Mommie Dearest's Guide to Cleaning

If you've never seen the unintentionally hilarious 1980's cult classic "Mommie Dearest" it's currently streaming on Netflix. The acting is so over the top and about half the movie is made of dramatic pauses. Let's all enjoy this scene where Joan Crawford played by Faye Dunaway shows us how to clean the floor the right way.

This is common sense but it's worth noting that the best way to clean things is to lift them up and move them. Don't get lazy and only clean around it. With appliances, you should take the pieces apart (as long as you know how to put them back together) to really get all the dust and debris in nooks. This is true of fans which collect a lot of dust.

No, not those kind of fans. Seriously, watch it!

Appreciating Space

I think the one most important thing that makes clean places look so good is nothing! Nothing . . . as in lots and lots and . . . lots . . . of space. 

Items are important to us. They bring us whimsy, inspiration and comfort but they have to be well chosen and well placed to do their part. What you surround yourself with perpetuates who you are.

The one enemy of space is clutter. Clutter is defined as things that impede movement or reduce effectiveness. Edna Mode from The Incredibles (2005) taught us a great lesson about capes and clutter. Watch this clip where she explains how they drag people down, literally in this case getting sucked into jet turbines, vortexes and snagging on rockets. 

Maybe most people's clutter won't result in such a dramatic outcome like tripping and falling into a volcano but the principle is the same. Sometimes the things we think we need or think look cool only get in the way.

Focusing now on Edna's house, did you get a good look at it? See how clear and open it was? Yes, I know it's a computer generated set but still! Space plays a huge role in your mood and efficiency. Keeping a space open makes it easier to move and easier to focus. You can certainly get somewhere quicker if nothing is in the way. Seems like there's a metaphor in there somewhere. Also, it's definitely easier to keep a place clean if it doesn't have so many things that can get dirty.

Don't take space for granted. It's healthy to look around and evaluate if you could reclaim some of it. I think Edna would be proud.