I was so frustrated this morning, but I’m feeling much better now. Nothing psychological, I just cleaned the house. It’s amazing how that works.
I think I’ve said this a thousand and a half times, but I’m amazed at how much easier cleaning is now that I’ve done a lot of decluttering. I sent the kids to work on their rooms and they were actually able to do it mostly on their own, since there’s now designated places for things. I do say mostly, because of that somehow invisible pair of dirty undies that I had to point out six different times.
After they cleaned their rooms, I “let” them do some paid jobs, like cleaning bathrooms and sweeping the front porch, back patio, etc. Well worth the 5.50 I spent.
Again, in the past I wouldn’t have trusted them to clean the bathroom, since it went so long between cleanings that it was a HUGE job. But, even though I haven’t done the daily wipe-down in over a week, it hasn’t been that long since it was thoroughly cleaned, so they could handle it.
Since my dream is to not only re-train myself, but to train my children correctly in housekeeping, this was encouraging. It’s impossible to teach them the basics of wiping down and picking up when I let it get to the point where you need a hazmat suit.
I’m doing a lot of thinking about my personal goal/theme for 2010, so stay tuned next week as I’ll share my plan.
celina from canada says
umm hello…is your name celina, are you me???
i am on the same path as you are…can't wait to read all the old posts…
Strugglestoo says
I’m SOOOO glad to see you getting your kids involved in keeping their share done, too – it is just not possible for one woman to pick up after 5 people!! YAY. — yes, I’m super late to the party but I’ve been biting my tongue to see when you finally got the kids doing their fare share – and I agree, they can’t do it without some organization so see how well all your hard work paid off!! Good job and congratulations.