Will My House Ever Be Clean?!

With little ones running around, we long for some sense of order and cleanliness - but that seems to be a rarity!  We often are saying, "Where is the cell phone?  Have you seen my wallet? Which tupperware container should I use since there are no clean cups or bowls?!  Which of these piles of laundry are clean and which are dirty?!" I often feel like I can never keep up with housework, and somedays I just don't feel like even doing it.  Other times I would just love to have 1 hour to myself to try to catch up ... well I would need like 30 hours!  I think about putting down my little crawling girl on the floor while I clean up the milk spills and oatmeal on the floor, but I can't because the family room needs to be vacuumed and cleaned before she can roam around!   I'm positive that as we welcome more and more children into our home, the chaos will continue and perhaps greatly intensify  :)

I believe that there's always a balance to discover, because WE NEED a house of order and cleanliness but at the same time these little ones won't always be little.  


Alice Fulton-Osborne gave a great workshop on organizing our homes!  I got her permission to share this post just fyi.  I'm still in the middle of implementing her ideas, but I feel there's a real power to this system!  Her book is great.  Here are some of my notes from her helpful class on "streamlining" our homes:

We don't just need to clean up, we need to CLEAR OUT!  We must move from "shuffling" our things to "shoveling."  We have to eliminate lots of our "clutter" in order to more easily maintain it.  She defined clutter as anything that you don't:

like, want, need, use, have room for 

Step 1: Prepare.  Plan some time for when you can do this (several nights in a row or 1-2 full days)

Step 2: Collect Containers.  As you streamline a room, Alice recommended having boxes for:

"trash", "charity", "to be filed", and "someplace else"(meaning doesn't belong in this room)

I also love her idea for gathering small containers like shoeboxes or sour cream tubs which you can use in drawers to help you keep items where they should be. 

Step 3: Work in a Clockwise Pattern.  Find a good starting point and work your way around the perimeter of each room.  Start with your master bedroom and do the kitchen last.  

Step 4: Evaluate and Assign.  Begin to throw stuff into your 4 different boxes and mentally start evaluating where things should go. "Think about where things are used and how often, as well as when you use them.... Answers to these questions determine appropriate resting places for everything."  

Step 5: Ask the Right Questions.  "Be ruthlessly realistic when deciding what to toss and what to keep, and think quality over quantity."  Do I like it? what it? need it? use it? have room for it?

Step 6: Group and Store Like Items Together.  For example in your bedroom, begin to create different piles like out-of-season clothes and extra bedding linens.  

Step 7: Use Treasure Boxes.  I LOVE the idea of having a place for each member to throw in their most important keepsakes.  Maybe you could even have a large envelope and white notebook with page protectors so you could throw in an important report card, drawling, or certain school papers.  Hmmm.. for now I'll just use empty diaper boxes - it'll do.

Step 8: Enjoy the Empty Space.  More empty spaces in your home can actually be "peaceful, calming, even beautiful."  She also shares that "empty spaces visually tidy rooms up."

ONE IDEA TO IMPLEMENT TODAY:
I was getting so tired of our family room/ toy room looking like a volcano erupted following a hurricane disaster!  Of course our children need tons of time to play and explore!  Play is actually their "work."  Somedays, I scan the mess and think, "This is proof that my children are learning!!" But other times it drives me crazy.
I figured there just had to be a better alternative....

• So, I boxed up half of our toys into 2 different storage boxes
• And, I plan to rotate the toys when needed
• Now, less toys means less clutter and easier management
• My son can better put away toys too
• Plus, toys become more exciting when they have a break from them
• And, I put all the art & school supplies in a container and stored it up high.