I just love the Baby Blues comic strip. I could always relate to poor Wanda, and this one is no different. I found it in a folder with some papers from the early years of my marriage when my son was an infant. It still holds true today. (Does anyone but me find it disturbing that I still have a file folder of papers from 14 years ago that I'm just now getting around to going through? Hmmm? Please tell me I'm not the only packrat in the blogosphere!) I could have taken this straight from any one of my many tirades about never getting ahead with housework. And the Hubs would say something sweet and encouraging just like Darryl and make me not so crazy and still crazier at the same time. I am gearing up for a series of "before and after" posts about the various hot spots in my house (okay, so my entire house is one huge hot spot-I'm not going to lie to you, but I'm going to go a little at a time so as not to overwhelm you all). Two things are causing me to drag my feet: (1) It is as embarrassing as I don't know what; and (2) I can't even figure out where to start.
How did my house get this far gone? you might ask. Well, at first I used the excuse that I had small children. My chief decorators were Little Tikes and Fisher-Price. I'd rather spend my time playing with my kiddoes than doing housework. Those small children are now 12 and 14 and bigger than me, so there goes that excuse! Then, I was busy working outside of the home (albeit part-time) and volunteering at the kids' schools. Then, I was back in school myself. Well, I have been out of school for months now, and I have several months before I will start working full-time. I want to take the time to seize the moment and try literally to get my house in order so I can come home to a place I love after working 12-hour shifts at the hospital.
I would LOVE to hear how you all manage to stay on top the daily grind AND find the time to get to the big stuff, too. Do you just throw away everything or have some elaborate system for dealing with "stuff"? I tried doing household chores like my menu planning and designated certain tasks on certain days of the week, but I never could stick to it: Mondays were for mail & paying bills; Tuesdays tubs and toilets (i.e., cleaning the bathrooms); Wednesdays were wash day; and Fridays were floors (sweep, mop, vaccuum). Don't remember what I had going on for Thursdays. Nowadays, it's Monday-read blogs; Tuesdays-read blogs; Wednesdays-read blogs, etc...Housework is still falling by the wayside, but I'm frustrated more and more about it. Won't you please, please help me?
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Hahaha would love to help, but I'm a huge packrat too. My husband says I'm a hoarder LOL, thankfully I'm no where near as bad as those people on the show. No help, but you have my complete and utter empathy!
ReplyDeleteI feel your pain Eastlyn. I have 4 children ages 6 and under and a lot of times my house feels worse than a frat house might look.
ReplyDeleteI am pretty much a neat freak though so here's what I do:
Mornings - kid make their beds, I make my bed
Kitchen - clean up after each meal. Kids can help if their older.
We have a storage unit for storing holiday stuff, memory stuff...worth it to get it out of the house.
Before bed everyone helps clean up the toys and straighten.
Laundry - I do it all on the weekends...older kids put away their own clothes.
Saturdays - family clean day. Each person (including me, my husband, and kids) has a chore they do. Example - me - bathrooms, husband - vaccuum, Sugar - windows, Snails - trash, ect. It's amazing how fast the house can get clean when everyone has a specific chore to do. Do it in the mornings, so it's done and you can spend the rest of the weekend spending time as a family.
Tonight I'm actually posting on not hanging on to things (clothes, books, ect.) and being able to throw things away and let things go. It's hard and I'm right there with you...that's why I did a post about it. :)
Big Fat Mama
Hi Eastlyn, i'm with you on this. work 12 hours shift... come home and am torn between reading blogs and household chores...:))
ReplyDeleteI keep this one visual in my mind before I sit down to blog/read... a computer hooked up like a "drug" to the user's arm.
ReplyDeleteI had first seen the image posted on a blog a while ago... it spoke volumes!!!
It is this uncomfortable image that reminds me to keep my priorities my priorities and my fun "bloggy" stuff, well, for fun.
Balance is soooo very hard and Amy over at "Blogging With Amy.com" recently did a great post about this very issue. :)
But don't worry- I still have my elementary school report cards, clothing from when I was in high school and for some reason... my prized crayons from the early years {still in rainbow coordinated categories= yes, I was silly even then} :)
I'm definitely no the person to turn to for household advice. I'm still using "my kids are young" excuse. They are 3 and 1. I too tried sticking to some type of organization routine. It lasted a few hours. It made things to hectic. I just go with it now. If we don't have food, I buy some. If the bathroom is overly disgusting, I clean it.
ReplyDeleteIf you ever come up with a plan, I'm open to hear it.
If you saw the photos of my blogging space that I posted today, you'd know that I'm not the one to ask for help.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, I'm just getting back to a schedule myself. I was toying with the idea of blogging at 10 am and 8 pm every day as a check-in point for my blogging buddies and I to say "Hey we tidied up" or to commiserate when we were too tired/happy/distracted to do so.
I already started a "what's for dinner" blog entry every day for emotional support when hanging from the fridge door for dinner ideas, so why not housekeeping too?
Hey Eastlyn, I feel like there is not enough time or energy to do into the houswork chores. I want to spend tome with my daughter, but the laundry, dishes, dusting, toys, papers and more just keep piling up. I need to start decluttering my house. The one thing I notcied is that I do not have a place to put everything. I read in an organization book that everything needs a home. I do not have enough storage. So I really have to figure out how to make a home or storage for things. Finding the time is another thing. That is still something to figure out. I hope you can find the energy and time to get some things done. Do one room at a time. Have a great night!
ReplyDeleteMama Hen
Hi Eastlyn, oh I do feel your pain. I'm a recovering packrat. When my hubby and I first married, he had me throw away things that I know I won't look at again or remember whether I even had it, lol. Boy was that hard, but now I'm so glad we went through that. It certainly makes it easier when new papers, things, etc. comes in - what to do with it. I still wrestle with it, but it's gotten a lot better. You have an award waiting for you at http://jinnialow.com/thanks-are-in-order
ReplyDeleteHope you have a great day!
Jinnia
It's all too easy for it all to get out of control. It breeds like mice.
ReplyDeleteYou've gotta clear out the clutter and make sure you've got a place for everything. I'm not fastidious by any means (I like a bit of rough around the edges, lived in!!) but I don't go to bed until everything is in its place.
I do a big clean once a week and I always add a 'lasting' chore to the list. Then I feel like I'm not going around and around in circles. So I'll clean the house and then clean the fridge from top to bottom. Lasting. Or dust the skirting boards. Lasting(ish). Or clear out a drawer. You get the idea!!
Hope you get on top of it soon as having mess all around you is so draining!!
For a fun take on all of this, go to my friend Not Waving, Drownings 'Domestic Godliness' files. You'll feel better instantly! Or maybe you'll send in your photos? x
http://notdrowning.wordpress.com/domestic-godlessness/
I LOVE this post! Eastlyn, this is totally my life right now. Fisher-Price and Little Tikes grace my living room and are the main decorative attractions--forget fall pumpkins. This is my "excuse" at the moment, but I was still disorganized and couldn't keep up with the housework prior to having a little one either. If you learn a "magic" solution or a "magic" schedule to keep it all under control, please fill me-in. Right now my cleaning motto is this--if it looks dirty then I'll get to it. If it doesn't (but probably is) well, it just has to wait until Spring cleaning...
ReplyDeleteI also LOVE that comic! I had a post not so long ago like this about just wanting to sit here and eat my chocolate:) It seems like I am going along fine for a while, knowing I am never going to be caught up on anything. Then something makes me lose it a bit realizing that I will NEVER be caught up on anything!
ReplyDelete