I’ve been gone all day. ALL day. So, I sat down here to do my daily checklist. I did well on my morning tasks, such as emptying the dishwasher and sweeping the kitchen. When I sat down just now, I thought to myself “I haven’t noticed anything, I’m sure the other areas are fine.”
Seriously? This is me. Me not noticing things is how this mess happened. This is why I have incredible simple, non-negotiable tasks that the normal person probably wouldn’t even consider tasks. THey’re tasks to me because noticing a mess is not natural to me.
So I got up. ANd I actually walked through the house, consciously checking the rooms for items out of place. I consciously looked at the bathroom floors to find clutter and the counters for more clutter. And I found it. My kids’ bathroom had quite a bit. Not as much as in former days, but more than it has had since I’ve been doing the daily checks. In my mind, since it has been clutter-free most days, it was probably fine. This is why I have to physically get up, walk purposefully to the bathroom, and look for clutter.
In the past, I wouldn’t have bothered to check and then that clutter would have been there for several days, when new clutter would have been added to it. This would have gone on until it was a huge mess that exhausted me to think about cleaning.
So what have I done?
Made bed.
Cleaned kitchen.
Swept kitchen.
Picked up clutter off of the bathroom floors.
Walked through living room and dining room and picked up clutter that I hadn’t previously noticed was there.
Cleared clutter from bathroom counters.
I just started reading your blog about a week ago, and I love it. When you describe yourself, you could be describing me! I’ve never thought about the fact that I really don’t notice clutter until it has taken over. I do a huge cleaning project and truly don’t know how it gets messy again…it just seems to happen overnight and I have to start all over again. Unfortunately I think I have passed this trait on to my oldest daughter (I also have three kids). You have SO inspired me to make changes in my habits so that I can hopefully pass those on to my daughter and she won’t have to learn it the hard way like I have. Thank you so much.
Thank you so much for this comment! I’m amazed at how many people relate to my struggles.
I just started reading your blog. Love it!
Quick question – when you say “cleaned the kitchen” every day (at this point in your blog) what exactly did you mean? Just washed and put away dishes and wiped down the counter? Or a more thorough: wiped down the microwave, spills in the fridge, stove splatters, etc. in addition to the basic stuff? The kitchen is a tough room to clean thoroughly every day!