Oh, how I wish I’d run out of things to write about around here . . . .
No such luck.
I’m sure it started with one little thing thrown into the laundry room just before the doorbell was supposed to ring. Then another thing and one more. And then, since it was a “junk spot” anyway, other random things that didn’t have a home got dumped there.
Which meant that even the things that WERE supposed to live in the laundry room got dumped on top of the pile.
Blech.
After months of full-body contortions needed to load and unload the washing machine, I finally took an HOUR and cleared the floor.
My goal? Be able to stand in front of my washing machine. Y’know, like Normal People do.
I started with the easy stuff. More specifically, trash.
Things like nasty tennis shoes three sizes too small, packaging from things that actually do get stored in the Laundry Room, and a reading log from the library program.
The library program we didn’t attend even once this year.
Which means that piece of paper is AT LEAST a year old . . .
Then I moved onto the next phase of Easy Stuff. The things that needed to be put away. Things that have a place but somehow ended up tossed (literally) onto the floor.
Ugh.
And finally, I’d worked my way down to the floor.
The dirty floor. Right. I’ve had to give up the delusion that it’s possible to be a Clutter Slob without being a Dirty Slob.
Dirty lives under clutter.
In less than an hour, I was living my dream.
My dream of NOT having to load the washing machine while balancing with one arm on the washer and one leg up in the air.
I dream big, people.
Thanks for posting this kind of thing. It makes me feel better knowing it’s not just me, and that I can actually clean things up, too.
So that makes at least three of us who can’t do laundry without fear of twisting an ankle. You’ve motivated me to go declutter my little laundry room. I can probably do it in an hour.
Make that four.
Just be thankful that before you did that you didn’t have a front loader that has developed a problem with the water valve…meaning that when you opened the door to do a load the water that was literally half-way up the opening poured out in a lovely waterfall gush…
Please don’t ask me how I know….
I just did u, 20+ loads of laundry. My laundry room was full of laundry. Feels sooooo good for it to be clean again.
Must have been a laundry room kind of week. I tackled mine a few days ago. 🙂
my awful truth is our laundry area is in the basement. With the abnormally wet summer in our area, the floor apparently had moisture seep through such that some clothes became mildewed. One of the 6-year-old’s new shirts was ruined through this. I’ve been catching up on laundry left from several weeks of travel away from home… I’m rather disgusted with myself for not noticing sooner. I took the time to pick up the dirty clothes from the floor & put them in a basket as they wait for their turn in the washer. How much simpler would it have been to do this in the first place! I’m trying your method of assigning laundry a DAY so that I won’t get behind like this again (hopeful!)
I just found your blog…your books.
How did you know I have a fishing cooler…no actually two sitting here from Wednesday and I tripped over the same _____ shoes twice yesterday? I always said I could have a pile of elephant dung in the living room and not even notice! I blame it on having a neat freak mother/rebelling against it and a hoarder for a grandmother. Neat people just don’t understand.
Thank you! You are just what I needed. The dishwasher went on last night before I went to bed.
Ok, so it just isn’t me, phew! One laundry basket was completely empty before a trip and then somehow after a trip AND doing laundry I had that basket filled up and more spilling onto the floor?? What? I am sick of my toddlers having special laundry instructions and so we have different seasons still left in one of the hampers. Is that bad? When do I have the time to hand wash so many items? I TOLD (not hinted) to family that I don’t buy white clothes for my children because it is just so hard to keep them clean. I am NOT going to wash something right away after a party at night for example, just because it is white. So those clothes get worn once or twice because of it. I don’t have the time to keep cleaning them to get a certain stain out when they should just wear plastic over their white clothes. I should just return them to the store when I receive them as a gift. I must not be OCD but feel pressured that I should be. Anyone else feel this way?
I don’t have children but I won’t wear white!
Thank you for posting! I am a Slob who wants to come clean. Right now we/I am bagging everything up and when I can I will go through one bag at a time. Heck if I don’t miss it it’s going bye-bye. Which means our garage and playroom is packed full of miscellaneous. Probably even junk. Please pray for me to live through this. I once was OCD everything had a place.
Beware flat surfaces for they become the home of “later” things.
This is very timely. I have a very large stash of outgrown clothes behind the laundry room door, shoes galore, even though there is an empty shoe rack hanging on the back of the door, and lots of little bits of trash all over the floor. It’s been bothering me for a while, but I have more pressing things to do first. Maybe I can tackle it during next week’s laundry day (I do mine on Fridays).
Thanks for this! Keepin’ it real is why I love this blog. I did the laundry room this summer. It has new containers and new paint all because you have helped motivate me. Thanks!
You are so brave and I admire you and thank you sincerely. I have been living in a tiny trailer until my new home is done. There is just not enough room and I struggle everyday. Sometimes it feels like total failure and I wonder “what is wrong with me”? To know it isnt just me and that I CAN recover helps me keep my sanity!
Hearing your adventures makes me smile! And warms my heart, that even after you have been coming clean for 5 years, you are never done. That means, I’m okay! Whew!
You did fantastic at cleaning up the laundry room! Very inspiring.
Haha! Great job Nony. Now if only you had straightened the rug on the floor before the “after” pics 😉
Yep! One of those things I don’t notice at ALL until the picture!!
Dana, I have been a reader of your blog for the past couple of years, and I listen to the podcast, but I’ve never posted any comments. I am a 32 year old mom and wife with a full time job and full case of Adult ADD. I also have a hobby. Guess what it is??? I scrapbook, I paint, I do anything creative and crafty. I’m also a Girl Scout Brownie troop leader. I bet you can’t imagine what my kitchen table looks like. I know you can’t imagine the color of it, because I haven’t even seen it in so long, myself. (Being a crafter with ADD is a double whammy… what crafter isn’t a little messy? )
Your blog makes me feel less alone and ashamed of being domestically challenged. One thing I have started doing in the past year is something I learned from a friend who waited tables in college. Never leave a room empty handed. It helps me with keeping things put away… and by away I mean in the same room where it belongs… not always the actual place where it belongs… because I sometimes don’t even know where that place is…. I’m trying to turn over a new leaf, but it is so hard. My husband and daughter are not the best motivators or supporters. I love them to death and I know they’ve picked up on my bad habits and it is ME responsible for turning them into slobby little monsters but I’m having the hardest time getting them on board for change and having a harder time holding myself accountable.. In their defense, I can’t hold them accountable if I can’t practice what I preach. Anyway, thanks Dana for all your honesty. I truly admire your dedication!!
Trish, it takes a lot to “come clean” like that. Way to go. I’ve been following Dana for about two months now and one of the things I realized is I am not the person I was a few years ago. When I first met my husband I was one of those neat people. I did dishes all through out the day, made my bed, put things away immediately when I was don with them, and never went to bed without sweeping my floors. After I moved in with my husband and step-kids I slowly changed as my efforts to maintain and provide my new family with a neat tidy house were ignored and sometimes even laughed at. They were already programed that way from his previous wife. But, with Dana’s advice and help we have started to make a change towards the better. My step-daughter voluntarily cleans up the living room before bed, my step-sons when they are here jump right in and clean up a mess when they see them. Even my husband stepped up this weekend and purged books and dvd’s he hasn’t touched since we got married.
My point is even though you feel you created “slobby little monsters” there is hope at the end of the tunnel. It is truly amazing how little changes in yourself over time will begin to echo in them. If you haven’t yet, I honestly recommend Dana’s book 28 Days of Hope for Your Home. At first I bulked at the idea of how just cleaning my dishes would help change anything but it really really did!
Nony,
We are starting to take parallel lives things a little far. This morning while listening to your podcast, I finished the must stuff-dishwasher emptied, I swept the floor, which meant I had to pick up and put away the bin of easter eggs, where they go, in the cabinet, OVER THE WASHER.
That’s hilarious!!
Our laundry area is also a walkway, so our “laundry room clutter” ends up wandering the house.
I have no choice but to keep my “laundry room” clean, its in my kitchen! The only way I can hide the clutter is to pull the curtain closed… but then the guilt of what hides behind it plagues me! I’m usually pretty good about keeping this area free of clutter, now the kitchen stuff growing legs and taking up homage in front of the laundry area is a whole other topic! lol And the laundry that sits patiently awaiting its turn and multiplying by the hundreds is also another topic! I’m so glad I’m not alone in the slob world! Try as I may to keep a tidy home its just never gonna happen! :/
Thank you for your willingness to share these pictures. Some of us limp along, paralyzed by the shame we feel over our clutter. Your blog gives hope and hope gives power to change.
I really enjoy your posts!.
I am really trying to declutter and get organized. Your website is the one I can relate to the most. I go right past the ones that look like they are in a home where nobody lives in it, you know like model homes. Thank for being real!!
I did this almost exact thing today! Glad I’m not the only one!
You are amazing! I so admire your bravery. You are so real. And, strangely, it makes me feel relief, and gives me hope. You inspire me, and you motivate me! Out of everything on the internet, you have been the biggest help in making me become better at my job, housemaker.