Am I the Only Clutterbug?

Don't worry-you are not alone! I am also amazed how some people are able to keep things so together. My theory is that SOMETHING has to give and that is usually time spent with the kids. I even have a cleaning lady but the place is trashed as soon as the kids get home...I wonder why waste them money. However it is good to get the floors and bathrooms done.

Just pick away at it slowly. It doesn't take too long to tidy up the end tables, for example. And a little organization will go a LONG way! Have a designated space for in-coming mail that your husband can go to when he wants to go through it. Don't let your dishes and laundry pile up. Yes, it sucks. But it takes me about 15 minutes to fold and put away 1 basket of laundry, versus the hour + when I let it pile up to 3 or 4 baskets.

Personally, I've learned a lot from flylady - I just pick and choose the tips that work for me :)

I used to have a clean house before kids. Heck you could eat off the floor any given day (not that I would). Over the years I learned to let it go. I do expect an organized house. Everything has a place. I try to mop once a month now and spot clean weekly. My kids have to help too or I toss their toys or whatever. Same for hubby. Try stacking piles neatly since you don't want to put them away. Vacuum twice a month and dust. That way you don't overwhelm yourself. I don't want to live in a no touch house so we do live in it. As they say, take baby steps to find your groove.

I think it is the dishwasher's fault... Oh wait you don't have one! Well neither do I and I bet that if we spent all the time we do washing dishes cleaning then the house would be pretty darn clean!

What I am trying to do is focus on certain areas one at a time. The table in the kitchen is not a repository for ANYTHING. So when I saw something on it I would put it away or tell my husband he needs to put it away ;). Now after a few weeks we don't throw stuff onthe table anymore. This also worked for the kitchen counter right next to the back door. I am now working on the dining room table. Basically I add one area at a time and don't change until it becomes EVERYONE's habit to keep in clean.

Bsaically, for any given location you choose follow the "don't put it down, put it away rule" and that area will stay clean... at worst those spots are short term staging areas for stuff that I just need to put away (ie groceries)

I may never get to the den which is where my daughter plays, but one spot at a time I plan on getting it all reasonable tidy.

FYI - Once I sw that I could keep one area clean I was very encouraged to try more - I HATE cleaning and this method was actually really easy.

Good luck!

use a laundry basket and pick up the clutter in one room and go to the next put up what belongs in that room and pick up what doesnt belong and keep going. put trash cans and laundry baskets in every room. and a dirty house means a loving mom so your kids are well cared for :) I think people with immaculant houses have ocd. :)

Shaun,

Your post could have been my post. I would have written the exact same thing! If we lived close to each other, I would want to be friends with you so we could commiserate about our disgusting houses together! I have three boys: ages 6, 3, and 2, and they trash our house every single day of our lives and it drives me absolutely NUTS!!!!! It has hurt our social life b/c we cannot have people over too often. However, we do invite people over once in a while b/c that FORCES us to clean. I hosted my son's cub scout meeting Monday night, and I spend Sunday night and ALL DAY on Monday cleaning, and that was just the downstairs!! Our upstairs looks like a tornado swept through it. The majority of our wardrobes are on the floor. I CANNOT keep up with the endless laundry. It never stops and it is ruining my life. I don't even know how we have so many toys, but they are EVERYWHERE. Also, I feel the EXACT same way you do about other peoples' homes. Whenever I go to someone else's home, it is IMMACULATE, and I wonder why everyone else can maintain a clean and neat home except me. However, I have small 3 small boys (who behave like zoo animals), and everyone else's home I go to only have 2 children, and girls do not behave as crazy as boys. For you, it's your 15 month old right now that is causing the mess. But, you are in good shape b/c they are a good amount of years apart in age, and like I said, young girls are much tamer than young boys. Anyway, the exact same thing also happens to me - right after I clean, our house is trashed the same day or next, so what is the point? It is an extremely difficult time in my life right now b/c I never thought I would be raising loud, wild and crazy zoo-like animals. Our kids have ruined our house - they throw their food and it gets on the walls and the other day, I spent a lot of time with a magic eraser scrubbing our kitchen walls getting the old, disgusting food off! I agree - flyday is for moms who have one child - a girl! Flylady doesn't work when your life is stupid crazy with young kids. Flylady suggests to keep a clean kitchen sink all the time - well, duh! That is everyone's goal, but incredibly unrealistic! Anyway, try to pick up after your kids as much as you can, and if at all possible, invest in a dishwasher. What keeps me going is knowing that one day my kids will be older and the craziness and messiness will caese. Welcome to parenthood - this part of it sucks!

I have no motivational words for you but I can tell you that YOU ARE NOT ALONE! My house is always a wreck. I too, don't feel the need to clean when, in literally minutes, it is trashed. In fact, my husband cleaned the house the other day (I know - it was amazing!) - and he looked around after our boys got home and it was a disaster again. He said, why even clean at all? I said, see, that's why I don't keep it clean! I said the same things you said about other's houses being all neat & clean to some friends - their response, "they have a maid!" We live in a well-to-do area but we are not well-to-do (we have the only fixer upper in town) so I feel 'less than' sometimes :(

I remember when my house was like this with 2 little kids. I had a huge pile of clean clothes that seemed to grow faster than I wash them. It was when I had to go through my landlord's house to get to mine and the door wouldn't open because of the clothes I devised a method of daily routines and stuck to it after tweaking.

I made a chart and posted in on frig so I could see it every day. Each day was broken up into things to do in the morning and the afternoon. That way I wasn't doing the same and missing other things that needed to be done. The routine worked so well that I had time to prepare homemade dinners, take the kids to the park in the afternoon, attend a wive's group once a month, shop for groceries weekly and have time to sew. No bragging just letting you know it can be done.

Of course there were the times that everything fell apart due to weather like extra snow and I had to shovel the snow with a huge scoop so that I could get out of the driveway or hubby could get in the driveway due to the snowfall.

As your children get older the mess does change and you will have "House Beautiful" back when they go to school. So hang in there this too shall pass.

The other S.

definately not - my house always seems to be a wreck!! LOL ~

You're not alone. My house is messy right now. But if you were to call me and tell me you will be here in 10 minutes I could have it looking nice. =) Here's my biggest prblem areas: LAUNDRY, TOYS and DISHES....ugghhhhh I hate them. Everytime I do laundry, as soon I a fold it, my baby pulls it off the bed or table. If I put the dirty clothes in the hamper, she takes all of them out. She runs through the house with clothes, mixes them all up, and then I don't know whats clean or whats dirty. Drives me nuts. So I only do laundry when she's asleep. Toys, are all over the place, even where you would least expect it. The dishes are never ending. I swear someone sneaks in my kitchen after I have just cleaned the last dish only to pile them up in the sink again! I tell my boyfriend all the time whats the point in cleaning up when it gets trashed in a few minutes.
We have a friend that will stop by to chat before his wife gets home (she has a long commute) and I used tell him I am sorry the place is a wreck, but he always tells me it's no worse then his house. When we do go over to his house his wife says the same thing to me! LOL, I think the key is to have someone you can relate to about it. I never worry when they stop by anymore, and they don't worry when we stop by. We know we aren't pigs, we just have busy lives and children! =)

I am a queen clutterbug myself, what I do to get it under control is set my timer to 15 min to declutter each area, eventually it gets cluttered again but at least you keep trying!