5 Liberating Reasons to Feel Better About Your Messy House

A clean home is a matter of pride for me. If I know someone's coming over, I'll spend the entire week getting ready because my guests deserve the best and if so-and-so says one more word about my kitchen/living room/etc., I'm gonna flip my lid. 

When my house isn't tidy, I can't concentrate. I can hardly even breathe.

I guess you could call me a clean freak.

Unfortunately, between kids and a debilitating chronic illness, I usually end up with more of a crime scene than a Better Homes and Gardens cover. The house doesn't even move and I still can never keep up with it.

Image credit: Leanne Cooke

But you know, it's not all bad. If you have the same problem I do, here are five things you can feel better about the next time you want to burn your house down and start from scratch (or go live in the woods--whatever):

1. A Messy House Can Save You Money

Nothing keeps you on a budget better than knowing you have to find a place for everything you buy.

When you think of stores as clutter factories, you can put more cash away for a vacation far away from all those piles of laundry and stacks of dishes.

2. Your Mess Can Keep You Safe

Speaking of saving money, how does free home security sound to you?

I'd never tell them this, but I love it when my children leave their toys out when they go to bed. No one makes a louder entry than an intruder who lands on Duplo pieces scattered underneath a window. And why buy an alarm when anyone who opens the front door will nudge to life that obnoxious singing school bus?

3. Your Mess Can Get You Out of Hosting Stuff

Don't get me wrong: I love having people over. I've spent enough time in the South to learn a thing or two about hospitality.

But social gatherings can be exhausting enough without playing host. Sometimes it's just easier to admit what a disaster zone your house is and go somewhere else.

Get creative so your friends appreciate your effort to flake out of hosting. You might say a Sharknado came through. Or that the aurora borealis appeared at this time of year, at this time of day, in this part of the country, localized entirely within your kitchen. There's really no wrong way about it.

Image credit: Michelle

4. You Can Make Your Friends Feel Better About Their Own Messy Houses

I can't tell you how many times I've visited friends who apologized for their messes. I usually tell them, "That's okay; you should see my place!"

Of course what I really mean is, "I'm glad we're here where I can walk in a straight line without breaking something and for the love of all that is holy do not come see my place."

In any case, it's nice to help friends feel better about themselves.

5. Your Kids Will Grow Up

It's easy to complain and joke about cleaning. There will always be dishes to clean, floors to mop, clothes to put away. It will never end.

But children don't stay small forever.

Someday they'll stop getting into everything. They'll stop leaving fingerprints on windows, coloring on walls, throwing gobs of food.

And someday they won't want to cuddle. They won't need another story or another song. They'll be too big to hold your hand, or get excited about wrapping paper, or watch the shows they got you hooked on in the first place.

My heart feels empty just thinking about it.

I know kids need a safe, clean place to live. And of course I want to keep my home as clean as possible. I work hard for that each day, even when I fall behind.

But as much as I want to someday welcome guests without rushing a pile of laundry from the couch to my bedroom, I want even more for my children to remember what I did with them. I want to read them stories, play pretend, and rock them to sleep in my arms as long as they will let me. I want them to remember that I always had time for them.

I want them to remember how much love was in our home.

When they grow up, I'll still have a house to clean.

At least that's what I tell myself when--yet again--I trip on that dang singing school bus.