Procrastination Cleaning

Whenever there is something I should be doing, like working on a Sunday afternoon, inevitably, I am overcome by a compulsion to clean before I can settle in to work. I know myself, and I know that I simply won't be able to concentrate unless I give into the cleaning compulsion. I used to do the same thing when I was a student and had studying that I needed to do.

We aren't talking vacuum, mop and wipe off the kitchen counter. We are talking serious cleaning. For example, this morning, the thought process went like this, I should work, or at the very least, I should relax today. But first I have to clean the grout lines in the tile floor in the bathroom with a toothbrush, rearrange the entire pantry in an OCD like fashion (all boxed items together, all jars together etc.), remove everything from the fridge, clean the shelving, and rearrange everything as I put it back - for example, cheese goes in the cheese draw - a pet peeve of mine - and the fruits and vegetables do not get mixed.

Once this is done, I'll have to make a "quick" trip to Target for a new toothbrush, cause I cleaned the bathroom floor with the only one I had. Although I only need a toothbrush, some toothpaste and a lint roller refill, totalling less than $10, I will inevitably leave Target with $100 worth of stuff I don't necessary need. It is virtually impossible to leave Target without purchasing more than you went in there for. Not to mention the fact that you buy so much unnecessary stuff that you forget one of the things you specifically needed - the lint roller refill. Anyway, then, because DSW is on the way home, I might as well stop there, then get stuck in traffic cause literally every Sunday I forget there is a street market on Canal.

Get home, realize I forgot the lint roller refill. Go back out, come back home. Eat. Now I can work. Oh wait, blog first. All of this is accomplished by 12:15 p.m., giving me 5 hours to work before I am due at a meeting. I have to believe that I am not the only one who does this - although, a lot of people I know have far more busy lives with husbands or wives and families - they probably wish they had the luxury of enough peace and quiet to sit on the bathroom floor and clean it with a toothbrush. Anyway, although I am totally procrastinating - I am at least super productive right? It is good stress and anxiety relief for me - although you would think that simply sitting down and getting my work done would relieve the work related stress and anxiety. Plus, it is a good form of light to moderate exercise - depending how dirty the floor is!