domestic -
- of or pertaining to the home, the household, household affairs, or the family: domestic pleasures.
- devoted to home life or household affairs.
We all have a home to live in; be it an apartment, house, mobile home, condo or mansion. We all have to do some housework to maintain that home. I admit that I do clean the house on occasion, but rarely to the point of spotless shine that I’ve seen other houses. I was raised with the motto, “If you’ve come to see me, come on in; if you’ve come to see the house, make an appointment.” I’ve always lived in some form of disarray. From dishes left undone, the floor needing vacuuming, or god forbid the toilet needing a good brushing. For goodness sake I’m human and I won’t hold anyone up to a higher standard than I do myself. We all have different temperaments when it comes to housekeeping and home affairs. My best friend is always cleaning and has always done so. She’ll clean the kitchen counters before dinner is even finished being prepared; clean as you go it’s called. Yeah, I gave that a try once. It didn’t go over well.
I’ve had a few submissives say to me that if I don’t care for the house and my Master’s home I am not showing him respect. Well, sure I see that. I also see that not every single person cares for their house the same way. I’d rather do less cleaning and more enjoying of my free time. I think Master appreciates that I spend more time with him than with the house. Honestly he’s let the cleaning go for so long that I don’t think it bothers him in the same way as it would bother others. He knows I’ll do some madhouse cleaning on the weekends and the house will be decent for most of the week after. He’s cool with that.
I’ve tried to be more domestically inclined. I’ve joined Flylady.net’s discussion group to help me get on task. I’ve created her home control journal that basically is a set of routines and cleaning schedules with some grocery lists and contact lists thrown in. I still have that journal. Sometimes I pull it out, sometimes it just collects dust. It’s great for those, like me, who live by lists. I just can’t find the discipline to work the journal every day. Discipline of course is another topic.
I’m now on the 30 minute plan. I set the timer and do cleaning for 30 mins, then 30 mins doing whatever I want to do. On and off the timer goes through the day as things get done in their own time. But the wonderful thing is… they get done. The timer method does stretch things out but it also doesn’t burn me out. I dislike cleaning that much.
If Master set a cleaning schedule I’m sure I’d endeavor to do it. I don’t see him as that type yet. He’s of course learning what he wants too and it may change as we grow closer and closer to that perfection we have in mind for us. When that time comes I’ll worry about it.
For now I’m domestically challenged. I’d love to learn more about how to organize my time cleaning, special talents like napkin folding, proper tea and coffee service, event planning and dinner parties. It would be an elegance that is attractive to me. Right now just isn’t the time.
–luna