My house has been in utter chaos. We usually can pull together a room or two, but it is only just barely straightened up and livable, and it lasts all of a day or two before it is unbearable again.
Last week, I cleaned my bedroom. I hauled out at least one large garbage bag of donations and a kitchen garbage bag full of trash (including what was in the trash can). I also thoroughly cleaned the bathrooms, but I didn't touch the closets which still require purging and organizing. This week, I cleaned DD's room (by far the worst room in the house, aside from the guest room which will require some massive closet cleaning and purging. I removed, again, a bunch of stuff to donate--a large boxful--and a big bag of trash. I then moved to the boys' room, reorganizing their drawers, which pulled open and apart and weren't being closed, put things away, and gathered up a huge pile of legos for them to sort and put away. I swept, but I didn't do much else in there. It wasn't that long ago that we cleaned that room thoroughly, and I am hoping the boys will actually get their stuff taken care of and then I will go in and actually dust and sweep and mop. Aside from some general straightening and purging of obvious stuff, I did not mess with the clothes. I will be cleaning my laundry room and dealing with clothing-related stuff next week, at which point, I'm hoping the weather will take a definite direction and I will be able to pack up the summer stuff, LOL.
I am following the Organized Christmas plan from Organized Home. I think the laundry and clothes are next week; it might actually be guest room, in which case I will switch them because I need to clean up the laundry room which we enter and exit the house through to the garage.
Anyway, I feel like I'm getting nowhere. This morning, I walked in my DS's room after he got dressed to see his drawer pulled open and the clothes he put away last night stuffed on top. Two of his shirts that were part of the laundry to be put away were laying on the floor in another part of the room.
It's hard for me to look around and not see what's not done right now. And every time I get something done, it seems to be quickly slipping away. I fear that by the time I get done purging and thoroughly cleaning everything that I will be back to square one with the first rooms. I am trying to keep basic stuff done in the kitchen, bath, and living areas, but way too often, the messes are beyond basic, YK?
UGH. I am just so discouraged. I keep telling myself that every little bit will count, and it will be that much easier as each room gets done, and my favorite silly thing I tell myself, "The clean will spread."
I just don't feel like I'm getting anywhere, and I have to fight for every ounce of help I get from the kids, and it's killing me right now. Sorry. I just needed a good vent. Maybe by the end of next week, I will have made enough progress that I will feel a little better.
__________________ Jody
Mama to two boys (5-10-98 and 6-01-01), and two girls (11-18-03 and 1-11-07)
you are doing hard work mama. Keep building in routines, and weeding out stuff, eventually it will shift!
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Love... All Ways,
Misty and Zia
"......there is no single effort more radical in its potential for saving the world than a transformation of the way we raise our children."
-- Marianne Williamson
Location: "One of the cardinal rules of joyful living is that judging others takes a great deal of energy, and, without exception, pulls you away from where you want to be." Quote by Richard Carlson
Posts: 7,249
Quote:
Originally Posted by hematite
you are doing hard work mama. Keep building in routines, and weeding out stuff, eventually it will shift!
I agree. We are working on that right now and it is a slow process, but I see progress.
Dh even commented on that this week.
Keep it up, you can do it!!
__________________ Evi,
raising two beautiful souls of the next generation!!
"Sometimes I know I am looked at as an 'oddball', not that I mind being an odd-ball,
I choose to be the odd-ball. I actually wonder why there are so many wanting to be 'squares!'"
I'm in the same boat. I've been beyond busy for the last year, and it's not a whole lot better. So while I don't do the brunt of the cleaning, I'm not around (either physically or mentally, lol) enough to make sure things get done, and get done right. And the cleanliness of the house is suffering a LOT. I would be absolutely mortified if someone I wasn't REALLY close friends with stopped by at this point.
But, we're on a new "program". Each kid has chores on a checklist (printed out chart in a page protector) in a folder to check off each day - must get done before dinner (and dh and I check it off after we've checked that it's done right). We also have a "quick" 15-20 minute pickup of the main living areas 3x times a day. While they're picking up the clutter, I work on the checklist from motivated moms. Right now, the house still isn't where I'd like it. But we're not overwhelmed yet, and it's improving. I still need to declutter some, but most of it's done, and it's made a huge difference in how long things stay clean.
__________________
Allison mama to:
DH (lol), Chrissy 16, Mikhail 14, Kiera 11, Kivett 9, Aislinn 7, Alannah 4, Kian 22mo, and baby number 8 due in Feb.
Thanks, Mamas. It's gotta shift. I mean, I can't keep hauling stuff out of the house and have no shift, right? And, my room is clean. It's hard to see the clean bedrooms when I'm staring at a trashed living room or kitchen. I am saving those for last, though, as those rooms definitely have a way of returning to square one in a hurry. Plus, when the bedrooms, etc. are clean, it makes it that much easier to put the stuff that strays into the rest of the house away, right?
And, only a high of 70 today, so we may actually be looking at fall now. It seems funny that I'm ready to pack up the beach towels and shorts, but maybe that is a sign of my reaching a point that I *really* am going to enjoy what every season has to offer, which has been a goal of mine, LOL.
It is hard work but keeping a clean house is MUCH easier once you have the clutter out. When my kids have a hard time putting their clothes away or keeping clean things neat, I figure it is time to purge some clothes. I had to do that yesterday in #3's pjs. Less really does help them keep things neater.
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Robin wife to one awesome guy for 19 years,
mama to four beautiful boys
Making progress...slowly but surely. Last Friday, our water heater sprung a leak (or we found it on Friday). The water drained pretty much directly into our spare bedroom. It dried out fine, but I couldn't just put everything back where was before when it all needed to be sorted and organized. As it turned out, for extra inspiration, the Organized Christmas assignment was the guest bedroom. So, this week, I went through everything: two closets of crafts, games, office, dress up clothes, musical instruments, and some other assorted toys.
There is still a pile of computer stuff that DH has to go through. I'm hoping most of it will leave our house, but, if not, there is room in the closet--a couple empty shelves!--for it. I still need to wash the bedding and want to pull the bed out and vacuum. I have asked DH to put up a curtain rod in there that we bought last spring so I can hang some sheers in there to replace the nasty broken blinds that are in there now. I picked up a $6 mirror that I have also asked him to hang on the back of the door to facilitate dress-up play (and I am guessing that someone staying in that room would appreciate it as well). So, it is nearly done, and SOOO much better. A few more bags of trash and donations out!
Next week is the laundry room. It is in desperate condition right now due to everything being pulled out of the utility closet. But, for today, I am making a sweep around the house so that we can enjoy our weekend with a relatively clean house. I'm not touching the laundry room, except for some laundry that needs doing, LOL. So far, I have picked up, dusted, and vacuumed the downstairs living room, cleaned the downstairs bath, and taken care of a couple other jobs that need doing. On to the next room!
Location: "One of the cardinal rules of joyful living is that judging others takes a great deal of energy, and, without exception, pulls you away from where you want to be." Quote by Richard Carlson
Posts: 7,249
WTG on the progress.
We have had some progress too and it all happened after a water-incident too when we had a drain backup and I had to rescue all the shoes from the floor and then decided to declutter the shoe situation and got rid of 15 pairs of mine and DH's shoes and the kids shoes that are way to wore out (good kids shoes are being resold on ebay). That is when I decided to go and fill a load and take it to goodwill and made sure i wrote all the items down individually to be able to use it for tax purpose.
I am working on this, as well. We just moved, and have unpacked the essentials, but have all the dregs and moving debris lying around.
Today, I need to be home for most of the day b/c I have an appliance repairman coming. So I am using the time to force myself to deal with the leftover boxes. Hope to make some good progress.
I have an opinion on this. Homes with children especially are living, breathing, entities of their own. This means they are constantly in flux. I have really worked hard lately to abandon the need for perfection because honestly, things are in and out of use all day long. For example, you can clean your kitchen, but it is going to be used continually throughout the day, so it is going to take constant cleaning.
I did a huge purge/declutter/organization this summer. But for day to day I am trying this out. Every morning I go through and do my upstairs (which is our bedrooms and bathroom). I clean the bathroom, make up the beds, pick up the laundry. That is then done and we don't really go back up there too much during the day. Then we live in the downstairs (kitchen, dining, living room, half bath) and around 4 we start to clean up for the day. After dinner dh helps me do the dishes and then before bed we do a final pick up as a family. Now THAT just stays on top of the mess. Oh and I am trying to really instill "pick up after yourself" for EVERYONE in the family.
In the past I have done all the heavy cleaning but I think we are going to start spending our Saturday mornings cleaning. I hate to use up weekend/family time but really, I am tired of doing all the cleaning myself and really it doesn't take long as a family. And then do a few cleaning projects here and there on my own.
That is my NEW plan, lol putting it into action this week. So far it is going well. I just decided I am sick of cleaning all the freaking time just for it to get messed back up.
Jody
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