Ok, I’m bringing you all right into my world on this one.
The other day I tweeted this. I was trying to motivate myself to fight my inner slob. But you? You all responded in agreement. Apparently many of you have the same bad housekeeper battle too.
Unfortunately, my inner slob has turned into an outer slob. Work is piling up, and my house is disintegrating to the point that I no longer recognize it. Who lives like this?
Clearly, I do.
And my excuse, “it is only because I have kids – their toys and papers are everywhere!” no longer makes sense – even to me.
In an attempt to kick myself into gear, I am going to show you just how bad I am now.
One of three things will happen:
1) You will be mortified and provide me with sage advice that will get me going and help me to stay tidy.
2) You will smile and pat yourself on the back for managing to be even moderately tidier than I am (but still offer wisdom)
3) You will sympathize. You will tell me you understand the chaos.
Either way I will feel better. I will smile.
And when I am happy, I am motivated.
Not always to clean – but today?? I will figure it out.
Baby steps, right?
So, here goes:
This is my ‘catch- all’ kitchen counter. Yes, clearly I am in need of a better filing system.
And this is the area of the house where we come in from the garage – also a dumping ground.
This is my dresser…..I stop here on the way from one place to another to just ‘set things down for a second’ (or for days!)
And my closet? Simply no excuse. Some of the clothes on the floor are to be donated, some to be put away for warmer weather.
And the bathroom? Disaster – even IN the drawers.
And finally? This top shelf in the pantry USED to be organized – until Delaney started Kindergarten and Coop started preschool and they began to come home with a bizillion papers a day. Feel free to yell ‘Pack Rat!’ at your computer. I deserve it.
Not only is living in chaos driving me C-R-A-Z-Y, I am definitely less efficient. I spend too much time searching for things I can’t find. And, I’m afraid I am a far cry from the model my kids need.
P.S. I didn’t show you the laundry room or my office….but simply imagine.
Help?
Your house looks better than mine! I have 7 kids and I am overwhelmed by the mess. I can’t get any advice from the other large family moms I know, because they invariably say, “I gave up after kid #3” (or 4,5,6…you get the idea). I don’t want to give up but I don’t even know where to start restoring order to the chaos.
I understand not wanting to give up. As I don’t have the full household you do, I’m not sure I’m equipped to offer you the best advice (you’ve probably thought of everything I’m going to say) but, maybe give your kids some of the responsibility? Can the older ones tackle tasks like laundry (my 12 and 14 year olds have been doing their own for a few years now) while the younger put items in baskets belonging to certain family members? Maybe designate one day (Friday before you head in to the weekend or Sunday evening before the beginning of the week) that the entire family is responsible for a room – then you can avoid taking it all on yourself AND have the bonus of a break from the chaos. Good luck!
Don’t feel bad. I am a slob too. And I can’t blame it on the kids, or the husband or the dog. Because I don’t have any of them. I have always been a slob but not as bad as I am now. I leave a bunch of dishes in the sink, to lazy to load the dishwasher as I dirty the dishes.I leave the dishes in the sink for about a week. (totally disgusting I know) Don’t know why I am like this. If someone is coming to my house I have to know a few days in advance so I can fix it up. No sooner do they leave I let the stuff pile up again. I truly hate being like this but can’t get out of this funk. I already take anti depression medication which does work for depression. So I don’t know if this is the reason that I am a slob or not.