I was talking with some friends the other day about getting things done around the house and time management. The thought came to me that my mom is amazing at this skill. I'm not trying to brag here, I'm just stating an observation. My mom had two small children and a teen age boy living at home and a full time job and our house was always picked up and clean and not only that I know I didn't spend my time at home watching hours and hours of TV. She had both my sister and I in private music lessons when we were five, which basically means she had to spend at least an hour a day helping us practice. So the question is how did she do it? I have two small children, but no outside job and no teen age boy. I feel as though the clutter in my home is slightly out of my control about 70% of the time, my house is a disaster about 40% of the time and would embarrass me if people just dropped by about 20% of the time.
I have learned not to compare myself to other moms around me because you never see behind closed doors. I don't see what they looked like, or how their house was, or the way their children were behaving or if that mom was having a rough day an hour before I show up. The thing is though, I have seen behind my mom's closed doors. I did see how we lived and the level of order that was pretty much maintained in our house.
Perhaps this is an issue of perception? I'd like to think I just didn't notice things because I was little, but I really don't think so. Perhaps the issue is that by the time I can remember how our house was my mom had a good 7 years of practice under her belt (my sister is about 3 years older than I am). Maybe that's just wishful thinking though.
So the question in the air is this: Is your home as ordered as you want it? Is your level of order the level that you had when you were growing up? How do you achieve your comfort level? Any tricks? (My mom just says to stay on top of it, but how do you do that when breakfast is over and you have a baby crying at you and a toddler wanting attention and you need to get the dishes done?) Any pitfalls? (I know a big one for me is wanting to SLEEP and if I can't do that then I just lay down and lose all productivity.) Do you do an extra cleaning when "grandma" is coming?
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12 comments:
haha, good job on only being embarrassed 20% of the time if someone stops by. Luckily I don't get many unexpected visitors other than the UPS guy...
I definitely clean up extra when my mom comes to visit. I have actually been working on my productivity at home. My main problem is that I am sooo tired all the time. Then when I have the time to do some cleaning I am totally overwhelmed and it gets me unmotivated. Anyways, I am still working on this problem, so I don't have any tips. But hey, you're not alone and you're doing way better than me. So good job!!
Well, one thing that you aren't factoring in is, because I was at work, the house was empty for about 6 hours a day and people were asleep for 8 hours a day. So there were 14 hours a day where the only mess was dust falling from the atmosphere. Keep that in mind when you are comparing. BTW comparisons are not the way to go.
Mom
I'm hearing you sistah! My mom had 10 kids and yet our house always seemed to be in really really good shape. She was very particular about cleaning (we vacuumed/dusted 3 times a week, cleaned bathrooms 2 times a week without fail!). I don't know how the heck she did it. I'm pretty good at the germy cleaning, but the picking up the toy part I'm not so good at. Its even harder in a small house becuase I don't feel like I can put things anywhere. And then there's the whole timing issue. When the kids are up what's the point of cleaning since they were follow behind me and undo it? And when they're down who wants to clean when you can finally sit and read a book? I especially have guilt about that last part. I keep thinking the one thing I REALLY need is a toy room. That can be messy and I wouldn't care- so long as the toys stay in the room and not go anywhere else. Growing up we always had a playroom. So that's my dream for the moment. Sorry for the novel.
I definitely clean when my Mom comes to visit. :-)
I've been home for part of my time as a mom and working for part. My house stayed way cleaner when I was working, and seems much messier now that I'm home all day.
Oh, and I go into CRAZY cleaning mode about a week before my mom shows up.
Hey, I still clean when company comes...or have a party. Grnadpa helps. I guess some women will always need to be cleaning. Remember "Fidler On The Roof". When they were leaving their home. The mother went back in to sweep the floor. Just keep trying and remember to enjoy the good things in life.
Love, g-Jane
We had a maid.
Oh, I would love to have a maid. But then I would probably feel guilty for making her clean up my disgusting messes.
I usually feel completely overwhelmed by my small house. There's not enough room to put things away. I'm a horrible organizer. We can make messes so quickly, and it takes hours to clean them up. And I definitely clean whenever people come over.
I tried a new philosophy: to keep my house so that I would not be embarrassed if company dropped by. I loved it. And it lasted about two weeks.
Spiff-I never knew you were such a house cleaning guru!
You're probably remembering the house once we were older and could kind of clean up after ourselves.
Plus we always cleaned the house on Saturdays, remember?
Plus, mom is AWESOME!
Yeah, Spiff is an amazing keeper-of-the-home.
And I agree with Katie. I can see being able to keep up on things once the kiddies are old enough to help out. Although, if it's anything like my sister's experience, it's a challenge in itself to get the kids to do anything helpful without having to get super duper mad at them first.
I cannot keep my house as organized as i want it... and i would be embarrassed if company stopped by about 90% of the time - (except for some close friends who i know don't judge!)
I blame it on not having moved in 5 years... ( I ususally move every 2.5 - 3 years... now I have too much stuff.)
Which leads me to... our parent's generation had less 'STUFF' Seriously...
and the tv was a piece of furniture... not a component IN a piece of furniture with 3-6 other components!!!
Plus, my mom had a whole house, with a basement and a garage and an attic. if i had that - everything would be really tidy!!
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
TRS
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