2025, Family, home, pets, Uncategorized

Breaking Good Habits

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My mother had a sign on the kitchen wall when I was growing up that said “My house is clean enough to be healthy and dirty enough to be happy”. That has always been my attitude, too, as we tried to find a balance between clean and clutter.

Since July 2, the day our house went on the market, our motto has been “My house is spotlessly clean to try to impress prospective buyers, and happiness is secondary”.

Boy, is it a pain to keep the house clean and uncluttered so that at a moment ‘s notice we can be out the door with the dog so an agent can show the house. I have become really insistent to make the bed pillows uniformly plumped and stacked, the bath towels evenly folded and hung, and the kitchen counters and floor spotless and gleaming. There are no newspapers, magazines, or mail left out. I dust twice a week. All the dog toys are put in the toy bin instead of lying about. I wash the panes in the bay window regularly to remove dog nose prints. Husband keeps all the waste baskets empty, keeps the kitchen sink clear of dishes, and keeps his bathroom clean and tidy. We both have been weeding the gardens and rolling up the hoses as needed. We are exhausted!

I hope this level of cleaning doesn’t become too ingrained, so that I feel as though I am being remiss if I don’t keep this standard of neatness once we move to our new house. This is one habit I want to break.

What habits have you tried to change? How long would it take you to prepare for a showing of your current abode?

39 thoughts on “Breaking Good Habits”

      1. I participated in what was a psychological study at NDSU that included nail biting. At the beginning was an interview to rate my own probability of successfully stopping nail biting by using a diary to record individual bites. I gave myself a 30/70 chance. Should have been 0/100. I should have inquired about what the grad student was really studying. Maybe something about delusional thinking.

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  3. My daughter’s f-i-l died rapidly and unexpectedly. His large house in Dell Rapids SD (Renee should probably know where that is) was full of furniture, dishes, papers, papers, papers, tools, riding lawn mowers, vehicles, etc. Most of the dishes and furniture was so old fashioned not even thrift stores wanted it. All four kids lived busy lives. All lived distances away. It has taken them six months to clear it out.

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      1. How would a trust remedy that problem, Barb? I agree with Bill that an estate sale company – like the one Steve hired – would be a more practical solution. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t also look into a trust. We established a trust just prior to the pandemic. We should probably update it in the not too distant future.

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    2. That’s what estate sale companies are for. Although I imagine they are thin on the ground in Dell Rapids SD, there are plenty of them here in the city.

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  4. I have noticed that, when at home, I am always looking for my cup or glass of whatever beverage I’m drinking – tea before 2:00-ish, wine after 4. I carry them around with me, apparently, and set them down.
    Actually, this doesn’t answer the first question, as I haven’t really tried to break this habit yet.

    Eating sweets multiple times a day would qualify, though. I do notice that I feel better when I’ve (inexplicably) had a few days without a lot of sugar.

    Oh dear, it would take days to get this place in any kind of shape for a showing. I cover several horizontal surfaces with my current involvements so I can get to them easily… we’d have to just throw some kind of covers over everything.

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  5. I never tried very hard to stop biting my nails either. I only bite the cuticles now. My current habit is sitting too much. My back hurts less when I sit, and I love to read, knit, and crochet, so I sit way too much. I need to remember the joy I once felt in going for long walks. Now my knees hurt and I have to walk slower. It’s a goal.

    That’s a stressful way to sell, Renee. I understand doing it that way, but the stress is much, much higher.

    I’m taking out a non-contingent mortgage, and closing on my new place on September 4. I’m having three rooms painted in the new place, getting the carpet cleaned, and cleaning thoroughly before I move in. The mover comes to get my stuff on September 12, hopefully leaving my current home empty. I will then clean and paint there. I’m hoping to list my current home the following week. Once I have sold the place, I will return to the bank and have my mortgage recast (or paid off). It’s still stressful, especially with the mortgage, but I can keep one place clean at a time.

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  6. All three of the houses we’ve left have sold within a week, usually as a result of the first open house. In two of the cases, we either had an overlap with our new house or rented a storage locker that enabled us to move out some excess clutter, but in each case we made no particular effort to change the way we lived so that the house was unnaturally sterile. Likewise, that sterility was never a factor in the prospective homes we visited. Always we were looking at the “bones” of the place with an eye toward the changes we would likely make. The fact that a property looked like someone lived there was never a deterrant.

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  7. Houses in the neighborhood of this house usually sell without being listed. Two buyers have been hounding them about the house for all 6 months. Next week the realtor will contact them for private showings. She expects a bidding war.

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  8. Rise and Shine, Baboons,

    If I needed to sell now I would touch up some paint, vacuum, and that is about it. Houses in our neighborhood do not go up for sale often. The last one sold 3 years ago (with the exception of the house to the north of us. Earlier this summer the daughter bought it from her parents, but she has lived in the house her entire life. That does not count.) It is really a remarkably stable family neighborhood. Depending on the progression of Lou’s illness and my own health which is fine now, I will probably sell in the next 3-7 years unless you-know-who tanks the economy entirely.

    OT: This morning has been an urgent problem-solving situation. Last night after we arrived home from a family celebration at Italian Eatery on Cedar (which was delightful) Lou broke a tooth at gum level. He reported no pain so I delayed the intervention until this morning. He is now at the oral surgeon with Jimmy, his aide. Uff Da.

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        1. Hans returned Wednesday from a two week respite at the Steger homestead. While he was there a crown from one of his molars fell out. He managed not to swallow it and saved it in a plastic bag. His dentist glued it back in place yesterday as an interim fix, but warned him that it won’t last long and that he needs to think about a more permanent solution. If it ain’t one thing, it’s another.

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    2. Me neither, and all of this talking of nail biting and cuticle chewing literally makes me cringe. I have on several occasions attempted to bite off a broken nail, and chew off a piece of hardened cuticle that was sticking out, when I didn’t have a nail clipper handy. I only managed to make the situation worse. I’m wondering whether my teeth aren’t sharp enough, or if it’s my technique that’s wanting? Either way, I’m content using a nail clipper.

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      2. I’s certainly not an attraction to the nails. For me with the cuticles, it’s when I f eel a rough edge of a cuticle or nail, can’t get to my nail clippers. Then with my other fingers I unconsciously “worry” that tag of roughness… and at some point I become aware that I’m doing it, and stop – at least for a moment. I notice that I do it a lot more if I am nervous or anxious about something. And it’s better in summer with the humidity – there aren’t as many rough spots.

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    3. Biting nails is better than smoking cigarettes. I’d apply for such a study related to ending each bad habit but Trump would automatically reject it.

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    1. Is the incessant shaking or bouncing of the legs that lots of people do while they are seated also included in the OCD section? It seems like it’s a very common affliction.

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    2. Yes! I don’t bite my fingernails now unless there’s a rough edge and I don’t have a file. Even then I can control the urge to bite the nail (sometimes). A hangnail or cuticle sticking up is a different matter. I can’t leave it alone. It’s a gross habit, and I dislike it. I’ve done it most of my life, and I agree it’s simply a coping mechanism to reduce anxiety. I also have my own OCD tendencies, so that fits.

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  11. I quit the nails, haven’t smoked for over 30 years. No meat since I was 16. I started making my bed every morning about 20 years back. I also change my sheets every Saturday morning. I guess I can call that habit as well. I’ve been doing it since I was diagnosed with my allergies when YA was a baby.

    I don’t even want to think about what would be necessary for me to sell my house right now.

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  12. I recall when I was a kid I sometimes chewed on my nails, my hair (when it was long), and sometimes the eraser ends of pencils. After I got out of school, though, I never had any chewing compulsions. Maybe school triggered a kind of anxiety that wasn’t ever triggered by anything else….or I just grew out of it.

    If I was going to show my house for sale, I think I would need to move out of it first. I can’t keep that kind of order.

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  13. I have no bad habits. 🙂
    Yep, I pick my nails and I can tell when I’m anxious as I pick them a lot more.
    I carry nail clippers and have several other pairs strategically placed around the house. Daughter on the other hand, never has picked or chewed hers. Her nails get long and sharp and she asks us to trim them.

    How about trimming your dogs nails?? Luna is not a fan.

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