It is becoming more and more clear to me that the organized person I was before children has gone into hiding. I can't seem to find her anywhere! She would peek her head in now and then when it was just Grace, but now that Matthew is in tow I have not heard nary as much as a "how are you" from her.
So what I need from you is this: I feel as though many of you have it much more together than I do. I'm looking for those little tips that seem to be eluding me. Such as:
- How is your house getting clean? I really prefer the all-in-one-day method, but I'm thinking that is out the window for this stage of life. How do you do it?
- How do you organize and store what seems to be a growing amount of kids clothes, especially when we have both girl and boy clothes? Do you have a way to store whats going in and whats going out temporarily when seasons are changing, or sizes are growing but they don't all need to be put away yet?
- How about those dreaded piles? This has always been a struggle for me, but now I don't seem to have the time to do a whirlwind "pick up". How do you prevent them in the first place? I'm talking mail that needs dealing with, catalogs/newspapers/articles that you want to keep, things that need to be done but you can't get done at that moment and need to be stashed... you know, the CHAOS! :)
If you have any advice for part, all, or some of the questions, please let fill me in! If it's easier, you can email me cathrynjohansson@fuse.net or post it as a response. Maybe I'll even put all the answers together in a blog post so we can all benefit from each other's wisdom! :)
7 comments:
wow, I understand. First of all, if you're like me, it gets better as the second one gets older so hang in there!! but you're right, the "all in one day" thing is over for the most part in my life too.
I do attempt a chore list where each day has a different chore and it works great if I stick to it, but you have to remember none of us do it as well as we think other people do! I leave Saturday's for random things that don't need done as often.
As far as the piles, my husband is great with the mail and other random things like that so I can't comment on that.
I do have to sort clothes about 3 times before all the items are cleaned out (JP has a huge pile of summer clothes and shoes hiding behind his door right now waiting for me to get to them!) and I have become LOWES top purchaser of plastic containers.
I can't imagine any of this is stuff that can help much but I hope you can get a system that works for you.
Thank goodness for the sermon on Sunday, right? We can glorify him with our piles!!!!
Honestly, Cathryn? I had this very same conversation with myself about 25 years ago. My advice is to cancel all you subscriptions, try not to buy anything that is not absolutely necessary in the kid clothing department and say no to 15 out of every 20 invitations you get.
Simplify simplify simplify.
You are not going to turn into an uninteresting dullard-this is all temporary. Believe me, in a few short years you will have the interest and energy to follow all kinds of passions.
Don't try to save magazine articles, but if you MUST, then get yourself a shoe box and lay them in-they will be filed in horizontal month order. Later, when the kids are gone, you can look through them and laugh.
Just relax, let it all go except for the bare essentials and you'll find yourself having more fun and being more fun.
Oh, that and tape a picture of Martha to your dart board.
xoxo
General cleaning - I too have a weekly chore list. Of course, sticking to it religiously just doesn't happen, but it is a handy guide and it truly does help get the house clean. And I make sure my chore list only takes a few hours of my day. I'm not one of those women who wants to be cleaning/cooking all day long (who are those women anyway??). Keep in mind, though, that I also have the pain issues so about once every two weeks random people come over to help me out. That's another great piece of advice, ASK FOR HELP. I don't know why we're so reluctant to do that. Older women of the church or older female relatives of yours would probably love to come over and help you out if you asked.
Seasonal laundry - I do boxes in the basement, but I've recently hit on a system that I love. I keep a box running for both kids and as they grow out of things I pitch them in the box and just close it up at the end of the season. I keep the box in their room (or closet) until the season is over, then it goes to the basement.
Good luck!
Oh, yeah. I forgot the part about "hire yourself a cleaning lady"
xoxox
Well, first of all, thanks for writing my post for me. I'll just copy and paste it onto my blog and be done, because you know we struggle with the exact same issues. :)
Secondly, you're not going to like my advice, because it's all about changing perspective, and very little to do with the actual nitty-gritty of your (our) issues. But here goes, anyway:
Your days are not your own in this season of life. You have two (adorable) children now, and may one day have even more. So for this short phase (which seems like it will last forever), we do well to lower our expectations. Not our standards, but our expectations.
Yes, we like a clean and organized home, and we see the benefits of that. But in this time when our children are too small to be of help, yet big enough to certainly add to our load, remember this:
"Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean, but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox." Proverbs 14:4
In other words, true, your home may not always look like it's out of a magazine like it did before you had kids. BUT, the love and joy and fruit that is now borne out of having your little cleaning-prohibitors is worth so much more!
One day (sooner than we want) they will be big enough to help out around the house. But for now, while we do want to keep striving to improve, I think what the others said about realizing that we ALL deal with this is good for us. And I know you already believe "anonymous" when she says that keeping things simple and being able to enjoy our children while they're small is more important than having an impeccable and perfectly organized home. You are embracing motherhood to the glory of God, and are realizing your human limitations all at once.
I don't doubt that you'll find some systems that will "click" with you and help your life run more smoothly. But in the meantime, I'll leave you with a sweet quote--
"Cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow, for babies grow up we learn to our sorrow, so quiet down cobwebs, dust go to sleep, I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep."
I hope my children look back on today
And see a Mother who had time to play!
Chisdren grow up while your'e not looking.
There will be time ahead for cleaning and cooking
So quiet now cobwebs; dust go to sleep.
I'm rocking my baby and babiew don't keep
Author unknown
Loved by Gram and remembered by Susan Much Love
I just posted my little poen and re-read the other comments not realizing that Stephanie beat mne to it :-) Noe-the less it is still very appropriate. Love again Gram
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