The weather in my neck of the woods is not so lovely. Well, I suppose, actually, that it’s FINE if you are one of those people who loves winter (My BFF totally falls into that category, but I never hold it against her – I love her anyway). This morning after being on a mission around the house (more on that later), I took the girls to Target to pick up a few things we needed and to get out of the house before full-on cabin fever set in. On the way HOME from Target, this was the scene:
Yuck.
Grey skies, lots of snow. To top it all off, our driveway snow plow guy hasn’t showed up today (I’m sure he’d have been here long ago if we were paying him PER plow versus for the whole season). I’m guessing at this point there’s about four inches of snow on my driveway. Or, that’s what I would have estimated around 3 p.m. which was the last time I set foot outside today.
Alright, so, back to my household mission. Technically, I started yesterday. I was on a wicked crazy cleaning binge. I have decided that it’s time to RETRAIN my family into being more proactive about picking up their mess and having our house look clean and less like the site of a natural disaster. While I may not be the biggest neat freak on the planet, in general I think so much more clearly when my surroundings aren’t a mess and frankly I’m a much nicer person when my environment is tidy. Hence my mission.
Last night, I cleaned all the surfaces in the kitchen – counter tops, stove, appliances, sink, you name it. Today, I swept and scrubbed the floors. I also demolished our laundry room, downstairs bathroom, mudroom (that still needs some work) and did some major tidying up to the office. And the new rule is: IF YOU MAKE A MESS, CLEAN IT UP. If you spill, wipe it up. If you get it out, you put it away. If you used a dish, put it in the dishwasher. If the dishwasher is full, run it.
Granted, some of this is not stuff my girls can do quite yet, but I have been picking up the slack for the family for quite some time – mainly because it’s a bit of my crazy – I like it clean and it’s a priority for me. Well, you know – that’s just not fair – to me or to them really.
And let me tell you, The Princess has taken to the new system SO WELL that even she corrected Hubby when he arrived home and dumped everything all over the counter, telling him, “Um, dad – when I got my cookie earlier? I got crumbs on the counter, and you know what? I wiped them up RIGHT AWAY.” And she did too. She’s checking the dishwasher before just tossing her dirty dishes on the counter, and my kitchen is still clean right now. No dirty dishes in the sink. No pans on the stove. I could go down there right now and not go crazy.
I hope this catches on.
This may mean that I am the meanest mom and wife ever. That’s fine with me. As long as everything stays cleaner than it’s been.
About sarah
I’ve been mean for years..you’ll adjust 🙂 love the blog post by the way AAANNDD I for a long time have said chaos in my enviornment leads to chaos in my mind…I totally think its a real thing! I do love winter too! 🙂 hugs!