I’m not naming names. I’m not doing a Mom Vent.
I’m just using this example to make a point.
A point I need made in my own life.
A certain person living in my home was desperate for a black binder. Embarrassed that he/she (see how I’m not giving a single clue) didn’t have a black binder yet, more than a week into school.
Every other (in the whole wide world) student who needed a black binder for this particular purpose had one already.
So mama searched for one. She removed her own two-year-old Bible study notes (that she surely would go back over at some point, right?) and selflessly gave her own black binder to this person.
And told him/her to go put it in his/her backpack immediately. And declared (as she tends to do because of her love of all things dramatic) that she would no longer be held responsible for this person’s lack of a black binder. That her hands were washed of this particular parenting failure.
She imparted her Hard Earned Mom Wisdom and instructed the Black Binder Needer to place the desperately needed black binder in his backpack immediately so he wouldn’t forget it.
Oops. I mean, his/her backpack.
And guess what Mama found the next morning.
The black binder. Right next to the place where the backpack had been before the backpack and the person in desperate need of a black binder left the house.
Directions were pretty much followed, but not completely followed.
Which meant that when life happened, and the need to leave the house was immediate, like RIGHT NOW, the backpack was grabbed, but not the binder that was basically in the backpack, but not in the backpack.
Almost done wasn’t done at all after all.
Lest you think this is just a mama complaint session, I can make way too many parallels in my own life.
Like when I don’t go ahead and put dishes in the dishwasher instead of in the sink eighteen inches away.
Or when I throw ALL of the mail (which I’ve already looked through while walking back to the house) on the table instead of walking three more feet to discard the pieces I already know are junk.
Or when I pile up the barely worn clothes on the chair beside my bed (the chair that just needs to go away), thinking I’ll wear them again, even though I know (from way too much experience) they’ll morph into a wrinkly pile. Instead of walking to the closet and hanging them up.
And then life happens.
I’m exhausted at the end of the day and wish I could just start the dishwasher instead of also loading it with now-slimy dirty dishes from the sink. Or someone rings the doorbell and I’m embarrassed that the first thing they’ll see (if I let them in) is my messy dining room table. Or I need that blue blouse I know isn’t dirty, but might as well be dirty by the time I dig it out from the bottom of the pile.
So “thankful” for the three mirrors that live in my home. I call them my children.
I too have trouble making myself hang up barely-worn clothes. We have hooks on the closet wall that I use. It helps that all of our clothes are in the closet, including underwear, socks and PJs, so we have to go to the closet for anything having to do with changing clothes. If I didn’t have to go to the closet to get my PJs, I would have clothes piles in the bedroom too.
How do you get over a “thing” about putting barely-worn clothes with fresh clean clothes? They are a different degree of clean, so my weird brain thinks they need to be kept separate. For instance, a pair of jeans can be worn more than once if I’ve only worn them for an hour or two, but an hour or two for three or four days = an entire day of wearing. If I put them back in my drawer, I may forget that they have already had two wearings of 2-3 hours each. (yes, I have issues, that’s why I’m here!)
Kelly, I’m with you on this issue.
I have a laundry basket for the “can be worn again but aren’t clean” clothes. It gives me a place to put them and then every few weeks I toss the entire lot in the laundry to restart the process. It keeps them contained and mostly off the floor.
Yep, I’m guilty of leaving the barely-worn jeans on the floor of the closet rather than hanging them back up, too. In my defense, I’m the only one who uses that closet so it doesn’t bother anyone but me… until laundry day when I find myself scooping up several barely-worn items and washing them because I was too lazy to hang them. Again.
This is SO me and SO TOTALLY my family. My slob ways are even rubbing off on my husband. 🙁
I am SO guilty of doing jobs around the house until they’re ‘pretty much done.’ :/
I have the problem with the barely worn clothes as well. I tend to pile them on the ledge of the jacuzzi tub in my bathroom that I never use because it is always dirty :+( The tub is big and is a pain to clean. So my bathroom is clean “enough” most of the time, but don’t look to the right because you will always find a dusty/dirty tub and piles of barely worn clothes. Sigh. I guess I’m a work in progress.
I’m pretty bad about those half-worn clothes, too – and have a mountain of them on the footboard of my bed as I write this! A tip for when I’m on top of things enough to get them back in the closet? I put them on the hanger backwards, so the hanger “hook” faces out. That way, I can quickly see see which items I want to wear again. I also group these items together in one spot at one end, so they don’t mingle with the clothes that are fully clean. Hope this helps!
I finally overcame that problem by clearing a shelf in my wardrobe that is now designated for half worn clothes, and when dressing I tend to check that shelf first for suitable clothing for day to “use it up” so I can wash it. And if I need something to finish filling the washing machine, I grab from that shelf.
Love the concept of this post…the number of times I’ve had things “pretty much done” only to have a visitor arrive and realise with embarrassment that pretty much done is certainly not the same thing as DONE!
Omg!!!! This is so me with the once worn clothes in a pile on top of a low dresser that are now a wrinkled mess. Lol.
For the jeans that can be worn again, I (after many months of making lists) installed a two hook, coat hook inside the closet, where I can grab those jeans (and bra) to wear again, and select a shirt. This will only get done if I also keep the area in front of the closet clear so I can reach the hook. I also hung a hook for the nightgown (maximum two nights wear) and robe. I hear you when the job isn’t done if only partially done.