Confessions of a Messy Mom

I am a bit of a slob, a "messy" if you will. I always have been. I know for a fact that I drove several college roommates crazy! My house is usually fairly clean (i.e. free of dirt and grime), but it tends to stay messy! Sure, I tidy up when company's coming, but day to day, I let things go. However, I am proud to announce that I am on day 11 of keeping the house tidy!! Eleven days ago, the house was in pretty bad shape, and I was feeling very depressed about how messy everything was. (Having it be "that time of the month" didn't help!) My husband graciously told me to rest while he tidied the whole place. He spent a few hours getting everything put away. He even mopped the kitchen floor! Everything looked so nice! I came to the shocking conclusion. I like having the house tidy! I think my husband appreciates it, too! So I decided to see if I could keep it that way.

I've discovered something: it doesn't take much work to keep the house tidy if you keep up with it! I've started putting things away when I'm done with them. When I change my son's clothes for example, it's not too much work to immediately put his dirty clothes in the hamper, rather than leaving them on the floor in the living room! And cleaning up the kitchen right after dinner works better than waiting till morning! I have also found that if I unload the dishwasher as soon as it finishes running, it's easy to put dirty dishes in as I use them, rather than leaving them piled in the sink. And my son's toys are more manageable if I pick them up several times a day.

I know all these things are common sense for all you "cleanies" out there. But they're real breakthroughs for me. Eleven days is definitely my record. I'm getting excited to see how long I can keep this up!