Spring Cleaning
You don’t exist to serve your space; your space exists to serve you.
Internalizing this belief will help you a) shift your perspective of care tasks from a moral obligation to a functional errand, b) see what changes you actually want to make, and c) weave them into your life with minimal effort, relying not on self-loathing but on self-compassion.
K.C. Davis, How to Keep House While Drowning
People often ask me, if care tasks are not moral then what are they? The answer is they are functional. That's it! When I thought I was supposed to have a clean kitchen all the time I almost never had one because that was far too big and nebulous of a chore. However, now that I am for a functional kitchen every night before I go to bed, it's totally doable!
So what does having a functional space mean? That can look different for everyone. When I ask myself what makes my kitchen function for my family I can begin to identify concrete needs such as enough clean dishes for the day, enough clear counter space to prepare food safely, access to my sink and a stove burner, an empty trash can, and some fresh dish towels. My kitchen won't be functional if it has bugs or bacteria so I also know I need to throw away food waste.
A *clean kitchen* can take hours since there is almost always more that can be cleaned. But a functional kitchen only requires a finite list of six tasks!
So when you are feeling overwhelmed remember: the goal is functional.
And besides, no one ever lays on their deathbed wishing they’d cleaned the bathroom more.
K.C. Davis, Resources
