There is a big difference between being neat and being clean. Neat and organized can give the appearance of being clean when it is not. I fall under the being neat category. When things are organized I am at peace inside. When things are messy, inside I am in chaos. I feel like a volcano churning and you are not sure when it will erupt.
Cleaning is for having company over. Or when the house is so utterly messy and dirty that you are forced to face facts and clean. That is what I did last week when I asked my mother-in-law when she could watch the girls so I could focus on just cleaning this week. I looked forward to that date with excitement!
I then spent many hours just cleaning (stopping only for lunch and to take care of Guster). It was that bad. Really. Now things are neat and clean and I am at peace again. If only we did not live here and I could keep it this way. 🙂