Home, IRL

Carrington very bravely showed pictures of what her house looks like on a typical, messy day. She shared how she struggles with cleaning with two kids, which is a story I know and understand. After Tommy was born, I fell into a good cleaning routine, but then I went back to work and it all fell apart. I'd save all of the cleaning until Sunday, then I'd ruin the entire day with five loads of laundry and frantic cleaning that always ended in tears. Always.

Somehow, some way, I finally got smart and made a cleaning schedule. Each day, I deep clean a different room of the house. Five of the seven days of the week, I do a load of laundry (for example, Sundays, I wash all of our sheets and Mondays I wash mine and Shane's clothes). So instead of trying to fold everyone's clothes and get them put away all in one day, I only have to do one set of clothes a day. It seems so simple AND YET, it took me so long to figure it out. Same with cleaning. Instead of vacuuming the entire house, I vacuum a room a day (except the kitchen floor which gets swept several times a day). Of course, life with two kids is still messy, so at the end of the day, my house looks like this.

But because I've already done deep cleaning, it only takes me 15 minutes to straighten and put away items, plus take out the recycling that was sitting in the kitchen and on the couch. Unfortunately, we don't have a lot of cabinet or closet space in our house, which means that toys being out is necessary. Storage boxes and baskets are a lifesaver for me, because it means that everything can at least have a place on the periphery of the room. Somehow Tommy's room got left out of the messy picture, but he's a big fan lately of destroying his room in two seconds flat. Also not pictured is Luke's room because we're in the process of sorting toys and the family room and bathroom downstairs because Shane hosted poker down there last night and that is not my mess!

Is it perfect? No. Could I do more? Oh, yes! But if someone stopped by, I wouldn't be fretting about a mess. Usually the rocking chair would be clear, but I have a bag of books that HAVE TO be returned to the library tomorrow, so that's my reminder.
Naturally, it's so easy to do all of this now, but what about when I go back to work? Somehow, by some miracle, Shane realized that I was pretty smart in all of my house cleaning rants. Or maybe he just wanted me to shut up. At any rate, starting in September, someone else will be doing the deep cleaning every other week. The best rate? All I have to do is cut out pre-work Starbucks splurges and the cleaner will be paid for--a sacrifice I'm more than willing to make (especially because I'd much rather flavor my own coffee with my delicious, delicious Sweet Buttercream). In my mind, I imagined I'd be paying much, much more, because the thought of someone else mopping my kitchen floor is truly priceless.
Anyway, if you're stressed because your house is messy? Don't worry. Most likely, mine is too. And if you would kill for a house cleaner but don't think you can afford one? Ask around. You might find out that it's much more budgetable than you think!

And if you're not interested at all in cleaning, here's Tommy with bedhead hair trying to steal licorice at 6AM.