Today, I was promoted to the head of my department.
So, how did I celebrate? I went home to clean toilets. For me, it always comes back to housework.
Some people may run away from their past. Not me, I embrace it. I love bragging to my family, “I’m making X dollars a year and I still clean my own toilets,” as a way of saying all work builds character.
In college, when I got into a financial bind, I took a job cleaning houses. In my early years in the newspaper business, whenever I needed extra income, I took jobs cleaning houses, the way some people wait tables or pick up extra shifts tending bar. Cleaning homes is my go-to for a quick cash infusion. At home, there’s a certain level of contentment I get from putting on music, stepping into my old sweats and resetting my house after a long week of neglect.
Forget decked-out reports or splashy presentations, if you want to immediately feel accomplished, pick a room and clean it. Spend five minutes emptying the dishwasher, fluffing pillows in the living room, hanging up clothes in your walk-in closet or shredding a pile of junk mail.
I didn’t grow up with a lot of money. So, like a lot of people, we cleaned our own house. Friday nights were spent tidying up so we could have the weekends free for friends and fun. With every career milestone or other personal success, I can’t help but look back fondly on my life, thank the people who supported me along the way and break out the cleaning supplies.
The more successful I am, the more I tend to cling to my humble roots. Some people reach for comfort food, I reach for comforting activities. But it’s not just cleaning that keeps me and others grounded.
Oprah, another person from humble beginnings, tells the story of not being able to waste anything. She once talked about wrapping up the other half of a piece of toast because she was raised not to waste food.
On social media, some of my friends and I bond over those memes featuring old-school struggle meals like mayonnaise or syrup sandwiches. We laugh at how Wonder Bread served as hot dog rolls, hamburger rolls and sandwich bread.
Growing up, we ate a lot of breakfasts for dinner, which we thought was a treat at the time, but I would later discover it was a cheaper way to feed a family of four. I recently spent more than $10 for a pound of bacon and nearly $5 for eggs. At these prices, breakfast for dinner would no longer qualify as a struggle meal.
Sure, I could afford to pay someone else to clean my house—in fact, I outsource shopping, repairs and other household tasks—but then how would I celebrate my next success?
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