Take a journey with me in your imagination. You probably shouldn't close your eyes too much though or reading this will get hard.
Imagine a time when you had the entire house clean. And I mean clean clean with everything put away correctly, and no dirty laundry mountains hiding in the bottom of your closet. Bask in that memory a moment. Wasn't it great? It made you feel content and relaxed. You probably did a few things you almost never do afterwards because you were so relaxed. Tea in front of the fire, like an eternal Norman Rockwell post card. Ok, maybe that's a bit much but you get where we're going.
Maybe you don't have to remember that as being three houses and two children ago, but around here we do. Our house is pretty much always in total state of C.H.A.O.S (can't have anyone over syndrome). We spend far too much time managing stuff stuffed into other stuff while stepping over other stuff.
It frequently looks like we keep a pet tornado, and that isn't even true. Valerie is allergic to them. But, fact that remains that it looks like we do, and that does hint at an underlying truth. The truth that our house is not organized well and is setting not just our kids, but all of us up for the messy failure at the task of keeping house.
We are total unrelenting nerd's, so when it comes to the 1,653th time we tell the kids to clean up their clothes that day, or see the pantry has barfed all over the counter tops again we start trying to thinking of systems. Not just more storage, but smarter systems and less stuff.
It is time to not just sigh over the trouble spots again, but identify the weak spots and attack armed with the nerd weapon of choice- Excel Spreadsheets.
Imagine a time when you had the entire house clean. And I mean clean clean with everything put away correctly, and no dirty laundry mountains hiding in the bottom of your closet. Bask in that memory a moment. Wasn't it great? It made you feel content and relaxed. You probably did a few things you almost never do afterwards because you were so relaxed. Tea in front of the fire, like an eternal Norman Rockwell post card. Ok, maybe that's a bit much but you get where we're going.
Maybe you don't have to remember that as being three houses and two children ago, but around here we do. Our house is pretty much always in total state of C.H.A.O.S (can't have anyone over syndrome). We spend far too much time managing stuff stuffed into other stuff while stepping over other stuff.
It frequently looks like we keep a pet tornado, and that isn't even true. Valerie is allergic to them. But, fact that remains that it looks like we do, and that does hint at an underlying truth. The truth that our house is not organized well and is setting not just our kids, but all of us up for the messy failure at the task of keeping house.
We are total unrelenting nerd's, so when it comes to the 1,653th time we tell the kids to clean up their clothes that day, or see the pantry has barfed all over the counter tops again we start trying to thinking of systems. Not just more storage, but smarter systems and less stuff.
It is time to not just sigh over the trouble spots again, but identify the weak spots and attack armed with the nerd weapon of choice- Excel Spreadsheets.
The first task is to identify the enemy, the weak spots, the trouble areas. Would the pantry barf less often, if it it wasn't stuffed to overflowing with bottles on the brink of falling? We have created and categorized trouble spots, and now we eliminate them- showing no mercy.
Today, we are getting a cabinet to take care of four trouble spots - our games (which live temptingly within kids reach), our art supplies (which are in the computer desk), our computers (which would like their home back), and some of our books (which are in suffocating in boxes while games take up shelf space).
We are also getting a dresser for the girls, one that will be big enough for their clothes so that the clothes won't jump for air the moment drawers are open. There is one for Christopher too, because plastic drawers just aren't cutting it (thanks Grandma Gay for the Christmas money, we are using it well.)
Today, we are getting a cabinet to take care of four trouble spots - our games (which live temptingly within kids reach), our art supplies (which are in the computer desk), our computers (which would like their home back), and some of our books (which are in suffocating in boxes while games take up shelf space).
We are also getting a dresser for the girls, one that will be big enough for their clothes so that the clothes won't jump for air the moment drawers are open. There is one for Christopher too, because plastic drawers just aren't cutting it (thanks Grandma Gay for the Christmas money, we are using it well.)
And tomorrow...
Tomorrow we're going to move on to step TWO! Which is prioritize the other trouble spots by order of hassle, cost of systems that work, and priority.
Watch out house....
Watch out house....
Aaaattaaaack!!!!!!!!!
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