LESSON NUMBER ONE
My sister in law, Laura, taught me something new. Now to EVERYONE reading this blog, you will think, "seriously Tawnie? Seriously?" Here it goes.
Laura use to come help me a bit, at a time when I couldn't do it alone. She suggested I buy a laundry basket for each bedroom and have the kids put all of their dirty clothes in it then when it was time to do laundry, go around to each basket and take out what I need to do the loads I plan to do.
I think it took me a few months before I actually went through with this and Christmas of 2011, I purchased a nice laundry basket for each bedroom. Each bedroom has a different color and they were nice baskets from Target that cost $10 or $11. I know. Sounds completely ridiculous but they were the right size, they had different colors, and they are super sturdy. Fast forward one year + and laundry is a pretty successful thing around here and those baskets were the best purchase I've made in a long time.
The kids quickly learned to use their baskets. Thomas a little too much because he fills it with everything, clean or dirty. I didn't like the idea of a laundry basket filled with dirty clothes just sitting in their room but guess what?!!!! Now their floor doesn't stay covered with dirty clothes.
I made Laura's system my own and when I'm ready to do laundry, I ask a kid or two to bring me their basket. I get their laundry done and put it back in their basket to go back to their room.
This system has been AWESOME!!! My laundry room isn't covered with clothes all the time, my kids aren't complaining that they don't have clean clothes or socks and it is SO NICE to be able to say, when they ask where somehting is, that everything is washed and what's not, is in your basket. Holy moly. It's heaven sent. Thank you Laura!!!
Now, it's not perfect ALL the time but it has made a huge difference in my life and the life of my family. Two things need to be done to make the system better: 1. immediately get the clothes folded and sent to the rooms so I don't have clothes on my couch all the time. 2. get a basket for mine and John's bathroom!
LESSON NUMBER TWO
I was talking to Lisa today about cleaning. We tend to follow the same pattern in our cleaning which is we pretty much don't do it and aren't good at it. We pretty much just maintain our mess. :) Hopefully Lisa doesn't mind that I'm sharing her secret here along with mine. Although, it's not much of a secret. Luck has it that both of us were able to clean our entire homes this last weekend, except the one room that collects everything.
Lisa stopped by today and saw that my house was still pretty clean but I pointed out the little things here and there that are starting to clutter. She said that she told herself today that if she doesn't stay on top of it today, then it will fall apart completely. This is when we both realized that even if we stay on top of it today so it won't fall apart, we're going to have to do that AGAIN tomorrow. We'll have to stay on top of it AGAIN tomorrow so it doesn't fall apart for the next day and then it dawned on us. :)
Wow. People with clean houses, work every day to stay up on it so it doesn't completely fall apart day after day.
hahahahahahahahahahahahaha.
And really it only takes one day with families our size. Half a day. In fact, I think the whole place can and does sometimes fall apart in the one hour before everyone leaves for work and school and I'm left with the mess.
What a novel idea. So this means that Lisa and I can't clean really hard and get a lot done and expect that we should have a nice break because we worked so hard the day before. Really?!! But shouldn't we get a break after working hard? Doesn't that seem right? Duh!! I wish it could be that way but darn it. I'm going to have to learn to work hard to keep up on my house day after day after day after day after day.
I've tried today. I've worked hard and I don't enjoy it but I will admit that it was heavenly to leave this afternoon for lessons, etc. and come home a couple hours later and see that the house was clean. I forgot that it was and it was a pleasant surprise.
So really, an hour a day, cleaning up after our messes, and a good 20 minutes in the evening and it should stay okay, right? Now how do I get myself to cling to this concept and not forget it and make it habit? How do I learn to enjoy that hour? And on top of keeping up with it, how do I get that one room, the catch all, that sadly in our house is mine and John's room, clean?
You know, I'm kind of seeing that if I make this habit and keep it clean, I just might be able to start adding in "deep cleaning" jobs. And maybe, just maybe, I might be able to think about doing a project or hobby or something I'd enjoy because I won't be so overwhelmed with the thought of "I can't do anything because my house is a mess".
Please...wish me luck. And say a little prayer. For Lisa too. :)
