A Cleaning Confession

I have a theory when it comes to those of us who consider ourselves "clean people." There are two types: clutter cleaners and deep cleaners.

Clutter cleaners do just that-they focus on clutter. From a distance, their rooms look spotless. Everything has a place, and every night before bed, clutter cleaners make sure the floor is clear and all the knick-knacks, laundry, and other random items have been placed in their proper homes.

Then there are the deep cleaners. These folks share the clutter cleaners' love of a nicely picked-up room, though they also take things a step further. Not only do deep cleaners work hard to maintain clear floors and ordered shelves, they also are best friends with their vacuums and dusting cloths. Deep cleaners desire for their living spaces to appear clean even under a microscope.

I consider myself to be a mere clutter cleaner. My room (pre-apartment explosion at least) stays rather orderly, but I must admit, on any given day, if you were to run your finger across the surface of my dresser, it is likely you'd discover a thin layer of dust. I despise dusting...a dislike I was aware of, but I don't believe I truly understood the consequences until this evening.

I have this old but dainty bookshelf in my room that doesn't get much attention. It's full of books from my younger days and random knick-knacks I've acquired over the years. Tonight, in an attempt to bring some order to the pile of junk that was my sophomore year apartment, I was forced to tackle the state of this sorry shelf. Let's just say I've never quite seen so many dust bunnies in my life. It was terrible. And despite my exhaustion and frustration, I became a deep cleaner for the night and took care of the nastiness. I had to shower afterward, even though I wasn't that dirty going into the project. It was that bad.

I don't want anyone to get the impression I live in a constant state of dust and dirt, because I do take the necessary precautions to avoid this. I guess I'm just quick to avoid the notoriously difficult areas, allowing the dust bunnies to move in and live quite comfortably for long periods of time. I'm determined to be more careful though from now on. I can't take another ordeal like tonight's.