My eleven year old daughter Melinda got off the bus, and I couldn’t believe what she had in her hands. Fistfulls of dollar bills. Tons of them. Turns out her hall mates were paying her to organize their lockers. And that was what she had left over after she admitted blowing most of her windfall on Tic Tacs. My daughter! Do I need a DNA test here? This is from the mother who only knows where things are by remembering the last place she stepped on them. It really must be true--some people are just born organized. Of my six kids I have about half claiming that impressive trait. Really, I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes. Why can’t I be more like that? I too yearn for an escape from CHAOS, (can’t have anyone over syndrome) but I keep failing to make the grade. If I made the grade, I sure wouldn’t know where I put it. Each New Year I promise this will be the year I really change. I stand in the living room (next to the wadded up socks) and proclaim as the ball drops, that this year my family will have clean clothes, delicious dinners and couches free of newspapers, hairbrushes, and buried remote controls. Why can’t I achieve such a simple thing? I knew I needed help, so I called in some experts. I’ve started checking in with flylady.net and taking baby steps to my clutter addiction. One of fly lady’s goals I really liked was just to do one load of laundry a day. One load to sanity. Who knew? I love that tip! I now can see my laundry room floor , after..well…after a really long time. I also enrolled my youngest daughter with the house fairy at housefairy.org. The house fairy makes visits like the tooth fairy and boy does my eight year old buy it. She now has a magazine cover room, but mine still looks like Goodwill exploded. If you are a recovering, or not yet recovering slob, maybe these sites can help you. As for me, I think I need to have a chat with my inner brat. I met her at bratfactor.com. and boy is she stubborn. All she wants to do is play!
Of course, if none of these ideas work for you, feel free to send in your dollar. Melinda is getting low on Tic-Tacs and you will have the cleanest locker in town.
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5 comments:
Your daughter is very enterprising! My 2 oldest (24 & 29) are now ultra organized. I'm holding out hope for my almost 19 year old, I just want to reacquaint myself with the color of her carpet!
I love the old saying by comedian Phylis Diller,
"Cleaning house while the kids are still at home is like shoveling the driveway while it's still snowing!"
That is SO true! I figure there will be plenty of time to have an organized house with no pile ups of clutter on the kitchen counter, sparkling clean bathrooms and a super duper organized pantry once it's just my beloved & I. The house will be quieter, no demands made of me whatsoever and time to read uninterrupted.
But for now, while my youngest of 4 is 16 years old and our home continues to be the "hangout place" for all of his friends, I'll just tread water and focus more on the investment of time spent on my kids rather than housework. I'm sure that down the road I'll long for these days where I am still super Mom. My house will be clean and horribly quiet!
To everything there is a season...
I wrote "almost 19 year old" and meant almost 20 year old. I suppose I'll be able to think more clearly when the house is quieter too! Ha Ha
Connie
What a great story; I don't think I'm a true messy, but moving to Haiti certainly did away with a lot of organizational problems. We have so much less stuff here, and still have way more than any of the Haitian people.
Oh, man! I have a whole housefull of 'messies'. I'm the tidiest & that's not saying a great deal. I'd much rather paint or write ~ which means I just clear a space for me to work & get on with it while the clutter piles up around me! I need a wife!
Hey there FlySister! Maybe the House Fairy can come visit your room! I'm proud of you. Getting rid of clutter makes everyone more peaceful. Keep on with yor flying. I've been at it for years and I'm amazed at the peace that has invaded my home. I kept my house clean before, but it was a struggle and I was unhappy--a lot. Now I'm happy a lot more. And I've learned to be more flexible. Before flylady, I would never have been able to be a substitute teacher several days a week. (Sometimes without advance warning!)
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