House Cleaning Nightmare

News Flash:  I am not June Cleaver.  Never have professed to be.  For some reason my household never runs as smoothly as June’s.  And I can’t tell you when is the last time that the front (living areas) and back (bedrooms) were all suitably clean at the SAME TIME.

I have concluded that our house is too big.  Even with three drama queen girls.  When we first moved in I was astounded at the massive amounts of storage.  Huge closets in every bedroom…storage down the entire hall way.  I thought we would never fill it up.  Now today there is so much junk and stuff everywhere.  It is driving me nuts.

 I told Scott that I wanted to rent a U-Haul, load up everything we own, clean and scrub and move back in.  If you haven’t been fortunate enough to move recently, then you do not understand the de-cluttering that takes place when moving.  You pack up all the “important” stuff first.  By the time you’re done the dumpster is full and the throw away pile is humongous!  We moved often when living in the northern suburbs of the ATL…definitely helped keep the stuff from piling up.

Right now we have two ongoing projects.  The girls have been sorting through clothes for give away and goodwill.  I am working on the kitchen cabinets and pantry.  My goal is to have the kitchen and the closet project completed by the end of August. 

Future Projects

1.       The hall way storage…it needs cleaning, reducing and reorganizing.

2.       The game room closet…again, cleaning, reducing and ready for bathroom renovation.

3.       Attic…I don’t even know what all Scott has stuff up there…so reduce, reduce, reduce.

4.      Hardwood Floors…they definitely need a light buffing and another coat of polyurethane. You know, shiny stuff!  This is where that U Haul comes in…we will definitely have to move out some furniture!

5.   Organizing a home office space suitable for homework and for our business.

Daily Grind

Then there is just the plain old daily stuff.  Sweeping, mopping, emptying the dishwasher…Guess I will have to do a calendar for that too!

I have been assigning extra chores.  A co-worker, Jim Bob, recently suggested a chore motivation tactic he utilizes with his children.  Xtra chores are attached to wants.  He puts the chore and reward in an envelope.  When the chore is completed, the reward is earned.  I think these should be above the normal clean your room, unload the dishwasher and wash your own clothes.

I am working very hard to get the clutter back under control.  It’s like eating an elephant…one bite at a time.  Pass the tabasco.  It has taken the last two years for it to get this bad…I’m sure it will take several months to get it back the way I would like.  My goal is to have it presentable by Thanksgiving.  And ready to decorate and enjoy the holidays once again.