Giving Myself Permission

One of a million things I learned from my parents is how to clean a bathroom.  I mean really clean a bathroom.  Up to and including washing the shower curtain, bath mats,  and towels, scrubbing every surface of the toilet, sink, mirror, cabinets, cabinet handles, over-sink-light bulbs, and wiping down the door (both sides, of course).  Vacuuming and mopping the floor goes without saying.  Part of my cleaning indoctrination included the principle of "Don't do a partial job.  If you're going to clean some of it, go ahead and clean all of it."

With a regular shower/tub combo kind of bathroom (not that separate shower stall/jacuzzi tub craziness some of you have), it takes me about an hour to clean a bathroom.  And that's if I'm moving efficiently.

Recently James has been showing an interest in potty training.  He's been sitting on the potty some and has even pee-peed there a few times.  Pretty darn excited about that fact, actually.  (Him, Me, Scott...all of us are excited.)  Putting my son's delicate little heiney on my toilet that was in desperate need of cleaning certainly changed how I felt about the dirty toilet.  Dirty, in this case, shall be defined by, but not limited to, a pinkish-orangey color at and below the water line in the toilet bowl.  Ew ew ew.  Not that James is touching THAT part of the toilet, but still.  (well hopefully not)  I decided I needed to take care of that nasty toilet today during nap time.  Except I didn't want to spend an hour + cleaning my bathroom.

So, today, August 22, 2013, at the age of 35, I gave myself permission to SPOT CLEAN my bathroom.  I cleaned the grungy potty:

and the grungy sink:

and now they are both sparkly clean. (after photos only, before photos would have cost me all 10 of my blog readers...)

This is a big deal people.  If I could truly get a handle on doing small cleaning things routinely instead of every six months deep cleaning for hours, I might actually have a CLEAN HOME.  On a somewhat regular basis.

If you already grasp this concept, bravo to you.  Please invite me over so I can pat you on the back appropriately for your efforts!  If you are still struggling with this idea, "Well I don't have time to clean everything I want to, so I might as well clean nothing..." as I do, hang in there.  Give yourself permission to spot clean.  It's okay.

YOU CAN DO IT. *patpat