One of My Biggest Challenges.

 

My absolutely least favorite thing about being a Stay-at-Home Mama is being in charge of everybody's stuff. I can barely keep myself organized and now I am responsible for staying on top of other tiny folk's things?

Holy Moly.

I never used to put things back where they belonged. My poor Mama tried drilling it in me. But, it didn't stick until I started having kids of my own.

Now, I totally get it.

Now, Karma is totally biting me in the ass.

I have a partner who is even more organizationally challenged than I am.

I get so mad at him because, if I can put my dirty clothes in the hamper, anyone can. (One of my Mama's favorite stories is when she threw all my dirty clothes out of my 2nd floor Bedroom, when I was a Teenager, because I hadn't cleaned up my room when she asked).

It's fine to be messy when you are single. Or when there are just two adults in a family. Or your kids have stopped putting random things in their mouths. But, when you have crawling babies, keeping crap off the floor is a Life or Death Matter.

It takes some serious effort EVERY SINGLE DAY to put stuff back and beat back the clutter. I have found that I feel much calmer and happier when things are organized.

I had a minor Break-down yesterday. Like with tons of tears and a poor Kiddo crying, "Stop crying Mommy, stop crying." I was flooded with some intense feelings of being completely over-whelmed.

Our Landlord is on the finicky side. He just notified us that he wants to come for a "walk through" to see how the house looks, a year after we moved in.

On one hand, I am Grateful. That means I have the kick-in-the-ass I need to go through the Basement, organize the Laundry Room, finish up the Playroom, clean up the Screened-in-Porch, get the Living Room under control and finally go through all those boxes in our closets left-over from our Move.

On the other-hand, I have THREE WEEK-ENDS before he comes.

Plus, I need to finish switching out our Summer Clothes for Winter Clothes. I still have not been able to located the box of my Non-Maternity Winter Clothes.

I'm trying to take each project and break it down into little pieces. Tiny bit by tiny bit. It's not the End-of-the-World, if I don't get everything done, but I know I'll feel a lot better.

I am thinking about doing Slow Your Home's 2014 in 2014 Declutter Challenge this January. I think that would help provide the structure I need to develop good habits and tame that damn Clutter Beast (at least until our next Move).