Choice Blog

Keeping up with The Joneses

This summer, my husband thought it might be a lovely idea to spend a few days away with him in Ascot. Little did he imagine the repercussions of this little trip. My husband has a new job near Ascot which involves him staying there for 3 nights a week and then being home for four. He had been staying in a hotel or an Airbnb for a few weeks. However, one of his cousins lives near to where he works and had said that he (well both of us) would be welcome to stay in his house whilst they were on holiday. Since I was on my summer break from school it seemed the ideal opportunity to explore the local area.

My husband had ‘facetimed’ me whilst there the first week and showed me around ‘virtually’ the, quite clearly, beautiful home. I was expecting clean and tidy but it was immaculate. Everywhere was not just neat but show home or even magazine photoshoot ready. It was incredible. The children’s bedrooms even had only just a few strategically placed toys on the window ledge. It was a bit difficult to imagine a young family lived there and had done for about 10 years. We had a lovely few days ensuring we kept it as it was. I didn’t dream of cooking though and was nervous, I will say, about putting drinks down even on the coasters in the pristine and clutter free lounge. I was going back a day before my husband and he promised he would have a quick hoover round and empty the dishwasher and so on.

The moment I stepped back into our house I could smell rotting cat food. Our two cats don’t seem to be keen on their food at the moment, and my children hadn’t cleaned it up for a couple of days. It stank. What a difference to how we and they live I thought. I texted my son and had a minor rant and he blamed his sister, you can imagine. The smell of wet dogs then hit my nostrils and I will admit my heart sank. I love my home and our animals but it really opened my eyes to the amount of clutter and mess we seem to live with. I knew I wouldn’t want the level of stress that must surely come with ensuring a house is SO perfect, but did we have to be so messy?

I had spent the first few weeks of the summer holidays doing some home maintenance like a week in the garden and a week decorating a few rooms. I also spent about a week of it writing up a research project for my masters as well as enjoying a short break to Paris with my husband. I wasn’t just sitting with my feet up watching daytime TV, but after the trip to Ascot I saw where I live with fresh eyes. I was inspired and determined to make some changes. The next few days were a blur of filling black bags with unworn and unwanted items from cupboards, wardrobes and coat hooks. Scrubbing and clearing and tidying and washing. My husband also got in to the spirit of it at the weekend even filling 5 black bags with suits and shirts he longer fitted or wore. There were a few moments when I looked at walls with some mud splattered up from the dogs and a leather chair in the conservatory that has been ruined by the cat’s claws that I wondered what life (and our home) might be like without pets. Would I like to live in such a perfect home? Now I have had time to reflect and not just react, then no. Could we put a bit more effort in to keep it tidier and cleaner? Yes, I’m sure we could. Time not to ‘Keep up with the Joneses’ as such but being able to step back and reflect is not a bad thing once in a while.