I am a librarian by trade. Therefore, one would think this would make me an organized person in life. I mean I catalog and arrange books for a large portion of my day. I get annoyed when I look at the shelves of my library and they are out of order and a mess. But unfortunately, these awesome work skills just do not seem to translate into my everyday life. Looking for the mom who lost the party invitation? Look no further. How about going out to buy new school shoes because you can’t find your daughter’s other shoe? Been there, done that. Oh why do I have three bags of opened quinoa in my pantry? I keep buying more because I forget that I already have some. Meal planning? Definitely not happening here. I am at Whole Foods pretty much 4 days a week. The cashiers know my kids.
There was a time when we had a cleaning lady. Every two weeks, I looked forward to the day where my house was spotless and clean. Now I’m the cleaning lady. The laundry is stacked in piles in the kitchen, bedrooms, hallway and in front of the washer. I have big plans of folding it all and putting it away but by the time I get to this, the kids are asleep which means I can’t put the clothes in their room. The living room floor gets cleaned only when someone spills something (which is pretty often actually) or when we have company coming. My dining room table has become a landing pad for all sorts of stuff: school papers, receipts, cleaning stuff for the floor, paper towels, bags, probably some bubbles, etc.
We built a playroom about 2 years ago in hopes to contain the toys from spilling into my living room. It worked for like 5 minutes. My living room has toys all over. Once a week I have to move the couch to see what has gathered under it. My dogs love when I do this because there are usually lots of crumbs and food along with toys, shoes, socks and underwear. (Yeah, my kids like to take off all their clothes the second they walk into the house.) Then I take the toys and put them back in the playroom. But the playroom looks like someone just took all the toys and threw them in the air and let them land. We have lots of organization containers in there but the kids don’t see the value of them as much as I do.
I’m not sure if this messiness is a product of having kids but I do know my house is a wreck on more days than it’s not. I would love for it to look like something out of Domino magazine, but I don’t think that will happen for quite some time. So, I’ve tried to embrace it. As the saying goes, “Bless this mess.” My husband loves to say that one day I will miss the mess because it will mean the kids are either grown or gone. I’m not so sure I agree. I know people say that you can clean when the kids go to bed, but by that time I’m just too exhausted.
In the mean time, I suggest that if you plan on stopping over unexpectedly, be prepared to see two small dogs barking and eating food from the floor, two girls jumping on the couch and a living room full of toys strewn about. We can move the crap on the dining room table to the other end and enjoy a glass of wine while your kid gets in on the insanity. I promise my bathroom is clean, though.
Girl, my house is the same way. I have 3 kids ages 17, 13, and 8. I homeschool the younger 2, plus I keep 2 toddlers. So my house is always in some kind of mess LOL. I do try to keep my bathrooms clean though :D.
At least your bathroom is clean!!! We are all just trying to survive and I think you are doing a great job!!
Hey there. Let’s be friends. Our dogs can have crumb cleanup play dates and our kids can have sock scavenger hunts.
Sounds normal to me. My house looks like TRU had a major stomach virus and used my house to catch it all.
My house is definitely not as clean and organized as I would like it to be. Except for those rare occasions when I do have enough energy after Addison goes to bed & I get on a cleaning kick. But those sure don’t happen as often as they should.
Boy, we sure do have a lot in common!!! 🙂 I will have to have it cleaned this weekend because of party here!!! I am taking offers on anyone who wants to help clean! I will pay in alcohol and great company!!! Lol
Not judging….just sharing what works for me….I am about a 7.5. Check out http://www.flylady.net
Can we be besties?? Seriously, story of my life! I have learned to just accept my house will never be ‘clean’. Babies don’t keep!
Hi ladies! Thank you so much for posting and I’m so glad that y’all can relate. Life is hectic, why waste precious time with our kids cleaning? 🙂
Danielle and Lindsay- Of course we can be friends!
Megan, I seriously laughed out loud a few times while reading this, only because I can totally relate. I also have multiple bags of quinoa in the cabinet and I just moved a couch cushion to look for the missing Lightning McQueen car, only to find an entire pile of bunny crackers (I wonder how long that has been there).