Right now, we're in a fortunate cleaning groove here at home--I tidy up everyone's mess once, in our first break from schoolwork, and then for the rest of the day I point out each mess to the person to whom it belongs for tidying. The kids do a full load of dishes, and Matt does another after dinner. The kids also take down the dirty laundry and take out the recycling; I do laundry off and on, and Matt does more on the weekends, and sorts the recycling that the kids have put in the garage. I make most dinners each week, and try to make at least some food for other meals or snacks--baked goods, overnight oatmeal, tofu salad, etc.--and Matt makes maybe one dinner, and some nights we eat sandwiches or frozen pizza.
The key is that all this nonsense has to be done Every. Freakin'. DAY. If I'm busy one day and don't get the house tidied, then I guarantee that the next day, the mess will be too great to tidy in a reasonable amount of time, and the clutter will overpower all humans until the weekend. If I don't remind the kids every single time they've made a mess, they'll never clean it up. If two loads of dishes don't get done every single day, the sink will never be clear of dishes, probably for weeks. If I don't get into the kitchen to cook, we'll blow our budget on take-out pizza. We don't mop enough. We definitely don't clean the bathtub enough.
And, of course, very, very soon, spring will unfurl and we'll have all-new outdoor chores to add to the daily list, and then nothing will ever be completely cleaned again, for sure.
3 comments:
Maybe we should have had more kids. Child labor sounds wonderful right now.
I made Emma help me clear as much floor space as possible yesterday so that we (I) could vacuum.
The pile of dishes that almost brought be to tears every time I looked at it is finally almost tamed (thanks to a bit of rearranging and the drying rack being emptied as soon as the dishes dried).
Our tub is actually fairly clean thanks to a leaking kitchen faucet. The leak soaked a box of baking soda and instead of tossing it, I dumped it into the tub. Each time I took a shower (until the pile was gone), I would grab a handful and scrub a portion of the tub/shower. I'm tempted to always keep a pile of baking soda in the tub...
The laundry gets done on the weekend, with the exception of one weekday load of the hubby's uniforms. He does the washing/drying and Emma does the folding and most of the putting away. We recently switched to soap nuts for our laundry as the homemade detergent was leaving a film on our washer and spots on our clothes (we have REALLY hard water).
I have the urge to rearrange the living room again as the last rearrangement isn't as comfy as I had wanted. If I can get it done before next week, then I can enjoy my week off of school instead of spending it cleaning.
And yes, I should probably think about mopping my floors more regularly.
Living in a small house is forcing me to be a better housekeeper. Not a good one, but at least a better one.
There is a lot to be said about having a small house, because we basically HAVE to keep it clean, or there would be nowhere to walk or sit or play.
One of my friends has the same philosophy about clothes--she knows exactly how many outfits her kids have, and it's a small number. I don't have many clothes, because I keep losing weight, but I have to admit that my kids have LOADS of clothes. Our local thrift shops are so cheap that every time I see some truly awesome piece of clothing for the kids I buy it, AND they get hand-me-downs from friends, AND I sew them clothes a lot. And at the same time, our laundry burden is ridiculously impossible. So one of my goals for myself this year is to amass far fewer articles of clothing for the children; we'd be required to actually keep up with the laundry!
oh my goodness. that second to last paragraph. i could have said that.
amen amen and amen!
(we're trying SO hard to establish better habits and make sure everything is cleaned and vacuumed before bed. working, but i'm tired of it. but we don't mop enough...)
Post a Comment