The Cleaning Marathon

Pesach has come and gone, but it made me realize something: I just love cleaning for Pesach. I’m serious. Really. It felt so good to finally be forced to attend to all the things I’ve neglected to do since the previous Pesach. I especially loved going through all of my husband’s clothes and shoes and getting rid of tons of stuff.

Getting rid of my stuff just wasn’t as fun. I confess that I’ve taken out and put back, then taken out and put back again, convinced that one day I will use it. Am I the only one on the planet that does this? I have a feeling that I’m not. But when I got in a house-cleaning mood, I began to hallucinate that I was a millionaire that could afford to give away half the mansion, because it’s cluttering up the other half. Hubby, on the other hand, will always remain the clutter-hound. That guy can’t throw anything away! More on that in a moment…

So this cleaning marathon has taught me a lot of lessons, most of which I am still unwilling to learn.

Lesson #1:  My husband doesn’t need so much stuff. Besides occupying precious space in my tiny closet, there is another reason too much stuff isn’t good. When we have too much stuff, we forget that we even have it, and then we keep ordering more from Walmart, Target, and Old Navy – or as I like to call them, “The Big Three” – every time our husbands travel to the States. When I end up putting everything away in the closets, I inevitably run into the same shirts and pants like, three or four times. It’s happened more than once that I’ve ordered things that I already had, just because I couldn’t find them hiding underneath the mountain of clothing that lives in our magically expanding closets, which hold endless amounts of clothes while still having plenty of space available inside – kind of like the courtyard of the Holy Temple. Therefore, I’ve made a Pesach resolution to stop ordering stuff. For my husband, that is.

Lesson #2- Clutter clogs. Let me make some sense out of that. Not only does it clog the house, which makes it look and feel suffocating, but it clogs the spiritual pipes of abundance as well. If you want Hashem to bless you with new stuff, you’ve got to make room for it! Hashem ain’t gonna give you a new dining room table on top of the one you already have! And what about those 20-year-old bed sheets? How will the new ones fit in the closet, if the ancient holy ones are still taking up space?

Every time I do a run-through of my husband’s stuff, we get into a fight. I hold up each piece of clothing and demand, “Why do you still need this Umbro track suit? When was the last time you wore it? 1984? It’s ‘old school’? Oh, excuse me! When do you plan to wear it again, LeBron? Are you joining the NBA or growing an afro? No? Then get rid of it!” Oh, he gets sooo mad!! Why does he need 50 pairs of underwear and 10 pairs of pants that aren’t even his size? Does any of this sound familiar, or am I writing to myself?

Lesson #3- A once-a-year deep cleaning is the pits. To get me in the cleaning mood, my husband showed me this video of a great way to clean your oven from stains. I really don’t know what he was trying to accomplish. All I could think of when I watched it was, “OMG, that oven is disgusting! Who would let their oven get into such a gross state?” Most of us, perhaps?

If the lady would have cleaned her oven every month or two, by Pesach time, it would have been no sweat, just like every area of the house. If we are constantly cleaning out our homes every few months, getting rid of what we don’t need, and paying attention to areas that we tend to ignore, like the disaster that we call a garage, we wouldn’t have to stress so much when we’re forced to do it.

Lesson #4- House cleaning helps me breathe better. Once I got rid of all of my husband’s extra unnecessary stuff and did a deep house cleaning, I felt so much better and lighter. My husband… not so much.

Hmmm. Doesn’t this sound just like personal prayer?

If we did our recommended daily personal clean-up, wouldn’t we accumulate much less junk and tribulations throughout the year? Imagine, at the end of the day, being able to go to sleep with a light feeling, knowing that you’ve let out all of the garbage that you were holding on to. After an hour of personal prayer, you’ve gotten rid of the stress, worry, anger, and whatever other negative emotion you want to add. You can take a deep breath and trust that Hashem will help you with whatever problem you are currently facing.

Don’t let your problems burden you until you find yourself stuck under a mountain of outdated Umbro track suits. It’s totally uncool, and totally unnecessary. An hour out of your day is definitely a lot, but isn’t your peace of mind worth it?