I can't believe that I am actually showing you pictures of what a disaster our house is! I'd love to tell you that Casa de Widick NEVER looks like this and it's completely a fluke. But I'd be lying out of every orfice of my body.
In all honesty, I used to be very good at keeping my living areas clean, although my mom would disagree about my bedroom growing up. Somehow clothes, clean or dirty, would find their way stashed underneath my bed, on top of the canopy, or shoved in the closet! Not quite sure how that happened (must've been the gremlins living in the closet). My roommates have ranged from OCD cleaners to complete slobs.
My current roommates tend to be a little on the dirty side and for some reason don't always pick up after themselves. One reason is that 2 of them are animals and 2 others are still in diapers so I'll try not to hold that against them. I was pretty good about staying on top of the cleaning when there was only one kid in the house but adding Evelyn has completely thrown me for a loop. It's gotten so that I don't clean because I have no idea where to start!! I'm about ready to hire someone to clean so I can start with a clean slate.
Last night I picked up the dirty clothes and blankets that were in the living room, bathroom and kitchen. Yes I said kitchen. Don't judge. You know it's bad when the husband says 'Wow I think there's a weeks worth of clothes in here.'
Maybe my problem is that everyone in the house has too many clothes. I think the new goal is to only keep 2 weeks worth of clothes for each person. Riiiiight.....like I'll be able to avoid buying clothes for the kids. In addition to my shopping obsession, Lane has a lot of clothes (for the next 4 years based on his growth schedule) because of a very, very generous family that has given us boxes of clothes. Thank you Adrienne!! And with Evelyn, I have bags and bags of clothes thanks to my amazing family in Texas. If we ever drove down again instead of flying, I'm sure they'd send back a couple more bags with us.
Recently, I have tried to implement a new idea in which I give myself one hour to clean after the kids go to bed. So far it's worked pretty well. At least the nights where I actually do it. I find myself wanting to spend more time with the kids instead of cleaning. But who can blame me with these two?
Another thing I need to get better at is organization. To me organization and looking clean go hand-in hand. A lot of times all it takes it organizing the mess to magically look clean again. While my husband thinks we are 'cramped', I feel 'cozy' and really do like where we live. Maybe it's the difference of houses/families we grew up with. Organization and decluttering will become a close friend of mine for the next couple years as we pay down debt in order to buy a larger home. Little does Mark know that buying a larger house gives me the leverage to have our 3rd and final kid, if I decide to go that route in a few years.
I hope that this post either makes you feel better about your house or even better.....we commiserate together about the messes we live in.
