
I use an app called Libri Vox to help me sleep at night. Basically it reads to you from books that are out of copyright* classics mainly. I have been through the Little Women series several times (not helped by the fact you fall asleep!) In one of the later books Meg and her daughter Daisy were having avid and (to them) interesting conversations with a new bride about housekeeping. Now remember these books were written in between 1860-1880 girls stayed at home more and immediately I am falling into the housekeeping=women.
Trying to find a ‘gender neutral’ picture was impossible!
Anyway, my initial response to this interest in housekeeping was really, how dull is that?
Then I started to think about it, the pleasure of a well run household where you don’t run out of toilet roll, the sheets are washed regularly and there is food in the fridge. How about calling it household management? We really don’t value house related activity which is such a shame. The pleasure of preparing and cooking food, the smell of a cleaned room, cool sheets, tidiness, things in their place so you can reliably find them.
When something is run well you sort of don’t notice it, because it is seamless the wheels are oiled.
We notice it when it comes to businesses, that attention to detail someone thinking two steps ahead. We may not quantify it exactly but you leave with a feeling of being looked after, all the boxes ticked no loose ends.
Given the economic storm that we are just beginning to experience looking closer to home to make economies may not be a bad idea. Are you aware that 60% of food eaten in the UK is ultra processed food this can be anything from breakfast cereal, bread, ready meals. It is both expensive and bad for your health; we may need to take stock of what we are habitually eating.
Now I am not suggesting a barefoot and pregnant scenario (women again), but a more conscious paying attention to the tasks that oil the wheels.There is pleasure in a mound of creased clothing tamed into a neat pile or the smell of washing off the line, washing up, how good is that on a cold day? These tasks can be done by anyone and part of good management is delegation, one person doesn’t have to do everything. Another part of good management is allowing the delegates to do things in their own way, not bring too prescriptive about how things are done.
One of the benefits of doing something mindfully is the pleasure it brings, not only the task being done but the smells, tastes, sights and sounds and of course feelings that come with it. In an uncertain world cleaning the windows may be both useful and distracting from the barrage of gloom that the news brings.
We maybe forced to reconsider our outgoings in the near future and who knows we may find pleasure and economy in activities closer to home.
•If you do get the app only download stories read by one person, not the Libri Vox volunteers some of whom will drive you mad!