The Great Hoarding Experiment

Like many kids, my children are not so consistent when it comes to putting their stuff away.  Dirty clothes just land on the floor.  Toys often get left--everywhere!  They'll take off their shoes only a few inches away from our shoe basket, then drop them on the ground instead of in the basket!

I'm totally to blame.  I know I need to be consistent.  Being ill and pregnant or having a newborn most of the last eight years hasn't helped.  Now I have neither, but still haven't been as consistent with my kids as I should.

Would it be weird to get pregnant so I can have an excuse for my bad example?  Only kidding...mostly.

So, my husband came up with this ridiculous original idea to help the kids.  He wanted me to just let the living room pile up with stuff to prove a point.

 I was completely against this idea! 

The living room is the one place I DON'T want stuff to pile up.  Yet, he was very persistent with his plan. He wanted to have an impact.  

I finally agreed out of the desire to be an occasionally agreeable wife, but I would only allow the build-up for one day.   Amazingly, that was more than enough.  Still, the kids didn't seem to notice.

He then sat the kids down and we all watched part of a 20/20 special on hoarders.  It was truly disturbing to watch people shovel the stuff out of the houses and talk of fleas and dead cats being found amongst all the junk.

My children were mesmerized.

The only survivor was my seven-year-old daughter, Dani.  My husband told her we were no longer planning to pick up anything.  We were going to become hoarders and had already started with the living room.  She gave the desired performance, "Nooo!  Do we have to?"

My husband quickly told her we didn't really want to do that, we just want her to help by picking up her stuff.

She was relieved, then demanded a snack for her time.   

The next day, as you would expect, no change in my children, including Dani. They are still lovin' their drop-it-anywhere lifestyle.

Yet, unexpectedly, there was one person who was impacted--me.  

Yesterday morning, I suddenly had this over-the-top urge to toss everything!  And, I was consumed with the need to finally set a (better-late-than-never) example for my children.  Maybe it was the dead cats.

In retrospect, I think my husband's sly plan was meant for me all along!  Grrrr.  Sadly for him, the overwhelming feeling to change my lazy ways subsided after a few crazy minutes.

Grumpy Grateful Mom Goal of the Day:  Stop my hoarderish habits, but definitely not because of my husband's ridiculous plan. 

A clean house--in my dreams!

My house is clean!  OK, not really, but from where I'm sitting it looks clean, at least the living room is picked up.  My 2 year old's speech therapist came this morning so I HAD to clean up.  And I cleaned up my kids room yesterday.  I know, I know they should be cleaning their own room by now, but it was so completely terrible something had to be done.

My 6, 5 and 2 year old all share a room.  We should  move the girls down stairs, but their room would be so far away from my room I would worry to much.  Anyhow, I think I can enforce room clean up much better now that is not covered with toys and clothes. 

And I'm tired, I'm tired of the mad rush to clean to house every time someone is coming over.  I'm really embarrassed when someone stops by unexpectedly and want to come into my messy house--can't they call first!  Currently we live by the 25/75/100 rule.  25% of the time the house is picked up and ready for visitors, 75% of the time it is not, and 100% of the time my house is in desperate need up cleaning in behind closed doors.

Now I would like to hire a nanny for a week so I can clean up the rest of my house (the clothes covered laundry room, the baby's room explosion, and the out of control storage room, our numerous miscellaneous clutter areas, etc.) and maybe I also need a maid to help me....in my dreams!  That's not quite in the budget right now.  Even sending the kids to grandma's for a couple hours would be helpful, but I am not so fortunate to any family nearby.  So, more often than not, I will continue to rely on my favorite babysitter--tv (sesame street, high-5, leapfrog).  I'm not proud.

How do women do it?  I've seen those women who have a clean house, appear to be great mothers, and have a fabulous dinner on the table every night.

My theory/excuse is that if I could just get caught up on cleaning and get completely organized then I could KEEP the house clean...wishful thinking perhaps.

Now I know I should clean more at night, after the kids go to bed...is that what those amazing women do?  I typically clean up the kitchen, but usually I am too burnt out on cleaning by then, otherwise known as laziness, I suppose.

I have always had a desire to be clean, one of those really clean people, but it may only be a dream...

Grumpy Mom Goal of the Day: Organize something, anything! 

As for me: Tackle the overstuffed miscellaneous kitchen drawer.