Right now my dishwasher is broken. So we're back to doing dishes by hand, because we're bad about calling somebody to come and fix it. I'm doing dishes and thinking, "It's never gonna end." I can't stop thinking how much I hate it. How much space it's taking up. When I'm done, I have to wait for them to dry. And then I'm gonna have to put them away. I really, really hate it. I hate it. I hate it.
It's the same with laundry. My dining room is usually full of clothes. It looks that way 80% of the time. I'm folding it, dreading the time when I have to put everything away. I think, "It's not worth putting it away, because there's more coming. I might as well make one trip." But sometimes it's three weeks until I finally get it in. By then, it's time to start laundry again.
You're supposed to clean your house. People expect that your house is clean. Sometimes I wonder what it would feel like just to let it go, and live like that. How would it be? Because sometimes I don't make my bed for several days, right? I get in, and I can feel the blanket is all bundled. And I'm thinking, "It's not that bad." You kind of find a space, and...it's not nice, but it's not dirty. Because we'll wash it anyway. So it's not unsanitary. And I think, "How would it be, just to let it go?"
-Nuria
Photos and text from the forthcoming book "Cleaning: People Talk About Housework"