Confessions of a Bad Housekeeper
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?
Related posts:
- Confessions of a Sun Worshiper I will admit it: I adore the sun. Lying in...
- Breathe in….Breathe out…repeat I’m having one of those days. (or couple of days)...
- Lucky I am a lucky girl. I have an amazing husband...
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYYibjjzHy4
the mess behind me in this video will make you feel better about your chaos, because it pales in comparison!
Yes I can commiserate. We just took a week off homeschooling so I could clean my pigsty of a house. It’s clean (yay) I’m trying to keep it that way. I’m still not organized, that would require a full month off and the end of our renovations
Your mess makes me happy! So comforting to know that even extraordinary mommies have housekeeping issues… have you seen flylady? She is very sympathetic, and helpful too…
First of all I can help you- Skype me anytime (I am a professional organizer, you know?)
In addition, it seems that you had systems that worked before blogging and traveling became such a big part of your life…you just need to make simple tweaks to your system and everything will get back under control =)
HA HA!!! I’m definitely not mortified and have no words that can say that will inspire you. I wish I could say that it makes me feel like I’m a good housekeeper, but unfortunately, I fall into the 3rd category. I can sympatheize with you. My closet looks like that. My island in my kitchen looks likes yours. My desk is somewhere under all these papers.
I’m working on my systems…..I just don’t have time to come up with the system. LOL!
Someday I’ll show off my trouble zones!
Ummmm…is that your worst? You slay me. You are still far ahead of the pack. I can say that because I am part of the pack.
Oh, the closet…I just close the door.
I am sure this won’t make you feel better, but I get comfort in your pictures. Only because I have very similar piles in my house. I often tell myself, isn’t it more important to have fun with the girls, but then a friend stops by and I am mortified at my mess. I really am working on my messes, but I am not naturally good at keeping up my house. Thank goodness I can cook, my husband would much rather have a good meal than a clean bedroom.
Liar! You have NO children - there are no fingerprints or smudges, smears, stains on all of that whiteness. lol Don’t you wish that you could take just 1 day off just to be home alone and get organized? I sure do! You are doing fine, and you are normal. Keep up the good work.
I have to agree, your mess is comforting, as it pales in comparison to mine. Have you seen my video of my house before I had a maid service come out and clean, it was horrible, and ummm, it kind of looks that way again. Cleaning seems to take a back seat to everything else, kids, homework for kids, homework for me, work, and yes ‘me time’ comes before cleaning too.
I apologize in advance…okay, not so advance, since I already LAUGHED out loud at your idea of chaotic mess. My entire home has been consumed by a disaster area, and we are swimming in the clutter…I feel your pain, ten-fold.
i live in the exact same conditions.
sigh.
Yeah, that’s me. At my house people know to give me at least 1 hour notice before “dropping by”. Or suffer the consequences!
Danielle - thanks for all the good you do for parents! We’re talking about you over at Parental Power.
http://www.parental-power.com/?p=473
Keep up the great work.
I’ve learned to make peace with this issue over the years with 6 kids…
1. declutter and get rid of junk and things you don’t use. simplify life
2. don’t be a facist. It’s more important to build relationships than have a clean house
when the house is a total disaster do what you can for an hour and walk away, save it for another day. its not worth getting frazzled over. do the most important thing first, and do a little every day.
3. no computer, t.v. or rides for kids until they do a simple chore everyday
4. no matter what you do it will be a mess again by the end of the day, so just enjoy the experience of a busy fun loving household
5. if anyone comes over and judges me or my family because of a mess, they are not really my friend and have no clue what my life is like
6. give yourself credit for the million other amazing things you do every day that have nothing to do with cleaning- like a home made meal on the table, reading to your kid, dragging them all to church, helping in class, or supporting your kids activites.