Domestic goddess

Image reblogged form Get Organised Wizard

I am not a domestic goddess, let me clarify it at once. I score extremely low on the cooking side, despite my Italian background (one of the most difficult questions for me to answer, whenever I visit my relatives in Italy,  is 'what do you cook?' - not 'what do you eat', please note the difference).
But it seems I also score badly on the domestic cleansing department, as a recent, very tactless, visitor remarked. I was really stung by his words, I am a super clean person, I shower twice a day and constantly have my washing machine on. But dusting and wiping? No, I do not do much of that, I have to admit it. Nor will I have a cleaner. No one but me can touch my stuff.
Well, no more dirt. I have gone into a cleaning and decluttering mode in full gear. I took a good look at my home and realised that the kitchen was my number one priority as well as the bathroom. I declared war on  the mould that gathers on sealants and decided to scrub the back of my cooker and the sides of the cupboards. I  began daily trips to my local hardware store to stock up on heavy duty HG cleaners and rubber gloves. I had very interesting conversations with the shop owner, for example, I asked for a good duster and he told me it was a waste of money, it's more hygienic to vacuum. Please note that the guy sells dusters!
I must have breathed fumes  because for the whole of last week I coughed and spat (into the loo) whilst I sprayed the unsightly mould, at least a dozen times, all my windows open  - and it has finally gone, with a lot of elbow grease, even though HG claims that the mould goes effortlessly.

I even set my alarm clock for six everyday to begin cleaning in earnest, taking suitable breaks to sleek - more about sleeking in another post , but let it be noted that I am a devotee.
Then I began clearing cupboards, officially shifting into decluttering mode. Over the past week I must have filled dozens of heavy duty bin bags, making regular trips to my local recycling centre (and Marie Curie shop for clothes)  - I had a lot of  broken small household electrical equipment, I just could not believe it, basically one cupboard was full of broken stuff and I do not know why I kept it! But it is not over , oh no. There are three filing cabinets to clear, several book shelves (I will not part with books, but there are things I can chuck into the bin , like magazines and old conference papers, I mean, whoever reads them after the conference is over? I have things from the 1990s) and my video collection.
Yes, I still have videos, even though I forked out nearly a hundred quid for a video capture programme - the problem is, when will I ever have the time to go through the recordings  and actually capture the stuff? I have to choose the ones I really want to keep and transfer  and chuck the rest out.
I have just got rid of my entire audiocassette collection - I do not even have a machine to play the darned things on, not anymore! So why keep them?

Alex B. Photo: C. Barrey

People say that decluttering is very liberating.  Don't know about that yet but it is definitely educational. Whilst cleaning and decluttering I have listened to audiobooks and entire operas - I have truly enjoyed  Carmen by Bizet , several versions, with Callas' rendition still my favourite.  As I was scrubbing my kitchen floor I discovered the glorious music of Cilea, through his Adriana Lecouvreur. I enjoyed the latter so much, I will be getting a DVD of the Royal Opera House production  in 2010 just to see it in its full glory.
I am now taking a couple of days break from decluttering but I aim to start again by Friday. My last task will be professional carpet cleaning - by mid July. Someone will do it for me!
Somehow I feel that  decluttering  gives you tremendous energy and joie de vivre and I am curious to see how this release of energy is going to affect other areas of my life, if at all . And if the alleged emotional and spiritual benefits of decluttering are a mere trick concocted to get people to clean more,  I have to admit that  my living environment and my person cannot but benefit from this scrubbing. That will be enough of an achievement.