Getting and staying organised, at home and everywhere else
Unexpectedly my 10-year-old helped me make salad for supper. Chopping cucumber he said he wished he could get paid for doing this chore. I said not all chores get paid for (he does get paid for picking up dog poo in the garden), and that we do them in the house, for each other, as a way of keeping things pleasant for everyone in the house.
But… is the resentment we feel at doing chores in part because it is not paid work?
I believe strongly in discipline – in work, in the way you live, in the way you approach every day. You have to make yourself do things. When you’re busy it’s easy to be disciplined, but when you are unemployed, unwanted, out of work – which happens as an actor – you have to discipline yourself to do something. It’s about getting up, having faith and hope, and doing everything you can to make life agreeable.
Joanne Lumley, Woman & Home magazine interview, 2012
Two weeks of leave, spent at home, found me tidying and organising and cleaning. I took my son to cricket and the beach, thought about what to make for supper (even though I largely don’t do the cooking) and swept cobwebs out of corners.
It took 10 days or so but I finally felt the house was “right”, as it would be if I were Mrs Seddon, housewife and stay-at-home mom. I would love to be that person – but I have been and always will be a working woman, Ms Moodie. Continue reading “Why we hate housework”
Wear comfortable shoes.
