CHORES Household tasks provide feeling of accomplishment

These duties also are a way to wind down from the workday and think about family concerns.
By CHRIS CASSON MADDEN
SCRIPPS HOWARD
There is nothing that pleases or relaxes me more than coming home to a house that is clutter-free and organized, redolent of fresh fragrance and sparkling with cleanliness.
Unfortunately, that rarely happens. It is more likely that my guys have just come home from weeks at school and their dirty laundry is piled high in some corner of their room or bath. Or, as is often the case, I've just returned from a business trip and have to leave for another one without unpacking from the first!
Quite possibly the dogs, bored from a long afternoon indoors, decided to see exactly what it was inside their stuffed toys that made them squeak. Or we might have just done a photo shoot at my house and entire rooms of stuff were piled into boxes and set into the garage to rearrange or put back another day.
Maybe these aren't the messy details of your life, but I'll bet you have your own list of worries -- the mud and wet from boots, the groceries from the warehouse store that don't fit in their designated spots or the bulging briefcase that spills over the minute you walk through the door.
Welcome chores
I was recently telling a good friend about my overwhelming household annoyances. She calmly replied that sometimes -- not always, mind you, but sometimes -- she was grateful for the chores she had to do at the end of the day. She said that coming home to stacks of laundry was helpful in channeling excess physical energy after a day spent at a desk, and that chores helped her focus on important family or personal issues that she had set aside when work concerns crowded out other thoughts.
I looked at her in astonishment. I made her repeat her argument. And it boiled down to this: Her laundry room offered a sanctuary from the workaday world and other immediate concerns. She enjoyed the peace and quiet of this room that others avoided at all costs. She relaxed to the hum of machines as she folded garments and put them into their designated baskets, appreciated the fragrance of the clothes as they emerged from the dryer and enjoyed the cozy warmth they offered as she folded them.
She amazed me further as she described similar bliss in sudsy water, and the pleasure of seeing silver emerge from tarnish and butcher-block counters gleaming under a new sheen of wax.
A certain sanctuary
And then I understood her point. I have my own "chores as sanctuary" that I enjoy whenever I get the chance. I'm a closet ... well, closet cleaner, and drawer organizer, and linen folder. Sometimes when the guys in my life seek their Sunday relaxation through televised sports, I can be found in the closet, dumping out baskets of mismatched gloves and mittens, untangling dog leashes or sorting out the little piles of this-and-that that invariably end up where they shouldn't.
I'm going to further confess: I color-separate my garments. The "hot" hues occupy one area of my closet; the cooler hues and neutrals, another. My sweaters are stacked as in a chic boutique -- the cottons separate from the woolens, with a "special reserve" area for my favorite cashmeres.
Feeling at home
The more I thought about it, the more I understood my friend's point.
Our homes are the places we go to enrich our senses and restore our souls. Delving into the chores of home is yet another way to appreciate the sensory experience -- to feel the warmth of laundry and dish suds and to smell the familiar fragrances of polish and soap. It's another way we connect to our homes and bring pleasure to ourselves and to our families.
Understanding the "zen of chores" has helped me relax more when coming into my home when it is less than perfect. I see the clutter and disorganization and am challenged. And sometimes I'll rise to the immediate task, get re-energized and tackle the concern. Or sometimes I'll just come home, put leashes on the dogs, step out for a leisurely stroll and think that one can wait ... for a Sunday, when the guys are occupied, and I have the leisure to put on music, dump out another drawer, empty a closet and organize to my heart's content.