Confessions of a Bad Housekeeper

Posted by Danielle on November 21, 2009 · 17 Comments

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.