I am not an organized person by nature. My VERY organized, structured, sterotypical Type A husband would agree that I'm about as far from a natural organizer as possible. Even when I was a kid I remember my room could be a wreck and yet, somehow, I knew exactly where things were.
That's true now too. I know where things are, usually. I can nearly always tell my husband detailed directions on how to find something that's, in his eyes, missing.
"It's on the counter where we used to have the fish tank in a blue basket."
Just before Luke left for Guinea-Bissau he was searching for a watch. I gave him those instructions and he came back later saying, "If you have time, could you find that watch. I didn't see it."
I went to the location I had told him, looked, and it was there. It was just in a blue basket under another blue basket. But still, right where I knew it was.
Even though I could totally function on a day to day basis with my personal (and often chaotic) style of living, I'm beginning to realize that with our ever-expanding family, real organization is key to having a thriving, enjoyable and even manageable home.
In fact, while we were gone out of town and Luke was in Guinea-Bissau, I had someone come and clean our house. That was on Saturday. We got home Sunday and by Monday the house was a wreck. By Tuesday, I didn't even want to be home.
I want our house to be a haven for our family. I want it to reflect the love and joy I get from having such a large family. I want it to be a peaceful retreat from work for my husband and a loving, organized, clean environment for my children (and myself!).
But y'all, this comes so unnaturally for me. And by unnatural I mean it would be like a shark eating seaweed or a horse walking on its back legs.
I have great ideas for organization. I have even tried a few of them. I've tried Fly Lady. My BFF Amanda sent me this book and I'm slowly reading through it, gathering ideas and desiring (desperately) to implement them. I've tried bins and sorting and chores for our kids. I've tried systems and procedures and processes and what-not.
It all lasts about 2 weeks then we seem to have chaos hit our lives (sickness, travel, new baby) and then BOOM, we're off the wagon again and back to a cluttered, poor functioning house.
If you're a super organized, very clean living person, I'm sure our house would drive you nuts in about 57 seconds. Don't get me wrong - our house isn't up for an episode of Hoarders, and for the most part it isn't gross (I mean our kitchen/dining room floors stay pretty nasty) but it's just cluttered and unorganized and generally messy.
I found this blog where she's posting about 31 days to an organized home. I'd LOVE to try it but, honestly, I don't want to invest my time making our house more organized if we can't stick to the plan. Maybe I should try Fly Lady again. Or maybe there's another system or life-style change I could try.
Really, I just want to ask you:
What works for you to keep your home orderly, tidy and clean?
Whether you have 10 kids or no children, I find that this is an area where everyone likes new ideas, tips, tricks and methods. I'd love any ideas, sites, references or links you could provide!
Thanks!
We get so many comments about HOW CLEAN OUR HOUSE IS. I try to tell everyone our house is far from clean we just don't have STUFF.
ReplyDeleteWe are always on a never ending process of purging.
If we don't LOVE it, then we don't have room for it...GOODWILL gets it!
We don't have any kids yet but I babysit 3 children (19mo, 22mo, and 27mo) in our home each day and I am AMAZED at how cluttered it can get just over the course of the day. I generally work my tail off to keep it picked up during the day. I have realized over the last year or so that the key just might be owning less stuff. I like the project this blogger does each year over the lenten season. It might be an easy way for you to start off over the coming days as you work to develop a routine that works for you.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.memoriesoncloverlane.com/search/label/Declutter%3A%2040%20Bags%20In%2040%20Days
my plan from the begining was that my kids never have more toys then they can personally clean up themselves. So they have little...but more than enough. I think the key is having less, having a place for everything and encouraging the children to play with one thing at a time. Have them be a part of putting all thier stuff away each night. The more they are involved, the more they will tend to remember to clean as they go during the day. It is all about creating good habits in the kids...try it with baby steps. Then maybe have the kids responsible for a different area of the house (and rotate it). If they are responsible for keeping the toys put away in a certain area, they will be more considerate of thier spaces and the spaces of others.
ReplyDeleteOur house is generally neat, but not spotless...by any stretch of the imagination. But, as others said, I am the queen of throwing things away/donating them. It drives my husband crazy how excited I get when I can take something out of our house forever! But with that said, we're in the process of making our kids MORE responsible for their actions and things. One idea that a friend mentioned just yesterday that we will be trying is the "uh-oh" jar. It is supposed to have small bits of paper with chores, activities, etc. When the kiddos make a poor choice, they will have to draw something out of the uh-oh jar and complete the task. The way things go at our house some weeks, I'll be nominated for cleanest house of the century! :)
ReplyDeleteFirst, let me say...you and i are from the SAME mold. and apparently we have the same type A husbands! i, too, have done fly lady and countless other methods and like you, it lasts two weeks and then i'm derailed for one reason or another.
ReplyDeletehowever, we live in a REALLY small house and my type A/OCD husband cannot handle mess -- and after 13 years together i've come to agree with him. now, i LOVE a neat clean house, but it is MAJOR work for me to achieve it. it doesn't come naturally. here are a few things i have found that help me keep things tidy...
• don't go to bed with dishes in the sink. this is an adaptation of fly lady. my sink isn't always spotless and i am not obsessive, but i do try my best to get those dishes in the dishwasher before going to bed. makes for a more organized morning AND it keeps them from stacking up.
• at our house toys are not allowed in the living room/dining room/kitchen areas. it is amazing what this rule does in keeping our living area nice, neat, and peaceful. they have plenty of space in their bedroom, playroom and outside to play.
• my girls get a "towel for the week." once they have used their towels to dry off after bathing, they have assigned hooks for their towel. that way, 10 towels aren't suddenly used & in the hamper, creating mounds of laundry. i do change these sometimes in the middle of the week, but they don't know it.
• assigned cups. this helps keep the dishes under control. you can use real cups/glasses OR buy solo cups and put names w/ a sharpie.
if i think of anymore, i'll send them your way. :0)
I saw the title and started laughing. I think you should have titled it "Nesting". You know how I am. I know how you are. I've come to terms with it. We aren't all the same nor should we try to be. But, I do agree that it is to our respective families' benefit that we try to maintain some sort of order. My advice is that you do all that you can that is mentioned in the book now because in a few short months it will all go to pot. That's where I'm at now and it is STRESSING my type A self OUT! But I keep telling myself to be patient because there is a plan in place when I can get back to it. It helps me knowing that it won't always be like this but that some day I will have a method of keeping the laundry under control... when I'm not devoting several hours a day to nursing a baby. The best thing I took from the book was that our lives are not static and we should not expect our houses to look as if our circumstances never change. Take each season for what it is and do what you can when you can. I really liked her advice for the morning sickness days. Just get off the couch and do one thing then go lay back down. Somehow that really helped me not feel so overwhelmed. Actually I would end up doing three things just because I felt able once I got started. Good advice for someone like me who gets overwhelmed just walking from the kitchen to the bedroom by all the stuff that needs to be done.
ReplyDeleteyet another commonality between you and i. i've recently decided we have too much crap. so i'm getting rid of a lot of it. and that has helped. no more clutter here. ;) our bedroom could've won a hoarders award a few months ago. i take it slow and easy, and try to not stress. because my kids are only little for a short time...i can clean it when they're gone. BUT to keep it looking nice and picked up is my goal. and most days it happens. how? i do not know. lol.
ReplyDelete