It’s been so long since I’ve participated in the Spin Cycle, I didn’t want to let yet another week pass without my participation, so forgive me for digging in to the archives and rejuvenating a previous post for the benefit of the Spin. Edited for content, of course, and to freshen it up a bit to keep it interesting.
Once upon a time, when I was working 60+ hours a week in the Corporate World, I always somehow managed to keep my house or apartment spotlessly clean. It was second nature, making sure things were put away. Possibly bordering on OCD with everything having a place and everything in its place.
Fast forward to when Princess Nagger was born and I decided to leave the Corporate World to stay home with her, I still kept the house neat and tidy. It was a bit more of a challenge, particularly with the hubby being prone to leaving things lying around willy nilly, and Princess Nagger’s toys growing with each passing holiday and birthday.
She inherited the propensity to leave things laying about from the Absent Minded Professor. But since I wasn’t ensconced in multiple hours of working away from home, I rolled with it, and things were mostly always in their place. I didn’t have to worry about drop-in visitors because things were clean enough to forgo embarrassment.
As Princess Nagger grew out of babyhood into the toddler stages, the number of toys continued to grow, as did the mess. She has inherited the pack-rat mode from me, unwilling to part with things because she may want or need them “some day”.
I had a crazy dream that when she started school, I’d have plenty of time to surreptitiously weed out the excess and restore order to the chaos that had grown over the years. Now that she’s in 4th grade, that dream has yet to become a reality. It’s amazing how much you anticipate all this free time when you choose to leave the workforce and stay home to raise the kidlets – somehow those 24 hours in a day simply aren’t enough to get everything done.
When Little Dude joined our family last summer, the collection of ‘stuff’ has doubled, along with the tornadic mess both kids are guilty of, plus the grown kid also known as the husband. It’s a miracle if my house is picked up on a weekly monthly basis, forget about the daily mode I used to do once upon a time.
Now I simply dream of a tidy house and hope that dream comes true some day. I’ve thought about hiring someone to clean, but I’m so OCD I’d end up having to clean first before having someone else come in and clean because I wouldn’t want to be embarrassed by the mess. Ahem. We’re planning on moving back to my home state of Washington this summer, so it’s only going to get worse before it gets better.
Though the impending move will force me to take stock and do some serious purging because I really don’t want to move all the accumulated stuff cross country. Hopefully we’ll find the perfect house that has extra rooms specifically designed to contain the every day messes – like a cool playroom for the kids like this:
And definitely a big-girl playroom for me and my crafty stuff, something similar to Martha Stewart’s cool craft room:
Then maybe I can adopt the godliness aspect of cleanliness.
How do you keep order in your house? Or is your house like mine, with that ‘lived in’ look?
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This Clean Spin Cycle was brought to you part by the lovely Gretchen at Second Blooming, whose house I imagine as spotless and fun. Checkout the other Spinners and see how clean they are, too – maybe we’ll get some tips that can be put into practice. And by ‘we’, I mean me.
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I do believe to what you have said. Well it is true that cleanliness is not to Godliness because it is where we can see the true personality of one person.
TracyAnn0312 would like you to read ..natural treatment for add
I love having my own room. I can then make rules about it’s cleanliness or lack there of. Of course, I had to wait until the kids were out of the house to get my own room. Now, if I didn’t have to share it with the guest room life would be perfect. *sigh*
Michele would like you to read ..We can afford that town
Yeah, those extra rooms when all the kids finally move out? Grandkids move into them, at least on the weekends. *sigh*
Jan’s Sushi Bar would like you to read ..Oxtail Ragout
I think the moving thing is REALLY going to help you purge. When we bought our house, we had a garage sale that was SO huge, people couldn’t figure out how all that stuff had been in one apartment! It was SO freeing! Plus, we made a few hundred dollars, which didn’t hurt!
You are linked!
Gretchen would like you to read ..Dear Men
I have a feeling that when I finally have a picture-perfect clean house, I’ll be wishing I had the pitter-patter of little feet tracking in dirt again. I’m doing the best I can to keep my house tidy, but I’ve accepted the fact it’s not going to be spotless with kids in the house, and that’s totally okay with me.
Heather would like you to read ..3 Things I Learned from My Dietitian
I once had a craft room of my own. Then when #2 arrived, I was banished to a craft closet. Now with #3, I share my craft closet with gift supplies, wrapping, etc. to the point that it is overflowing into the hallway. I still dream of a sweet craft room like that one in the future… some day!
Carrie would like you to read ..My cellphone is in timeout.
I try, I try really hard, but I fail pretty hard too at keeping the house in order as well. I am just looking forward to moving the boys into the same room this summer so that I can reclaim our 4th bedroom as a craft room!!!
Lauryn would like you to read ..Week 10: I Think it May Be My Favorite CSA Share Yet
I’m lucky in that I do have a room for my office and everything else I do. Generally, my house is okay, though I’ve got stuff I need to go through. I’m finding with my increased blogging time that decluttering projects have been going by the way side.
Barb would like you to read ..fabulously frugal thursday: winter fun at chuck e. cheese’s
Oh, I would love to have a playroom for the kids AND for me! That’s just not going to happen. My house definitely has that lived in look!
Ginny Marie would like you to read ..I Clean.