“If you can lean, you can clean!” I heard the not-so-soothing voice of my Burger King manager, Todd, below.
I was literally leaning against the pop machine at the drive-thru window, waiting for a customer to set off the “time to take an order” alarm—those really do exist, or at least they did in the ’80s. Todd was staring me down with a look of disdain, so I asked him what he meant.
“I mean, if you have time to just stand there and stare into space, you have time to clean something. Get to work.”
At the time, I just thought he was a jerk, but those words stuck with me and made me frequently wonder if I stay busy enough. Should I always be doing something? Take spring cleaning, for example. It sure sounds like a lot of work for a very temporary reward. Besides, who really wants to move their fridge away from the wall just to clean out dust—or whatever else may have accumulated behind it over the course of the year?
It turns out my idea of spring cleaning may not align with that of more hardcore cleaning enthusiasts. In fact, according to Good Housekeeping, you might actually want to clean behind your fridge every three to six months.
I’ve been dusting my blinds every three to six months for years, and apparently that isn’t good enough, either. Three different cleaning experts I found through an internet search suggest doing that every month. I think these may be people who have maids and don’t have to clean their own houses. Blinds are a nightmare to clean.
Do you wash your shower curtain liner and vacuum your mattress every three to six months? If not, you’re falling behind. In fact, spring cleaning isn’t just for spring. You should deep-clean the things most of us think about cleaning once a year (if ever) every six months.
I can read the well-intentioned advice of cleaning and household maintenance experts and develop an inferiority complex fairly quickly. Sometimes, during a weekend TV binge-watching session, I sit up abruptly and panic because I am leaning when I could be cleaning.
Who really wants to move their fridge away from the wall just to clean out dust?
Thank goodness for people like “Unknown,” who was quoted on the internet saying, “A spotless house is a sign of a misspent life.”
Don’t get me wrong—I clean something around the house every day, but my obsession with keeping up with the cleaning Joneses is over. Spring will officially kick off Friday, March 20, at 10:46 a.m., and I won’t be cleaning. I’m not talking tough here; I’m being realistic. I’ll be at work. I do try to keep my desk clean, and when I lean, I do it with purpose.
When that “If you can lean, you can clean” piece of wisdom from Todd, the Burger King manager, crosses my mind now, I also think about the whole “clean house is a sign of a misspent life” quote. I prefer to merge the two and view “clean” as a metaphor for doing what matters—and sometimes, what matters is taking a moment to lean against the pop machines in our lives and stare into space.
