If you’ve always been a neat and tidy, well-organized person then you may find my lifestyle surprising That’s ok. I do, too. For as long as I can remember, I have been a slob. It’s not that I lack the desire to be neat and tidy, quite the opposite. There are countless pins on pinterest that illustrate the beauty in being organized and many of them are saved to my “being cleaner” and “being organized” boards. The problem is, something gets lost between the desire to be neat and tidy and the ability to put it into action. I definitely need some help!
Here is a perfect example. My kitchen is embroiled in a constant battle of clean vs. dirty. Dirty has long come out on top in these vicious skirmishes. When we got our kitchen remodeled last year, Clean made a good run on things but lately, Dirty has made it’s way back in here. As you can see.
There is always a stack of dishes waiting to be washed.
Dishes always waiting to go into the dishwasher. Waiting because the dishwasher is full of clean dishes waiting to be put away.
Yes, two laptops and an iPad. What the heck? In the kitchen, all the time.
Dirty pans from last night’s dinner still sitting on the stove because I was too tired last night to wash them.
Take a walk around our house and in almost every room you will find a stack of paper.
I think it’s about time to put the Easter decorations away, don’t you?
This mess is so symbolic of the cluttered mess in my brain. At any given moment my mind is racing with thoughts of all the things I want to do, need to do, and wish I had the gumption to do. It’s so overwhelming that I end up putting everything off, pushing it all to the side and trying not to think about it at all. So the mess gets bigger, entrenches itself deeper, until finally I break down and try to attack it. Things will get clean for a while and then go back to dirty again. It is my goal to find a way to combat the Dirty once and for all. Suggestions are welcome!
So I’m curious, have you ever found yourself overwhelmed by even the simplest, day-to-day responsibilities? Were you feeling that way in the past but you found a way to overcome it? I would love to hear about it. Your suggestion could be the one that clicks and makes me go, “ok, I can do that!!” 🙂 If you’ve always been neat and tidy, you have my deepest admiration. I love walking in somewhere and seeing everything cutely stored away where it should be. I just don’t know how to do that myself!
Looking forward to seeing your suggestions or hearing from other cleanliness-challenged people like me!!
I don’t have any advice, sorry:( But it is good to know I’m not the only one:) Our house doesn’t stay clean/uncluttered for long, and you sound a lot like me in this “At any given moment my mind is racing with thoughts of all the things I want to do, need to do, and wish I had the gumption to do.”, but what I’ve come to realize when I look around, is how busy and interested and involved we all are with many different things from day to day. I’ve been wanting to take some photographs around the house, without tidying up first, to show all the fun things and projects we all are currently doing, some together, some separately. Sometimes it can get to be too much, and currently our coffee table really needs to de-cluttered, as well as the buckets of fossils from a recent rock hounding trip that are taking up a huge chunk of our front room need to find a new home, but for the most part I think the clutter helps to inspire us and keep us interested.
I’ve taken a page from fly lady’s book – I always make sure my kitchen is clean before I go to bed (and yes, it does become a habit) and her other great idea, using a timer. I set the timer for as little as 15 minutes to get a job done, and it gets my complete attention. It works great.
Meh. I really don’t have any great suggestions as my kitchen looks much the same (minus the lovely countertops and cool sink!). But I do go on an occasional purge of the house wherein I get rid of so much stuff that it makes our house much easier to keep clean. That usually only lasts for a month, though, as my children bring home their weight in art projects, dirty clothes, and cheap plastic junk on a daily basis. Sigh. I really want a new sink.
You have an amazing kitchen! I live in an old and very small cottage in the country and my house is never ever clean or organized. I’ve been struggling with organization for a long time, but now i have decided to let it all go and just enjoy my house as it is. I still clean and put things away all the time, but I’m not trying to find that magic trick anymore…I have realized that people with super neat houses don’t have any other interest than just keeping the house camera ready. Thank you, I prefer living, reading, playing with my pets, drawing, doing yoga and whatever else…Don’t worry, your kitchen is wonderful the way it is. You should see mine!! 😉
Hey Evie, found you via your lovely comment over on Bobbi’s blog!! I have to agree with Bobbi, my first thought was ‘what a gorgeous kitchen’!! It’s sublime! I used to be an utter clean freak…. everything in its place, everything so tidy, everything pristine….. and I look back and think people probably were too scared to relax when they came to my place in case they dropped a crumb or something. Quite a few years ago I decided there were more important things than having a ‘show-room’ standard house. Frankly, I just don’t have enough time between my job, my blog/website, my hobbies, my friends and family….. I cut myself way more slack now. I do utilise the timer trick…. I don’t actually time, but I know if I just tell myself I’m going to clean/tidy for 15 minutes (then look at the clock), at least I get something done, and I usually end up going for longer. It is truly AMAZING what you can achieve in 15 minutes if you really GO FOR IT! I also agree with Susan’s Fly Lady tips of a clean sink every night, but you know what….. if I don’t do it every-single-night, I now continue to cut myself some slack. I try to make my bed every morning too…. it’s always nice walking into the bedroom at the end of the day when it’s looking good. (Again, if I’m strapped for time…. oh well!) I also like the tip of having a ‘chuck it bucket, or basket’ in rooms that tend to accumulate stuff, and making sure things like toys get tidied up of a night. I also have times during the week that seem more appropriate for cleaning certain areas. And, dangling a reward for myself after a good cleaning session is always fab!! I find great joy in purging stuff and de-cluttering, so my cupboards don’t have stacks in them. I try to employ the ’empty shelf’ strategy. Every cupboard or bank of cupboards behind closed doors has one empty shelf, or at least some space. It gives me a surprising spark of delight to know I still have the luxury of room in case I need it and everything isn’t bulging at the seams!!! My other helpful strategy is ‘something in, something out’. If I buy something new, then I try and think of something that can find a new home, be given away, sold, or simply chucked out!!! Phew…. that’s a lot of talk about clutter!! (You can tell I’m reasonably passionate about it – or the lack thereof!) Linda. 🙂
Oh man, having a showroom quality house is A LOT of work. We just got through having ours on the market and good grief, having to keep it so freaking clean day-in-and-day-out was enough to almost drive me mad. I did hire someone to come in and do the heavy duty cleaning which was an incredible help. It’s funny you mention the 15 minutes thing because that is how I get one of my sons to clean his room. He always dreads the cleaning but doing it in 15 minute increments makes it seem so much less intimidating. Thank you so much for stopping by and for taking the time to leave a comment! I hope you will come back to see me again!!
Hey Evie! Thank you for the lovely welcome! Yeah, a showroom quality house takes WAY too much time from things I’d love to be doing…. those days are behind me, thank goodness. I’m much more laid back about things now, and I think that’s a really great thing! I know what you mean about having a house on the market. That’s a really stressful time, especially if it takes a while to sell. Then I do make sure there’s nothing in the sink every day. Not fun.
I think we must be soul sisters, this post seems like my life! I always struggle and pin those tips etc, bit life gets in the way and we’ll mess seems to take over. I just found your blog and looking forward to checking out your other posts.