……is currently annoying me. A lot.
Firstly, it seems to messy ALL THE TIME. Because my kids are SUPER messy. Actually it’s not both of them – it’s ONE of them that is the problem. I am by no means a neat freak, but I do need some form of order in order to be happy.
I am constantly falling over toys, there are books everywhere (even in MY BED because apparently that’s the best place in the house to read!), there is paper all over the show and this past weekend I lost my nuts because there were shoes AND SOCKS and a bike IN MY LOUNGE!
Ugh. The other day, someone (I won’t say who), even managed to open a nail polish to paint a pentagon shape on his arm – I think he has tattoo desires – best I get him a temporary one ASAP. He was very proud of his pentagon BUT he left my nail polish open. On my kitchen counter! As an aside, don’t you think it’s fantastic that he knows the shape of a pentagon? I was secretly thrilled but I had to show my angry face because otherwise he’ll think it’s OK to scratch in my nail polish and paint himself with it.
SO. My DH and I TOGETHER are tackling an area every evening. So far we have made a long, long, long list and we have been spending 15 minutes (minimum) per area. So far we’ve been able to tick off THREE things off our long, long, long, LONG list.
I’ve also revised a chore chart for BOTH kids. Obviously Child2 needs some guidance and he likes you to do stuff WITH him but Child1 can manage on his own. Of course the fact that he now has to earn points to play x-box and watch TV does count help A LOT. And I’ve also revised our cleaning roster (washing dishes, cleaning bathroom etc) for every evening. So far it’s going OK. Desired effect not reached YET but I am sure that I will feel better about this in a few days when all of them are more comfortable in their roles.
Secondly, I’m not really liking that my home seems to have WINTER written all over it. I need the sunshine back in there. So I’m painting the lounge this weekend. Yellow. My DH asked me if I was sure. I said, why not. You only live once. In fact I think we can do each room a different (VERY BRIGHT) colour. WE could live in a rainbow house of many colours. Do you realise how big this is for me? I’m usually too nervous to use anything other than white on the walls.
And we’ve decided to DUMP our couches. We HATE them. They are big and bulky and just gross.
So, this weekend, weather permitting, I’m stripping the bedding and I’ll be changing the curtains. And I’ll buy paint for the lounge. AND we are dumping the couches. Not sure where yet, maybe I’ll put an add up on Gumtree. I have no plans to paint or anything – that’s my DH’s job. I’ll just hang out with Rose or go swim with the kids or something.
Seriously. Summer is here already! I need for my surroundings to reflect that.
IS your house constantly messy? How do you keep it under control? Have you made any drastic (inexpensive) changes to your home lately? Do share with me please?
Oh I have a constant battle in the house too, but I got big shelving racks for each of the kiddy rooms for their toys and books and that has made a huge difference.
My lounge used to be yellow and blue! I loved it. A sort of sandy yellow for the bottom and a purpleish blue for the top – almost like the beach
I sooooo wish we had a digital camera in the days we lived at the other house in Kensington. Every room was a different colour – my kitchen was YELLOW and I had green cupboards (these days it would be one that got a lot of “hits’ on Pinterest but in those days (2002) it was just a cute country kitchen. Gosh I loved that kitchen – GINORMOUS (terrible to mop but other than that, GREAT) with TONS of storage (I threw out BOXES and BOXES of kitchen stuff when we moved to current house – about 6 boxes).
But I digress!
The most drastic I get is to paint – that takes huge reserves of energy because i like my house in order….
I do want to paint a grey (a lovely purplish undertoned grey) in all the open plan areas but I need to find a good painter. My Lawrence is not answering his phone…
I love my house in order and non-messy and I’m only semi-okay with not having it like that on a mostly daily basis. That said, my study has PILES of new books all over (I’m sorting kids’ presents for the next few months)…
My house has definite messy hot spots, that just never seem to go away. Every now and then I get a bee in my bonnet and sort it out but it lasts a day or two and then something new gets plonked there. Too be honest i think our biggest problem at the moment is that the cottage is too small for us, but I won’t move bigger unless I can buy it. It doesn’t make sense to me to rent bigger…so we grin and bear it for now.
LOL…you reminded me of our early days at the Mission. Money was scarce and paint was the only thing that could lift my house and my spirits in those days. One day my DH came home and my kitchen was painted delft blue and the kitchen cupboards sunny yellow. When I tired of the look after a couple of months he came home again one day to sunny yellow walls and delft blue cupboards. It just made me happy, and tired me enough to be able to sleep in stressful times. Funny therapy.
You should take before and after pics…would love to see;-)
As you know i am a bit of a neat freak so no, my house isn’t often messy. The kids can do whatever they like to their rooms, but the floor has to be visible and all toys away before they go to bed at night. And it works for us. I do not tolerate other people’s disrepect of my home! Gawd, I sound painful don’t i?
Make no mistake, our home is lived in and loved, with cushions chucked on the floor and books on the couches and remotes all over the place, but every night before I go to bed it has to be tidied. Waking up to a messy house/kitchen is enough to make me vomit.
And yay to painting. It is my quick fix and happy place too! I would go for a light colour than makes your rooms seem bigger. Just don’t go bright sunshine yellow – you will see dots after a while and start suffering from headaches – trust me on this!
Happy redecorating x