If you look to the right of this post, you will find other bloggers I follow. "Kelly's Korner" was running a "How do you clean and organize" post on Friday, which made me think of this post that's been swirling around in my head for awhile. My home is NEVER picture perfect, but it's good enough for us and I'm usually not too embarrassed if someone drops by. (I've been known to rush out with frosting still in the mixing bowl and powdered sugar on the counter and hoped nothing would happen to me before I got home to clean it up, however, ha!)
Here's a little story to start.........
A long time ago, there lived a girl who dreamed of home and family. In her dream, her house and children were sparkling clean all the time. There was never an unexpected illness, activities were planned within the time frames that suited the family, and hot dinners that the entire clan declared delicious and then consumed were on the table at 5:30. Housework and chores were taken care of in such a fashion that everything was in fine working order. On the off chance there was the tiniest glitch in the system, (possibly, once every 5 years) it would remedied by a quick, helpful 10 minute family pick-up.
Ummmmm, I feel sorry for that girl too ;)
So, here's how I handle life in the "awake" world.
- I never clean my whole house at once. I tackle what I can on most days. Truthfully, at this phase in life, it isn't so much deep cleaning as it is maintaining. If it's a work day for me, I do a few things in the morning and evening. If I'm not working, (at my job) I do as much as I can in between errands and shuttling kids around, then collapse at the end of the day while I wonder if it wouldn't have been easier to go to work ;)
- In a given week, if I keep up with kitchen, bathrooms, laundry, meals, and a quick vacuum, it is "HIGH-FIVE, GIRLFRIEND!" I didn't finish vacuuming this week, but am still rewarding myself with a glass of wine and People magazine. See, reward systems work for grownups too!
- I pick up/clean up/run around my house like a maniac in 5 or 10 minute chunks. After a couple of these, I can see marked improvement. Its funny, I always thought once all the kids were in school all day, keeping a clean house would be a breeze. HA.
- Sometimes we really do a quick, 10 minute family pick-up. Hey, never let the dream completely die.
- Laundry. I've talked about it ad nauseam. It is always with us. The end.
- I've learned to let a few things go. I don't know if it's age, tiredness, apathy, or a combination of all the above. I'm not as wound up as I used to be if I go to bed with some dirty dishes in the sink or if I didn't get around to organizing a pile of paper. I would still prefer it DONE, but I know that the reason it isn't finished is because something else important most likely took priority. Don't get me wrong, the nights that end with an empty sink and clear surfaces is just terrific, but I don't beat myself up if it waits until morning.
- I'm sure I'll think of a couple more once I hit "publish," but for the most part, this is my system. It certainly won't win any Martha Stewart awards, but how often does Martha sit down with a good book and some chocolate?
(Well, now that I think of it, she has "people," so maybe more often than I think??)
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