State of the House
Two steps forward, fifty steps back.
That pretty much sums up life around here right now. Honestly, I thought it would get better as my kids got older. Everybody kept telling me it would. Once I didn't have a bevy of toddlers/preschoolers then 1) they wouldn't destroy the house as much, 2) they could do chores and help clean up their own messes, and 3) I would have more time to fix any remaining damage because the kids would be away at school.
Ha. Maybe my expectations are too high. I still have a preschooler and a toddler at home. But even with my older kids having a list of chores they are responsible for, I still find myself unable to keep up with the disaster. I keep wanting to really sit and spend some time working on my novel, but I can't do it when my house is a mess and there are a gazillion things that need to be taken care of. No matter what I manage to do it's undone before I even get to relax.
It's more than clutter. I'm just unable to make any headway on maintaining my home. I don't need an exquisitely decorated home, but is it asking too much for things to be clean and neat and in good repair? I did a lot-- A LOT-- of minor damage control or repair while getting ready for B's party. I patched holes and painted walls, removed broken blinds, tore out completely gross carpet (no, I didn't replace it and no, you probably don't want to know all the details), scrubbed floors and walls and floorboards, decluttered like an unsentimental cleaning dervish, and scraped the floors before bleach mopping. I even drilled and installed a new towel rack in the kids' bathroom so I could hang a towel for guests to dry their hands on. (The last one was pulled down a couple of years back.)
You know that new towel rack only lasted a week? K pulled it out of the wall, drywall anchors and all, leaving massive holes that will need to be patched and painted again. New paint has already been peeled from the walls. (Unfortunately, I didn't use a good enough quality of paint in the bathroom. It is super easy once a hole has been dug in to peel off large sections.) S attacked my walls and brand new painted doors with a Sharpie. Every flat surface in our house is covered in clutter again.
As I write this, my kitchen floor (which was spotless this morning) is covered in empty soda cans, dried pasta, old mac n cheese, potato flakes, peanut butter and jam, and probably a full load of dirty dishes. (WHY, for the love of pete, can't dirty dishes be left on the counter???)
It sounds like I need some organizational help, right? That's what I thought, about a month ago. I checked out a book from the library called "How to Organize Just About Everything," by Peter Walsh (he's apparently on some TV show called Clean Sweep, so I assume he knows what he's doing). However, after reading through all his basic organizing tips, I realized I'd already incorporated many of them long ago. Had to, or there was no way our family would be functioning. We do function, even if I lose my sanity every other day. Today I even tried a time management technique guaranteed to keep me from wasting my time unproductively. First, you make a list of things you need to do. Then you label them A's, B's, C's, or D's, depending on how important each of those items are. (Essentials are labeled "A", while things you could definitely put off-- or that really aren't important to your goals-- are labeled "D.") After you have your list, you set a timer for 45 minutes and tackle the A's. When the timer goes off, you set it for 15 minutes and do something more enjoyable or that tends to suck all your time away (like Facebook or reading blogs). Rinse and repeat as many times as needed.
I did get quite a bit accomplished. I feel like I didn't get sucked into the computer overly long. But even my "break" times were usually filled with things on my list. Write out some cards, send a message to this person, check the library website for the library books we had out. And even with all that, my house is a near disaster and I had to force myself to let go of the messy house guilt and sit down to blog. (In fact, I can only banish the guilt about blogging because I'm doing double duty. As I type this, I am supervising B's spelling practice on the computer next to me.)
Please don't tell me I have to wait until they are out of the house to have a relatively clean and organized house. My creative muse is stifled by it, and I don't know if I can stand to go sixteen more years without writing another story!
That pretty much sums up life around here right now. Honestly, I thought it would get better as my kids got older. Everybody kept telling me it would. Once I didn't have a bevy of toddlers/preschoolers then 1) they wouldn't destroy the house as much, 2) they could do chores and help clean up their own messes, and 3) I would have more time to fix any remaining damage because the kids would be away at school.
Ha. Maybe my expectations are too high. I still have a preschooler and a toddler at home. But even with my older kids having a list of chores they are responsible for, I still find myself unable to keep up with the disaster. I keep wanting to really sit and spend some time working on my novel, but I can't do it when my house is a mess and there are a gazillion things that need to be taken care of. No matter what I manage to do it's undone before I even get to relax.
It's more than clutter. I'm just unable to make any headway on maintaining my home. I don't need an exquisitely decorated home, but is it asking too much for things to be clean and neat and in good repair? I did a lot-- A LOT-- of minor damage control or repair while getting ready for B's party. I patched holes and painted walls, removed broken blinds, tore out completely gross carpet (no, I didn't replace it and no, you probably don't want to know all the details), scrubbed floors and walls and floorboards, decluttered like an unsentimental cleaning dervish, and scraped the floors before bleach mopping. I even drilled and installed a new towel rack in the kids' bathroom so I could hang a towel for guests to dry their hands on. (The last one was pulled down a couple of years back.)
You know that new towel rack only lasted a week? K pulled it out of the wall, drywall anchors and all, leaving massive holes that will need to be patched and painted again. New paint has already been peeled from the walls. (Unfortunately, I didn't use a good enough quality of paint in the bathroom. It is super easy once a hole has been dug in to peel off large sections.) S attacked my walls and brand new painted doors with a Sharpie. Every flat surface in our house is covered in clutter again.
As I write this, my kitchen floor (which was spotless this morning) is covered in empty soda cans, dried pasta, old mac n cheese, potato flakes, peanut butter and jam, and probably a full load of dirty dishes. (WHY, for the love of pete, can't dirty dishes be left on the counter???)
It sounds like I need some organizational help, right? That's what I thought, about a month ago. I checked out a book from the library called "How to Organize Just About Everything," by Peter Walsh (he's apparently on some TV show called Clean Sweep, so I assume he knows what he's doing). However, after reading through all his basic organizing tips, I realized I'd already incorporated many of them long ago. Had to, or there was no way our family would be functioning. We do function, even if I lose my sanity every other day. Today I even tried a time management technique guaranteed to keep me from wasting my time unproductively. First, you make a list of things you need to do. Then you label them A's, B's, C's, or D's, depending on how important each of those items are. (Essentials are labeled "A", while things you could definitely put off-- or that really aren't important to your goals-- are labeled "D.") After you have your list, you set a timer for 45 minutes and tackle the A's. When the timer goes off, you set it for 15 minutes and do something more enjoyable or that tends to suck all your time away (like Facebook or reading blogs). Rinse and repeat as many times as needed.
I did get quite a bit accomplished. I feel like I didn't get sucked into the computer overly long. But even my "break" times were usually filled with things on my list. Write out some cards, send a message to this person, check the library website for the library books we had out. And even with all that, my house is a near disaster and I had to force myself to let go of the messy house guilt and sit down to blog. (In fact, I can only banish the guilt about blogging because I'm doing double duty. As I type this, I am supervising B's spelling practice on the computer next to me.)
Please don't tell me I have to wait until they are out of the house to have a relatively clean and organized house. My creative muse is stifled by it, and I don't know if I can stand to go sixteen more years without writing another story!
Comments
your kitchen floor sounds like mine.