy, abundant, cuddly, adventuresome, hungry, happy, notably-absent-from-sweating. Autumn is full of deep magic, and it enchants me. In the long tradition of women in my family, I like to decorate my home for the season. Not in a formal way, you understand. Just in a “move things about a bit to make room for pumpkins.”

To me, there is something beautifully innocent in the rhythm of dressing up your house for no other occasion than you love this time of year and you want to express it somehow. Sometimes it feels a little silly to me: there are no children in my house yet, it’s not like I’m having people over, and Andrew doesn’t really care either way. But then, I care. And that’s enough reason. I like having glass pumpkins on the mantel and a jar full of questionably-edible candy-corn (don’t hate) near the lamp, and a garland of polished wooden beads hanging across my fireplace. I like buying those teeny-tiny striped squash from Trader Joe’s to perch near the TV, and multicolored, dried corn, and a fresh cinnamon broom which - when its fragrance is long gone - will be repurposed as kindling at Christmas. And I always, always buy an apple cider candle from Anthropologie. They might be toxic but they’re excellent. I can’t imagine that burning a single mainstream candle will destroy me; give me this one joy. As the weather cools I drag in seedpods and dry, fluffy grasses from outdoors. I plot things like pumpkin bread and my first batch of intensely spicy ginger cookies. I buy a giant bag of apples to turn into apple sauce, and plan to use the next federal holiday we get off work as an Autumn Fieldtrip to the mountains. I admire how my cat’s tawny coat matches the season’s palette. I rediscover lost sweaters and my favorite socks.

So what does this autumn love have to do with procrastination? Only this: my house is in need of a good, solid, grungy deep-clean. And I have promised that I will get to decorate for fall in all its glory…after I accomplish one good, hefty cleaning spree. Nothing will ever make me excited for the act of deep-cleaning, but I am excited for fall. Put up enough barriers between me and my beloved seasonal clutter and I will knock. them. down. Make those barriers items from my to-do list, and I think we’re onto something.

When I say my house needs a deep clean, I don’t mean I live in squalor: obviously I clean it, frequently. But my house needs the cleaning that a grandmother would give it. My house needs the elbow grease and merciless spare time of the housewife era. My house needs that trick where Mary Poppins snaps her fingers and everything just…cleans itself. (Don’t tell me you haven’t tried snapping at the mess just in case, because I’ll be the first to admit that I have. More than once.)

The rules of my deep-clean spree are simple: I have drawn up a list of the less-obvious tasks that really need doing. Things like cleaning my Venetian blinds and wiping down every single cabinet face, washing the window tracks, and the back curtains. I tried to stick mainly with things that are downstairs chores (the upstairs will need to tempt me with another reward). The plan is to tackle a few of these chores each day before work this week, and hopefully have a well-scrubbed house within the week; at the end of this, I get to drag my box of autumn decorations from my shed, hex away any spiders that may have accumulated (I’m into fall, not SpOoKy things), and have at it.

Sound like a good plan? I hope so.

I’m writing this now from my deep, soft, cat-scratched chair looking around and wondering how I came to own so much stuff; there will be donation trips. I fully expect to hear numerous complaints from my knees while scrubbing baseboards. I know that I will lose steam with this project and that I clean faster when I’m talking on the phone, so I’ll probably beleaguer a sister’s ear at the midway point. Even writing about it is part of the Plan To Succeed - after all, I’ve told you about it now and I have to finish! By the time you read this, I will be up and about and contemplating pulled an Enchanted and enlisting some pigeons or rats to help.

But as much as I don’t love cleaning, I do love taking care of my home. I do love eliminating clutter and making our living space beautiful. I do love the sense of having cleaned. And I can’t wait to put up my silly, happy little decorations and sip a cup of chai, and make our first fire on a day that’s really still too hot. I’m happy autumn is really here. What a nice time we’re in for.

Love,

Rachel

P.S. We know I’m really grown because I’m interested to know: if you consider yourself someone who likes housecleaning, or at least stays well on top of the deep-cleaning, what is your secret? What system works for you? I’m genuinely interested to hear about people who have an affection for things I haven’t befriended!