79 thoughts on “Seeking: Mama with slight imperfections.”
your daughter’s room looks better than my daughter’s room. and my daughter’s room might be the cleanest room in my house today, besides the kitchen. i like to tell myself that sunday is “family day” and of course it’s going to be messy. and you know what, as long as my kids are full, happy and somewhat clean, i think i’m doing just fine 🙂
And you know what? You might not have tomorrow! So, make every day “family day” and enjoy your children… a house can be cleaned later, but a child can only be enjoyed today, as tomorrow they will be older!!!!
lol, love it 🙂 My house in it’s constant state. Washing on the line drying, washing in the laundry dirty and smelly, washing on the couch ready to be put away. Dishes on the bench (only a few as we have a dishwasher – lifesaving device!), Toys all over the floor in a trail from the lounge down the hall and into both kids rooms. Plus our dining table and my little ‘area’ always looks like a fairy farted on it 🙂 Oh and I cleaned the house yesterday!
oh how i LONG for a dishwasher!! and i agree about the laundry, in all states of dirty and clean!
Our dining table has become the ironing/folding basket since we got rid of the cot!
What? Dining tables aren’t meant for folded laundry? That news to me! 😛
Yeah…i wish my girl’s room was that picked up! Haha!!
Argh, it’s definitely one of those things where other more important tasks take priority, at the moment our house is relatively tidy, only because we had people over and hubby helped tidy up before they came. That said it didn’t get as far as washing the floor, I find the ONLY way I can maintain a tidy house is to have a day to do it all (but then I get bored and move onto something else before finishing what I was doing) and then that no one is actually home 😀 then the house stays spotless!
I don’t think our kids will remember a spotless house, just that they were allowed to have fun, get mucky, make stuff and help clean it up – they love the vacuum cleaner so I let them use it 😀
Oh, that’s an awesome point. I don’t remember my childhood home being spotless {or that messy either} except for when we had open houses {when it was up for sale}. A friend of mine, as a kid, had an always spotless house, and man I was anxious whenever I visited. I didn’t want to ruin anything.
If I had friends who wanted to come over, my house would be spotless (mostly). But since I don’t know anyone locally, my house is just ‘good enough’. Most days, I’m ok with that.
We have friends popping over today and throughout the week {there’s a surf carnival near home so everyone is up in the area} so today I shall clean.
You might be my inspiration.
On Saturday my sister got ready for her wedding at our house. My husband had spent weeks gardening, washing down weatherboards and repainting out of date feature walls. I “cleaned and tidied” as best I could with 2 kiddos both home on school holidays. All was great until the photographer asked if they could take a photo in a bedroom… Sprung! “Tidying” involved throwing all our excess crap into baskets and piling them into a precarious pile in our bedroom… Whoops! Who takes wedding photos in bedrooms anyway?
Oh why do people have to unearth the room that you most want to hide?
One day our house was almost visitor-ready, besides a few rooms. I had the laundry sorted in piles on the laundry floor. Our neighbours popped over the first time, and of course Hubby decided to take them into the laundry {for some reason} and there they stood chatting among my piles.
I was dying. Lying there, right at their feet, were my worst granny undies. I died a little that day. Oh the shame!
Seriously! I hope she crops my trackie dacks that were on the floor out of the pics, haha!
I thought it was just me that only managed one clean room at a time! I feel better knowing that it is still something to strive for 🙂 keep up the good work!
Um, all I have to say is – that room has carpet! And you can see it! For the longest time, I would refuse to step into my son’s room because I didn’t know what I would be stepping on – because it was at least 4 inches deep to whatever covered the ground in his room!!!! I THINK it was carpet… when we finally sold the house and moved out – we found out it WAS carpet! But, that room you have a picture of is negotiable – you can step on carpet and know you won’t lose your toe! Rejoice! That boy has to be OCD – because your daughter’s room is definitely NOT in a category I would call “messy”!!!! And our house right now is “visitor ready”, only because there is a “For Sale” sign in the front yard! But, normally, yah, I have to admit it – my son got his “decorating” skills from ME!!!!
I can totally relate to this, and it’s more than one room in the house, it’s currently 4 (or 3.5 really)…
Miss E’s room was like Lacey’s in the weekend. Worse still we had our Mothers Group over for a BBQ lunch and play date which was meant to be an outdoor one, so in our rush to prepare the visible parts of the house (living/dining/kitchen/bathroom/toilet), her room was left in the disgusting mess (fairies, smurfs AND unicorns had partied and thrown up over this room) that it had been in for a number of days. So if course, the first thing the kids want to do is play in her room!
Our laundry always has clothes overflowing from the dirty washing hamper onto the floor – thankfully people rarely need to step foot in there and it IS improving, though we are one bout of gastro from it turning back into a disaster zone.
Our bedroom is always, ALWAYS messy. It’s that room that we just throw stuff into when people are coming at short notice. It’s certainly no haven of relaxation. If we have lots of prior notice that people are coming then it might be temporarily tidied by throwing everything into the walk in robe, which is basically a floor robe standing a foot deep!
I have my moments of tidy brilliance which is usually saved for the kitchen, but mostly the house is in a constant state of disorganised flux!
My house is NEVER visitor-ready… even when I know people are coming. I mean, it looks better at those times, but still not as good as I would like. Ever.
Ooookay, you want the truth ??? HAHA my house is messy ALL the time. My two boys like to keep their rooms tidy, my daughter’s bedroom resembles an episode of hoarders… I kid you not. LOL and I have the pics to prove it. Is my house visitor ready hmmm well technically no, but my friends know me well enough now that it’s a case of take it as it is or get over it 😛 We are a busy house, usually 6 adults living here ( my youngest child is almost 18 and has down syndrome) Our lives are busy. I wash the bed sheets when I remember to ( could be a week… could be a month) Bathrooms… you want it clean… clean it ya self kids ( after all they make the most mess in it) Kitchen… we do cook a lot of “stuff” in this house and my kitchen is ALWAYS a mess ! I’m talking 3 metre kitchen bench with probably 1 metre of visible work space HAHA But hey, it houses a pretty Kitchenaid and big fruit bowl and lots of other stuff that just neeeds to be there. So yeah. My moto… my house is a HOME not a DISPLAY HOUSE 😉 works for me.
I had my daughters birthday party at my home on Saturday, the kids were all meant to play outside (that was the plan then the mess wouldn’t matter), but as it happened it was raining so they were all inside & took great pleasure in ‘destroying’ the house…LOL…It’s still in disarray & I don’t care (it will all get tidied up over the next couple of days) – my daughter & her friends had a great time & did my house look perfect when everyone showed up – NO, but they weren’t there to ‘inspect’ my home, they were there to have a good time 🙂
So true. x
That is me all over, I strive so hard to have a clean house, with 3 kids, I get one room spotless, only to have to do that same room again that night then to have to attempt the next room and we have a big house, whenever I do get a room spotless my 5 yr old says good girl mum that’s awesome and he means it lol, my fiancé cooks most nights and I must say he will try to cook from scratch every night but doesn’t always happen and some times we end up eating fish fingers or garlic bread, it eats away at me not being perfect and I blame myself for my marriage break up 4 yrs ago because of that, but my fiancé is very understanding and doesn’t believe all the cleaning is my job after all I spend all day looking after the kids. My kids are happy thy tell me they love me many times a day, so must be doing something right.
Id much rather do craft than housework, so my house always looks like a fury farted in every room with half finished projects everywhere. that was supposed to be fairy but fury is more apt
oh, i lolled. I hate that term, but that’s exactly what I did. I laughed out loud. My husband is looking at me weird. My house looks like a fury farted everywhere too! heres to Fury Fart Homes.
i currently have a NEW walk in floor-robe AKA MY room!!!
if i have to confess….laundry is my absolute HATE!!! and a 2nd confession….i keep the front area of my house spotless incase someone knocks on my door by beyond that (kids rooms, kids toy/tv area, bathroom, laundry and kids bathroom…) IS horrendous! AND without a doubt…every time a tradie comes to work, they ALWAYS ask to use the toilet….i want to curl up and die at the thought of it…..i have a son…..a wee happy son :/
I live in a constant state of playing catch up, whether it be laundry or dishes or tidying up. I have a good friend who spends hours at a time polishing her floors… Really?! I’m luck to not trip over my 5 year old’s toys and break my neck. I’ve learned that there’s no need stressing over a messy house, inevitably the mess will always be there tomorrow! 😉
I can’t stand a messy kitchen. But, it just happens. I won’t ever cook in one though so it get’s cleaned several times a day. The rest of my house… not so much. Every once in a while when I do a massive clean I tell myself how easy it will be to keep clean if we all just tidy up once we’re finished with something, it never happens either. I religiously have piles of washing lying around, literally, piles! I wash, I dry, I put into the basket to fold…. and they stay in that basket until it’s empty again, never quite making it to my drawers. .
Recently when I have been at ‘home’ I have been working full time, then ten days per month away from home at a city four to five hours away (depending on traffic and travel method). I’m a single mother of two boys, am on committees and try my hardest to catch up with friends when I’m home. My previously immaculate house has given way to coffee clashes, large numbers of children, and ‘tonight I will spend time with my children’ moments. It’s not completely tidy, and it’s not completely clean, but it’s lived in and it’s home. A happy home. And I can live with that.
My daughter will be 14 next month and I hate to tell you that it gets even worse. Instead of toys everywhere it’s now clothes and her bathroom sink is even worse. I have finally resulted to just shutting the door. After reading the other comments I don’t feel so bad, but it visually stresses me out.
Thank you! That is something we all have hear from time to time-you made me feel so much better 🙂
It is so good to know I am not the only one!! I live in a very old house with small pokey rooms. It doesn’t take much to look cluttered and messy. Add to the mix a 6yo and 7yo and you can imagine the state of their room. Yes they share a room. Twice as bad as Lacey’s. If not worse!! I yell…I offer a reward as an incentive (yeah alright I bribe)…I threaten to take toys away…and then when my throat is sore from yelling I do it myself. Right now my house is a nightmare. I am trying to keep up with 4 different scrapbooking design teams, clean out the house for a renovation (of the kids’ room. It is being elongated and split in half into two rooms. Then we shall see who makes all the mess. I have my suspicions.) and getting ready to start painting the house myself. Oh and it is school holidays. No point really tidying up until they go back to school!! 🙂 xoxo
I’m the one who inspired the “When someone’s coming over the house gets cleaned in 10 Mins” quote I’m sure of it!! 6 months ago I followed the Organised housewife – Clean your house in 20 days and it nearly worked! 6 weeks ago I broke my foot so my husband has been in charge of cleaning, washing etc. Needless to say the cast comes off tomorrow and I’m dusting off the cleaning charts!!!
I have a cleaner that comes once a fortnight. While my son is at Kindy. Meaning that once a fortnight I get to enjoy a clean and tidy house for about 3 hours before the hurricane gets home and it all goes to sh*t again. I love those 3 hours. The best is when someone comes past just after its been cleaned and I can pretend its likes that all the time.
if you want honesty…..my house is visitor ready – well most of it, (the spare room does become a dumping ground) but I am burnt out from trying to make it that way – I have come to the realisation recently that it doesn’t matter and i’m getting stressed keeping it that way. After reading your post I realise no one does care, that mums are juggling balls everywhere and dropping them – if I drop one who really does care?
I think that’s the thing, we have to let it go. Our idea of what people expect of us, is only our expectation, not theirs.
I don’t mean that we should live in a pig sty, my house is clean {most of the time} but not always tidy. I often work myself up into a state over what my house looks like.
I’d rather live a simple life without so much stress, and have people accept me as I am {and my house} – imperfect… then be concerned all the time about the things that I’m probably only noticing.
All the best with dropping your balls. I think you’ll be just fine. xx
I have a 2yr old that makes a mess everyday. I decided to do one clean a day of her toys before she goes to bed. She helps pick it all up. I want her to have fun in her life, not be so concerned with mess. If someone comes over midst the mess and judges me, I don’t want their friendship. My house growning up was clean but not perfect but we never worried. We had fun! Fun=mess 🙂 Too much pressure on mums to be perfect. Your daughter won’t remember if you cleaned the toilet that day but she’ll remember you dressed up like princesses and danced! Much love from an imperfect but content mum 🙂
Beautifully said. 🙂
Our house is usually in totally state of disaray. I try my best to stay on top of it but generally fail miserably. I usually feel bad if I’m cleaning and the kids ask me to play so the cleaning always comes off seecond best. Unfortunately we have an awful lot of friends who like to drop in, and yes it seems it’s never after I have a spotless house. Why is it people don’t drop in on the days that our house looks fantastic, it’s always when the washing is stacked on the lounge, the kids have just made a cubby house inside with every blanket and pillow in the place, the baby is learning to feed himself so the dining room is splattered with bits of pasta and watermelon, I have run out of dishwashing liquid so the kitchen is stacked with dirty dishes from the last 24 hours….. yes that was my house yesterday when a friend dropped by, of course it had to be a friend that has a spotless house at all times… I love to see other people struggle with the same issues as me, it makes me feel better and really does it matter if your house is a mess I’m not going to like you anyless…. Real freimds would just step over all your mess. xx
That needs to be in a poster: “Real friends will step over all your mess to spend time with you.”
I agree!!! Obviously some of my friends don’t mind my messy house as they still keep dropping by. Maybe next time I should hand them a broom or dishwashing gloves with their coffee…
well if I look around right now there are still 2 little bowls of half eaten brekky on my table one of which has more brekky around it on the table then in it, i have baby blankets and burp cloths hanging over every lounge, the boys toy room looks like a tornado went through it and im sitting on facebook whilst breastdfeeding in my pink fluffy dressing gown!!!
All I can say is THANK YOU! Thanks for this blog post and for the sanity-saving comments by your beautiful readers. It causes most of us stress that we cant keep an immaculate house so clearly the expectations and image of a tidy house are quite un-attainable for most of us. I am studying and working and have three kids so I cut myself some slack and I think we should all say, “We are doing the best we can” and if its a warm, happy welcoming house then that is all that matters. 🙂 On another note, do you have certain friends who you know have higher standards and you clean according to WHO is coming, lol?
I definately have friends who have a higher standard, and if I know they are coming over (one popped-in once, it didn’t go down too well for her!) I make sure I tidy it up. Most the time it results in me putting stuff in our room and closing the bedroom door 🙂
I totally agree with your post! I have long ago given away the notion of a perfect house. I have four kids, and it is a constant battle to just get the basics done! I have days where my kids and I are still in pj’s at 10am – my house is LIVED in, fingerprints on walls and all. When they are all older I imagine it will be limited to their rooms a little more…but for now, each day is a battle of wills, and 2 1/2 year old triplets outnumber me!
I work two jobs – one from home and one part time shift work. And I would rather have *some* sleep than make sure my walls are spotless!
It’s my birthday and we’re having friends around for dinner tonight. There’s a pile of laundry dribbling off the couch onto the floor; there are books and toys strewn in every room; and the boy will probably be eating fish fingers (okay, Jamie Oliver fish fingers) with frozen peas and tinned corn (did you know Coles brand is the only one I can find with no sugar?). By tonight, the books and toys will be pushed to the edges of each room and the mountain of laundry will be on our bed with the door to the bedroom closed. But the company will be awesome either way. And no-one will care that the chocolate pie for dessert came by way of the freezer and Sara Lee.
Happy birthday and enjoy that cake. x
The organization fairy DIED years ago in my home…I’ve had file boxes all around my recliner for about six days now, with piles of “stuff to be filed” mixed in…the only rooms i keep clean every day are my bedroom and the kitchen. Everytime I’ve sat on the toilet in the last three weeks, i see the baby powder that hit the floor while i was getting ready to go out and i think “i should sweep and mop in here”… But then I’m bombarded with mommy duties and it just sits there, in a little pile of fluffy powder, reminding me that after all i do accomplish in this home, that i get to go out dancing every few months. So i guess the cleaning fairy died too, and the dust bunny moved in!
EXCELLENT post! My house is a total bomb site and i dont have a “paid” job, just a constant job of trying to keep everyone else (accept myself) organised, feed, watered, clothed, at places on time, this includes my husband of course.. I also do one room at a time, bedrooms always chaos, living area usually 50% passable, kitchen ALWAYS messy.. How can us mummys be happy all the time when we are constantly trying to keep on top of it all..I LOATHE tidying the kitchen every hour, every a day! Even at 9pm, the kitchen still needs tidying!!! Ive stopped feeling guilty about reading a magazine, going into cyber space, taking photos (FMSphotoaday!) and visiting friends, the other 3 people in this house dont seem to notice the bomb site, the only person it bothers is me! ANyway, i’d better go and tidy breakfast dishes, ive spent the morning out instead of home doing house work…was still here when i got back!!
My house looks like a bomb has gone off in it. My kids have a toy room that literally every toy is on the floor. I noticed some pyjamas in there today. I don’t care. There are books ALL OVER the floor in Mr 5’s bedroom, and sand from his shoes, oh, and more pyjamas. In Mr 2s bedroom, all the teddys were thrown in there this morning by Mr 5. There are also 2 washing baskets full of clothes that need folding and putting away. Oh, there is sand in there too, no from shoes though, because he bought it in from the sandpit. In their bathroom are last nights clothes and towels still all over the floor. Husband showered them both, he NEVER cleans anything, unless it is the outdoor area with the pizza oven and people are coming over. I haven’t cleaned up after breakfast yet so the kitchen is a mess, My bedroom has my 3wk old baby in it. There are the clothes that I put in there to fold last night now all over the floor thanks to Mr 2. On wednesday, the cleaning ladies come and I tell the kids if they don’t pick up their toys and clothes, the cleaning ladies will throw them in the bin. It is the only way I can get them to clean up. At the moment with the new baby, my house is out of control, spiraling faster and faster down the plug hole. Right now, I don’t care.
My whole house looks like your daughters room. But! I have almost finished the 3 assignments due for uni this week, have the stuff ready to finish making stock for my market on the weekend, and even if I look a little like I got dressed by rolling through the dirty washing basket (which I pretty much did) at least my 1 year old with a cold is dressed. And nicely. not in the same dirty washing style as me… 🙂
A friend said to me last week, your house is always super neat… i said that’s because you call me before you get here… hehe:)
Your daughter’s room is nothing 5 minutes couldn’t fix. Yes, it’s in disarray, but it doesn’t look dirty. I do get bothered by things being out of place all over the house and the dishes needing to be loaded AGAIN or the laundry never being done and going from the bed to the couch to the bed to the couch over and over until I finally make time for putting it away. BUT, those things are just part of busy life with a family to tend to. What really gets me down is when the house isn’t just messy, but when it’s dirty. I usually fail miserably at keeping it clean, and wonder why I can’t seem to stay on top of it. So many of my friends have houses that look immaculate. I don’t know how they do it, unless they are just those kind of people who love cleaning. I keep telling myself that one day I’ll figure it out.
My house is constantly a mess, it’s not something that I am proud of, but there are days when I just struggle with keeping it looking tidy. I’d rather spend time playing with my two girls then be constantly worried about how tidy the house is if someone pops in for a visit.
I remember a friend once popped in unexpectedly, for the whole time she was here she very quiet and didn’t seem at all impressed with the sight of my untidy house. But I think of it as you’ve come to visit me, while it’s unexpected, you are not here to see how tidy my house is.
At the moment I have a pile of dishes that need to be washed, or put in the dishwasher, mount wash more has exploded all over the floor in our bedroom (the joys of going down to Melbourne, our lounge room looks like a bomb has exploded and the little misses bedroom is a mess.. Lets just say if we’re happy I’m happy and I will get to the housework when I can.. As long as we have clean clothes to wear our bellys are full with yummy food I’m happy
At first glance, I thought that picture of your girl’s room was a ‘strategically placed mess’, for the benefit of the photo (ie: stock photography or something). The ‘mess’ seems to be co-ordinated (colour-wise) … but then I realised you have a little girl (I have two of them – and a brand new little boy) and pink and cyan (or ‘day blue’ as my 4-year-old calls it) are typically favourite colours of little girls, so, of course it’s going to be a colour co-ordinated mess.
Being rather OCD about things (cleaning to disinfectant standards is clearly not one of them, but colour co-ordinating my mess is something I might become obsessed about, as I struggle to watch my kids mix the play-doh colours while I write this). It made me stand at the door to the room my girls share and realise that, although it might be messy, if I took out the odd ‘rubbishy’ piece, I could probably take a photo that might make it look a little like I’d staged it to be that way too.
Okay, so that really is overthinking the issue, but it’s made me feel better about the state of my house. And Chantelle, be honest – or just humour me – was there anything you picked up (or kicked) out of the shot just to make it look a little better? That’s something that would make me feel better – as it’s something I would do. I had to check myself a couple of days ago when I found myself vacuuming … with Photoshop.
I didn’t touch a single thing. Promise. I just finished messaging my friend, walked past and though – I’m going to take a photo, so I did. 🙂
LOL Right now my house is in pretty good condition. I must confess that it is because we have it for sale and I have to keep it up in case someone comes to look at it When we moved here I never made the bed for a month or more. I was so tired of keeping everything spotless I just didn’t care. Probably do that again.
We have an old house…..a house that even when you have cleaned, it just doesn’t look “as clean” as a new one! I do my best work first thing in the morning, so if it’s not done by then forget it for the rest of the day! (except at 11pm at night, when I randomly decide to do a load of washing……my husband thinks I’m bonkers) I’ve rocked up at someones place un-announced and thought how clean it was…….wow! I would have a panic attack if that happened to me. Let me know at LEAST a day in advance if your going to drop in, so I can roam through my house and throw it all into my “Hidey Room” 🙂 I’m too sentimental ( I try to have a de-clutter day and end up oooing and ahhhing over an old torn picture my daughter drew 3 yrs ago, or a broken ornament that I KNOW I will EVENTUALLY glue back together!!! haha 🙂
“That room looks clean for a six-year-old” stated my husband. I think if a house was clean, that either a) nobody lived there, or b) they never used that room. And we don’t even have a kitchen table anymore – it is constantly piled with stuff.
It’s nice to know that other people don’t expect vacuuming to be done every other day like my parents. I’m glad there are other parents that are okay with a messy room. Sometimes, I felt like our house was going to be on display for a open house growing up.
My house is always aesthetically relaxed (my fancy word for messy). I have 3 boys (5 & under) so while I will regularly clean the rest of the house, the 5 & 3 yr old are responsible for cleaning their rooms. I shut the door when people come over or stuff the crap/toys in the big tubs we have around the house. Once a week I do a huge clean up but 1/2 later is back to it’s natural state. “A clean house is a wasted life” I once read on those facebook quote things. If it’s on FB it must be true ha ha
My motorhome looks like a bomb has hit it, every day unless I clean it and then it lasts for about five minutes…I am so not together enough to even cook meals ~ David comes home and cooks Dinner!! And I wash clothes every second or third day so sometimes we have a huge washing pile sitting on the floor at the back of our Motorhome.
I am also Late to nearly every thing we ever got to ~ I don’t own a watch and trying to keep time seems so pointless 🙂
I saw a great sign over on pinterest that read “Excuse the mess, we’re busy making memories” Sums it up perfectly around here…especially during school holidays!
Love it! I was gonna say that to me “messy” is really code for “lived in.”
While that room may be messy I can see that it is clean! There is no dirt on the floor etc…in reality you could probably get that straightened out in 10 minutes if you did it Speedy Gonzales style (that’s what we called it when we were kids cleaning up and I still say it with my kids). So that is my aim, try to keep the house as CLEAN as possible and a bit of mess doesn’t matter so much. If I have someone coming over (depending on who it is) I will race around picking things up (making a game of it with the kids) and because everything is generally clean it looks almost spotless once we are finished because the foundation is already there. Oh and also, I wouldn’t tidy that anyway – bedrooms are the domain of the person who sleeps in them in this house “-)
Please, please revel in the mess!!!! My kids have left home now, and my house is (almost) always “visitor ready” It’s awful! I felt such nostalgia at the photo and comments, they leave far too soon….
Chantelle, remind me to NEVER show you my house. Lacey’s room is immaculate compared to my girls’ rooms. I don’t manage to juggle everything either, and I stopped trying to create the illusion of the perfect housekeeper a long time ago. 😉
The other day my mum was visiting for an after school coffee, she looked around and said ‘I don’t know how you survive without a cleaner’. I said ‘what would be the point? I’d still have to vaccuum, cook, tidy the kitchen and pick up bits of toilet paper of the kids bathroom floor every day anyway’. I told her that with four young kids having a ‘picture perfect’ home is a crazy notion, it’s not fair on me or them. Why should they be contained in a sterile box just to meet someone else’s idea of what a house should look like. Sure it drives me nuts that I don’t clean the walls/windows/oven/shower screens anywhere near as often as I should but I get a great sense of satisfaction when I do….however I get a bigger sense of satisfaction from spending time having fun with my kids. We definitely have a few fairy farts around at the moment 😉
The laundry Fairy farted ALL OVER my clean laundry …. 10 years ago. I just havent been assed cleaning it up since then 😉 Thanks for the reminder that it is perfectly acceptable to be imperfect xx
Love it Sonia!
Oh gosh we have a business we operate from home so the entryway and lounge room plus part of kitchen visible from front door is visible. Front yard is immaculate.
Back yard has grass up to my knees. Bathroom floor is ankle high in washing spare room is half filled with junk and I noticed the Christmas tree is still up in the corner!! (It is nude I might add).
It’s been raining you see. And I have a one year old who hasn’t slept more than two hours since she was born.
However I have a new routine! While hub is in bath with daddy supervising mummy does the dishes. It’s been three whole days so far and I have this huge smile on my face all day because I wake up to a clean kitchen.
Yay for imperfection!!
I’m always trying to keep my house clean and perfect but while I’m trying, I miss the time to make the things that I like. And I’m always tired, my head never stops thinking what I can do next, what’s still missing to clean or organize… I can’t help myself, but I’m getting really tired of it…
My house is a total mess! I have a 13 week old and a 4.5 year old so am constantly dropping the balls!
I would much rather catch up on sleep than clean 🙂
Thank you for this post! I definitely needed to read this today! I like a clean house, picked up and clean….pre-baby I could keep up with it but I am learning to let things slide and learning to be ok with good enough instead of striving for my idea of perfect! 🙂 like the load of laundry I got washed and in the dryer will just stay there til tomorrow. They are clean and dry so that’s a win for me!!
awesome, I love it! At the moment my bed is unmade, my study/sewing room looks like officeworks and spotlight went three rounds in it. But who cares? do we love blogging? yes. do we ever say that we are perfect? no. here’s to messy houses that are lived in and where love abounds. pooh to the neat tidy houses where children don’t get a say in the decor or where their teddies can sit.
My neighbour, who has adult children, once said to me upon entering the warzone that was my house (6 weeks after the birth of my second son) ..” your friends come to see you not your house!!” The single best piece of advice I’ve ever been given!!
My house is constantly trashed!!!! Like seriously. Floors resemble a crumby barnyard at the moment! My thing is cooking, but tidying up is my absolutely worst trait. My poor husband is used to the house being in a state of disarray and luckily he helps a lot. And I’m the same as you… I’d LOVE it to be tidy and in order but I just can’t seem to make it happen! Or when I do, it’s trashed again so quickly that I don’t bother again for awhile! Cleaning, I can do, but tidying ain’t my thing. My old boss couldn’t never believe the state of my desk and declared me the world’s messiest germaphobe! 😉
And I HATE unannounced visitors! The only time my house gets a good tidy is when I’m shamed in to it by impending guests!!!!!
I would love to name and shame my daughters room….it is horrific!!!! Although in her defense all the washing folded neatly in baskets and on the floor everywhere IS clean 🙂
I like my house to be clean and tidy and everything in its place, but Im slowly relaxing my rules (Im trying to kick my anxiety control freak nature to the kerb) and you know what? I AM feeling better for it, funny enough xxxx
Hmm – I am not quite sure where to start. Let’s just say I am aiming to get through the rest of the month with LESS yelling at my children………
Oh my gosh I am horrible at leaving drawers, doors, cupboards open too. I cook corn dogs and mac and cheese as often as we have it (or any other similar quick and easy meal). I dont even try to put on anything but sweats unless I am going to be out of the house for over an hour. There is always a days worth of dishes and usually a couple days worth of laundry needing to be done. I never iron anything and very rarely do I get around to washing any bed items. 🙂
I just found your blog via a 100 photoblogs to follow in 2013 list (couponaudit) – and fell for it after the first post. And just as I randomly browsed through elder posts I read this one and had to think about a picture I found yesterday on pinterest: http://pinterest.com/pin/106467978663563702/
All my working mum colleagues agree. 😉 And btw: Last week we had the best spring weather in this year so far – we had icecream for dinner.
your daughter’s room looks better than my daughter’s room. and my daughter’s room might be the cleanest room in my house today, besides the kitchen. i like to tell myself that sunday is “family day” and of course it’s going to be messy. and you know what, as long as my kids are full, happy and somewhat clean, i think i’m doing just fine 🙂
And you know what? You might not have tomorrow! So, make every day “family day” and enjoy your children… a house can be cleaned later, but a child can only be enjoyed today, as tomorrow they will be older!!!!
lol, love it 🙂 My house in it’s constant state. Washing on the line drying, washing in the laundry dirty and smelly, washing on the couch ready to be put away. Dishes on the bench (only a few as we have a dishwasher – lifesaving device!), Toys all over the floor in a trail from the lounge down the hall and into both kids rooms. Plus our dining table and my little ‘area’ always looks like a fairy farted on it 🙂 Oh and I cleaned the house yesterday!
oh how i LONG for a dishwasher!! and i agree about the laundry, in all states of dirty and clean!
Our dining table has become the ironing/folding basket since we got rid of the cot!
What? Dining tables aren’t meant for folded laundry? That news to me! 😛
Yeah…i wish my girl’s room was that picked up! Haha!!
Argh, it’s definitely one of those things where other more important tasks take priority, at the moment our house is relatively tidy, only because we had people over and hubby helped tidy up before they came. That said it didn’t get as far as washing the floor, I find the ONLY way I can maintain a tidy house is to have a day to do it all (but then I get bored and move onto something else before finishing what I was doing) and then that no one is actually home 😀 then the house stays spotless!
I don’t think our kids will remember a spotless house, just that they were allowed to have fun, get mucky, make stuff and help clean it up – they love the vacuum cleaner so I let them use it 😀
Oh, that’s an awesome point. I don’t remember my childhood home being spotless {or that messy either} except for when we had open houses {when it was up for sale}. A friend of mine, as a kid, had an always spotless house, and man I was anxious whenever I visited. I didn’t want to ruin anything.
If I had friends who wanted to come over, my house would be spotless (mostly). But since I don’t know anyone locally, my house is just ‘good enough’. Most days, I’m ok with that.
We have friends popping over today and throughout the week {there’s a surf carnival near home so everyone is up in the area} so today I shall clean.
You might be my inspiration.
On Saturday my sister got ready for her wedding at our house. My husband had spent weeks gardening, washing down weatherboards and repainting out of date feature walls. I “cleaned and tidied” as best I could with 2 kiddos both home on school holidays. All was great until the photographer asked if they could take a photo in a bedroom… Sprung! “Tidying” involved throwing all our excess crap into baskets and piling them into a precarious pile in our bedroom… Whoops! Who takes wedding photos in bedrooms anyway?
Oh why do people have to unearth the room that you most want to hide?
One day our house was almost visitor-ready, besides a few rooms. I had the laundry sorted in piles on the laundry floor. Our neighbours popped over the first time, and of course Hubby decided to take them into the laundry {for some reason} and there they stood chatting among my piles.
I was dying. Lying there, right at their feet, were my worst granny undies. I died a little that day. Oh the shame!
Seriously! I hope she crops my trackie dacks that were on the floor out of the pics, haha!
I thought it was just me that only managed one clean room at a time! I feel better knowing that it is still something to strive for 🙂 keep up the good work!
Um, all I have to say is – that room has carpet! And you can see it! For the longest time, I would refuse to step into my son’s room because I didn’t know what I would be stepping on – because it was at least 4 inches deep to whatever covered the ground in his room!!!! I THINK it was carpet… when we finally sold the house and moved out – we found out it WAS carpet! But, that room you have a picture of is negotiable – you can step on carpet and know you won’t lose your toe! Rejoice! That boy has to be OCD – because your daughter’s room is definitely NOT in a category I would call “messy”!!!! And our house right now is “visitor ready”, only because there is a “For Sale” sign in the front yard! But, normally, yah, I have to admit it – my son got his “decorating” skills from ME!!!!
I can totally relate to this, and it’s more than one room in the house, it’s currently 4 (or 3.5 really)…
Miss E’s room was like Lacey’s in the weekend. Worse still we had our Mothers Group over for a BBQ lunch and play date which was meant to be an outdoor one, so in our rush to prepare the visible parts of the house (living/dining/kitchen/bathroom/toilet), her room was left in the disgusting mess (fairies, smurfs AND unicorns had partied and thrown up over this room) that it had been in for a number of days. So if course, the first thing the kids want to do is play in her room!
Our laundry always has clothes overflowing from the dirty washing hamper onto the floor – thankfully people rarely need to step foot in there and it IS improving, though we are one bout of gastro from it turning back into a disaster zone.
Our bedroom is always, ALWAYS messy. It’s that room that we just throw stuff into when people are coming at short notice. It’s certainly no haven of relaxation. If we have lots of prior notice that people are coming then it might be temporarily tidied by throwing everything into the walk in robe, which is basically a floor robe standing a foot deep!
I have my moments of tidy brilliance which is usually saved for the kitchen, but mostly the house is in a constant state of disorganised flux!
My house is NEVER visitor-ready… even when I know people are coming. I mean, it looks better at those times, but still not as good as I would like. Ever.
Ooookay, you want the truth ??? HAHA my house is messy ALL the time. My two boys like to keep their rooms tidy, my daughter’s bedroom resembles an episode of hoarders… I kid you not. LOL and I have the pics to prove it. Is my house visitor ready hmmm well technically no, but my friends know me well enough now that it’s a case of take it as it is or get over it 😛 We are a busy house, usually 6 adults living here ( my youngest child is almost 18 and has down syndrome) Our lives are busy. I wash the bed sheets when I remember to ( could be a week… could be a month) Bathrooms… you want it clean… clean it ya self kids ( after all they make the most mess in it) Kitchen… we do cook a lot of “stuff” in this house and my kitchen is ALWAYS a mess ! I’m talking 3 metre kitchen bench with probably 1 metre of visible work space HAHA But hey, it houses a pretty Kitchenaid and big fruit bowl and lots of other stuff that just neeeds to be there. So yeah. My moto… my house is a HOME not a DISPLAY HOUSE 😉 works for me.
I had my daughters birthday party at my home on Saturday, the kids were all meant to play outside (that was the plan then the mess wouldn’t matter), but as it happened it was raining so they were all inside & took great pleasure in ‘destroying’ the house…LOL…It’s still in disarray & I don’t care (it will all get tidied up over the next couple of days) – my daughter & her friends had a great time & did my house look perfect when everyone showed up – NO, but they weren’t there to ‘inspect’ my home, they were there to have a good time 🙂
So true. x
That is me all over, I strive so hard to have a clean house, with 3 kids, I get one room spotless, only to have to do that same room again that night then to have to attempt the next room and we have a big house, whenever I do get a room spotless my 5 yr old says good girl mum that’s awesome and he means it lol, my fiancé cooks most nights and I must say he will try to cook from scratch every night but doesn’t always happen and some times we end up eating fish fingers or garlic bread, it eats away at me not being perfect and I blame myself for my marriage break up 4 yrs ago because of that, but my fiancé is very understanding and doesn’t believe all the cleaning is my job after all I spend all day looking after the kids. My kids are happy thy tell me they love me many times a day, so must be doing something right.
Id much rather do craft than housework, so my house always looks like a fury farted in every room with half finished projects everywhere. that was supposed to be fairy but fury is more apt
oh, i lolled. I hate that term, but that’s exactly what I did. I laughed out loud. My husband is looking at me weird. My house looks like a fury farted everywhere too! heres to Fury Fart Homes.
i currently have a NEW walk in floor-robe AKA MY room!!!
if i have to confess….laundry is my absolute HATE!!! and a 2nd confession….i keep the front area of my house spotless incase someone knocks on my door by beyond that (kids rooms, kids toy/tv area, bathroom, laundry and kids bathroom…) IS horrendous! AND without a doubt…every time a tradie comes to work, they ALWAYS ask to use the toilet….i want to curl up and die at the thought of it…..i have a son…..a wee happy son :/
I live in a constant state of playing catch up, whether it be laundry or dishes or tidying up. I have a good friend who spends hours at a time polishing her floors… Really?! I’m luck to not trip over my 5 year old’s toys and break my neck. I’ve learned that there’s no need stressing over a messy house, inevitably the mess will always be there tomorrow! 😉
I can’t stand a messy kitchen. But, it just happens. I won’t ever cook in one though so it get’s cleaned several times a day. The rest of my house… not so much. Every once in a while when I do a massive clean I tell myself how easy it will be to keep clean if we all just tidy up once we’re finished with something, it never happens either. I religiously have piles of washing lying around, literally, piles! I wash, I dry, I put into the basket to fold…. and they stay in that basket until it’s empty again, never quite making it to my drawers. .
Recently when I have been at ‘home’ I have been working full time, then ten days per month away from home at a city four to five hours away (depending on traffic and travel method). I’m a single mother of two boys, am on committees and try my hardest to catch up with friends when I’m home. My previously immaculate house has given way to coffee clashes, large numbers of children, and ‘tonight I will spend time with my children’ moments. It’s not completely tidy, and it’s not completely clean, but it’s lived in and it’s home. A happy home. And I can live with that.
My daughter will be 14 next month and I hate to tell you that it gets even worse. Instead of toys everywhere it’s now clothes and her bathroom sink is even worse. I have finally resulted to just shutting the door. After reading the other comments I don’t feel so bad, but it visually stresses me out.
Thank you! That is something we all have hear from time to time-you made me feel so much better 🙂
It is so good to know I am not the only one!! I live in a very old house with small pokey rooms. It doesn’t take much to look cluttered and messy. Add to the mix a 6yo and 7yo and you can imagine the state of their room. Yes they share a room. Twice as bad as Lacey’s. If not worse!! I yell…I offer a reward as an incentive (yeah alright I bribe)…I threaten to take toys away…and then when my throat is sore from yelling I do it myself. Right now my house is a nightmare. I am trying to keep up with 4 different scrapbooking design teams, clean out the house for a renovation (of the kids’ room. It is being elongated and split in half into two rooms. Then we shall see who makes all the mess. I have my suspicions.) and getting ready to start painting the house myself. Oh and it is school holidays. No point really tidying up until they go back to school!! 🙂 xoxo
I’m the one who inspired the “When someone’s coming over the house gets cleaned in 10 Mins” quote I’m sure of it!! 6 months ago I followed the Organised housewife – Clean your house in 20 days and it nearly worked! 6 weeks ago I broke my foot so my husband has been in charge of cleaning, washing etc. Needless to say the cast comes off tomorrow and I’m dusting off the cleaning charts!!!
I have a cleaner that comes once a fortnight. While my son is at Kindy. Meaning that once a fortnight I get to enjoy a clean and tidy house for about 3 hours before the hurricane gets home and it all goes to sh*t again. I love those 3 hours. The best is when someone comes past just after its been cleaned and I can pretend its likes that all the time.
if you want honesty…..my house is visitor ready – well most of it, (the spare room does become a dumping ground) but I am burnt out from trying to make it that way – I have come to the realisation recently that it doesn’t matter and i’m getting stressed keeping it that way. After reading your post I realise no one does care, that mums are juggling balls everywhere and dropping them – if I drop one who really does care?
I think that’s the thing, we have to let it go. Our idea of what people expect of us, is only our expectation, not theirs.
I don’t mean that we should live in a pig sty, my house is clean {most of the time} but not always tidy. I often work myself up into a state over what my house looks like.
I’d rather live a simple life without so much stress, and have people accept me as I am {and my house} – imperfect… then be concerned all the time about the things that I’m probably only noticing.
All the best with dropping your balls. I think you’ll be just fine. xx
I have a 2yr old that makes a mess everyday. I decided to do one clean a day of her toys before she goes to bed. She helps pick it all up. I want her to have fun in her life, not be so concerned with mess. If someone comes over midst the mess and judges me, I don’t want their friendship. My house growning up was clean but not perfect but we never worried. We had fun! Fun=mess 🙂 Too much pressure on mums to be perfect. Your daughter won’t remember if you cleaned the toilet that day but she’ll remember you dressed up like princesses and danced! Much love from an imperfect but content mum 🙂
Beautifully said. 🙂
Our house is usually in totally state of disaray. I try my best to stay on top of it but generally fail miserably. I usually feel bad if I’m cleaning and the kids ask me to play so the cleaning always comes off seecond best. Unfortunately we have an awful lot of friends who like to drop in, and yes it seems it’s never after I have a spotless house. Why is it people don’t drop in on the days that our house looks fantastic, it’s always when the washing is stacked on the lounge, the kids have just made a cubby house inside with every blanket and pillow in the place, the baby is learning to feed himself so the dining room is splattered with bits of pasta and watermelon, I have run out of dishwashing liquid so the kitchen is stacked with dirty dishes from the last 24 hours….. yes that was my house yesterday when a friend dropped by, of course it had to be a friend that has a spotless house at all times… I love to see other people struggle with the same issues as me, it makes me feel better and really does it matter if your house is a mess I’m not going to like you anyless…. Real freimds would just step over all your mess. xx
That needs to be in a poster: “Real friends will step over all your mess to spend time with you.”
I agree!!! Obviously some of my friends don’t mind my messy house as they still keep dropping by. Maybe next time I should hand them a broom or dishwashing gloves with their coffee…
well if I look around right now there are still 2 little bowls of half eaten brekky on my table one of which has more brekky around it on the table then in it, i have baby blankets and burp cloths hanging over every lounge, the boys toy room looks like a tornado went through it and im sitting on facebook whilst breastdfeeding in my pink fluffy dressing gown!!!
All I can say is THANK YOU! Thanks for this blog post and for the sanity-saving comments by your beautiful readers. It causes most of us stress that we cant keep an immaculate house so clearly the expectations and image of a tidy house are quite un-attainable for most of us. I am studying and working and have three kids so I cut myself some slack and I think we should all say, “We are doing the best we can” and if its a warm, happy welcoming house then that is all that matters. 🙂 On another note, do you have certain friends who you know have higher standards and you clean according to WHO is coming, lol?
I definately have friends who have a higher standard, and if I know they are coming over (one popped-in once, it didn’t go down too well for her!) I make sure I tidy it up. Most the time it results in me putting stuff in our room and closing the bedroom door 🙂
I totally agree with your post! I have long ago given away the notion of a perfect house. I have four kids, and it is a constant battle to just get the basics done! I have days where my kids and I are still in pj’s at 10am – my house is LIVED in, fingerprints on walls and all. When they are all older I imagine it will be limited to their rooms a little more…but for now, each day is a battle of wills, and 2 1/2 year old triplets outnumber me!
I work two jobs – one from home and one part time shift work. And I would rather have *some* sleep than make sure my walls are spotless!
It’s my birthday and we’re having friends around for dinner tonight. There’s a pile of laundry dribbling off the couch onto the floor; there are books and toys strewn in every room; and the boy will probably be eating fish fingers (okay, Jamie Oliver fish fingers) with frozen peas and tinned corn (did you know Coles brand is the only one I can find with no sugar?). By tonight, the books and toys will be pushed to the edges of each room and the mountain of laundry will be on our bed with the door to the bedroom closed. But the company will be awesome either way. And no-one will care that the chocolate pie for dessert came by way of the freezer and Sara Lee.
Happy birthday and enjoy that cake. x
The organization fairy DIED years ago in my home…I’ve had file boxes all around my recliner for about six days now, with piles of “stuff to be filed” mixed in…the only rooms i keep clean every day are my bedroom and the kitchen. Everytime I’ve sat on the toilet in the last three weeks, i see the baby powder that hit the floor while i was getting ready to go out and i think “i should sweep and mop in here”… But then I’m bombarded with mommy duties and it just sits there, in a little pile of fluffy powder, reminding me that after all i do accomplish in this home, that i get to go out dancing every few months. So i guess the cleaning fairy died too, and the dust bunny moved in!
EXCELLENT post! My house is a total bomb site and i dont have a “paid” job, just a constant job of trying to keep everyone else (accept myself) organised, feed, watered, clothed, at places on time, this includes my husband of course.. I also do one room at a time, bedrooms always chaos, living area usually 50% passable, kitchen ALWAYS messy.. How can us mummys be happy all the time when we are constantly trying to keep on top of it all..I LOATHE tidying the kitchen every hour, every a day! Even at 9pm, the kitchen still needs tidying!!! Ive stopped feeling guilty about reading a magazine, going into cyber space, taking photos (FMSphotoaday!) and visiting friends, the other 3 people in this house dont seem to notice the bomb site, the only person it bothers is me! ANyway, i’d better go and tidy breakfast dishes, ive spent the morning out instead of home doing house work…was still here when i got back!!
My house looks like a bomb has gone off in it. My kids have a toy room that literally every toy is on the floor. I noticed some pyjamas in there today. I don’t care. There are books ALL OVER the floor in Mr 5’s bedroom, and sand from his shoes, oh, and more pyjamas. In Mr 2s bedroom, all the teddys were thrown in there this morning by Mr 5. There are also 2 washing baskets full of clothes that need folding and putting away. Oh, there is sand in there too, no from shoes though, because he bought it in from the sandpit. In their bathroom are last nights clothes and towels still all over the floor. Husband showered them both, he NEVER cleans anything, unless it is the outdoor area with the pizza oven and people are coming over. I haven’t cleaned up after breakfast yet so the kitchen is a mess, My bedroom has my 3wk old baby in it. There are the clothes that I put in there to fold last night now all over the floor thanks to Mr 2. On wednesday, the cleaning ladies come and I tell the kids if they don’t pick up their toys and clothes, the cleaning ladies will throw them in the bin. It is the only way I can get them to clean up. At the moment with the new baby, my house is out of control, spiraling faster and faster down the plug hole. Right now, I don’t care.
My whole house looks like your daughters room. But! I have almost finished the 3 assignments due for uni this week, have the stuff ready to finish making stock for my market on the weekend, and even if I look a little like I got dressed by rolling through the dirty washing basket (which I pretty much did) at least my 1 year old with a cold is dressed. And nicely. not in the same dirty washing style as me… 🙂
A friend said to me last week, your house is always super neat… i said that’s because you call me before you get here… hehe:)
Your daughter’s room is nothing 5 minutes couldn’t fix. Yes, it’s in disarray, but it doesn’t look dirty. I do get bothered by things being out of place all over the house and the dishes needing to be loaded AGAIN or the laundry never being done and going from the bed to the couch to the bed to the couch over and over until I finally make time for putting it away. BUT, those things are just part of busy life with a family to tend to. What really gets me down is when the house isn’t just messy, but when it’s dirty. I usually fail miserably at keeping it clean, and wonder why I can’t seem to stay on top of it. So many of my friends have houses that look immaculate. I don’t know how they do it, unless they are just those kind of people who love cleaning. I keep telling myself that one day I’ll figure it out.
My house is constantly a mess, it’s not something that I am proud of, but there are days when I just struggle with keeping it looking tidy. I’d rather spend time playing with my two girls then be constantly worried about how tidy the house is if someone pops in for a visit.
I remember a friend once popped in unexpectedly, for the whole time she was here she very quiet and didn’t seem at all impressed with the sight of my untidy house. But I think of it as you’ve come to visit me, while it’s unexpected, you are not here to see how tidy my house is.
At the moment I have a pile of dishes that need to be washed, or put in the dishwasher, mount wash more has exploded all over the floor in our bedroom (the joys of going down to Melbourne, our lounge room looks like a bomb has exploded and the little misses bedroom is a mess.. Lets just say if we’re happy I’m happy and I will get to the housework when I can.. As long as we have clean clothes to wear our bellys are full with yummy food I’m happy
At first glance, I thought that picture of your girl’s room was a ‘strategically placed mess’, for the benefit of the photo (ie: stock photography or something). The ‘mess’ seems to be co-ordinated (colour-wise) … but then I realised you have a little girl (I have two of them – and a brand new little boy) and pink and cyan (or ‘day blue’ as my 4-year-old calls it) are typically favourite colours of little girls, so, of course it’s going to be a colour co-ordinated mess.
Being rather OCD about things (cleaning to disinfectant standards is clearly not one of them, but colour co-ordinating my mess is something I might become obsessed about, as I struggle to watch my kids mix the play-doh colours while I write this). It made me stand at the door to the room my girls share and realise that, although it might be messy, if I took out the odd ‘rubbishy’ piece, I could probably take a photo that might make it look a little like I’d staged it to be that way too.
Okay, so that really is overthinking the issue, but it’s made me feel better about the state of my house. And Chantelle, be honest – or just humour me – was there anything you picked up (or kicked) out of the shot just to make it look a little better? That’s something that would make me feel better – as it’s something I would do. I had to check myself a couple of days ago when I found myself vacuuming … with Photoshop.
I didn’t touch a single thing. Promise. I just finished messaging my friend, walked past and though – I’m going to take a photo, so I did. 🙂
LOL Right now my house is in pretty good condition. I must confess that it is because we have it for sale and I have to keep it up in case someone comes to look at it When we moved here I never made the bed for a month or more. I was so tired of keeping everything spotless I just didn’t care. Probably do that again.
We have an old house…..a house that even when you have cleaned, it just doesn’t look “as clean” as a new one! I do my best work first thing in the morning, so if it’s not done by then forget it for the rest of the day! (except at 11pm at night, when I randomly decide to do a load of washing……my husband thinks I’m bonkers) I’ve rocked up at someones place un-announced and thought how clean it was…….wow! I would have a panic attack if that happened to me. Let me know at LEAST a day in advance if your going to drop in, so I can roam through my house and throw it all into my “Hidey Room” 🙂 I’m too sentimental ( I try to have a de-clutter day and end up oooing and ahhhing over an old torn picture my daughter drew 3 yrs ago, or a broken ornament that I KNOW I will EVENTUALLY glue back together!!! haha 🙂
“That room looks clean for a six-year-old” stated my husband. I think if a house was clean, that either a) nobody lived there, or b) they never used that room. And we don’t even have a kitchen table anymore – it is constantly piled with stuff.
It’s nice to know that other people don’t expect vacuuming to be done every other day like my parents. I’m glad there are other parents that are okay with a messy room. Sometimes, I felt like our house was going to be on display for a open house growing up.
My house is always aesthetically relaxed (my fancy word for messy). I have 3 boys (5 & under) so while I will regularly clean the rest of the house, the 5 & 3 yr old are responsible for cleaning their rooms. I shut the door when people come over or stuff the crap/toys in the big tubs we have around the house. Once a week I do a huge clean up but 1/2 later is back to it’s natural state. “A clean house is a wasted life” I once read on those facebook quote things. If it’s on FB it must be true ha ha
My motorhome looks like a bomb has hit it, every day unless I clean it and then it lasts for about five minutes…I am so not together enough to even cook meals ~ David comes home and cooks Dinner!! And I wash clothes every second or third day so sometimes we have a huge washing pile sitting on the floor at the back of our Motorhome.
I am also Late to nearly every thing we ever got to ~ I don’t own a watch and trying to keep time seems so pointless 🙂
I saw a great sign over on pinterest that read “Excuse the mess, we’re busy making memories” Sums it up perfectly around here…especially during school holidays!
Love it! I was gonna say that to me “messy” is really code for “lived in.”
While that room may be messy I can see that it is clean! There is no dirt on the floor etc…in reality you could probably get that straightened out in 10 minutes if you did it Speedy Gonzales style (that’s what we called it when we were kids cleaning up and I still say it with my kids). So that is my aim, try to keep the house as CLEAN as possible and a bit of mess doesn’t matter so much. If I have someone coming over (depending on who it is) I will race around picking things up (making a game of it with the kids) and because everything is generally clean it looks almost spotless once we are finished because the foundation is already there. Oh and also, I wouldn’t tidy that anyway – bedrooms are the domain of the person who sleeps in them in this house “-)
Please, please revel in the mess!!!! My kids have left home now, and my house is (almost) always “visitor ready” It’s awful! I felt such nostalgia at the photo and comments, they leave far too soon….
Chantelle, remind me to NEVER show you my house. Lacey’s room is immaculate compared to my girls’ rooms. I don’t manage to juggle everything either, and I stopped trying to create the illusion of the perfect housekeeper a long time ago. 😉
The other day my mum was visiting for an after school coffee, she looked around and said ‘I don’t know how you survive without a cleaner’. I said ‘what would be the point? I’d still have to vaccuum, cook, tidy the kitchen and pick up bits of toilet paper of the kids bathroom floor every day anyway’. I told her that with four young kids having a ‘picture perfect’ home is a crazy notion, it’s not fair on me or them. Why should they be contained in a sterile box just to meet someone else’s idea of what a house should look like. Sure it drives me nuts that I don’t clean the walls/windows/oven/shower screens anywhere near as often as I should but I get a great sense of satisfaction when I do….however I get a bigger sense of satisfaction from spending time having fun with my kids. We definitely have a few fairy farts around at the moment 😉
The laundry Fairy farted ALL OVER my clean laundry …. 10 years ago. I just havent been assed cleaning it up since then 😉 Thanks for the reminder that it is perfectly acceptable to be imperfect xx
Love it Sonia!
Oh gosh we have a business we operate from home so the entryway and lounge room plus part of kitchen visible from front door is visible. Front yard is immaculate.
Back yard has grass up to my knees. Bathroom floor is ankle high in washing spare room is half filled with junk and I noticed the Christmas tree is still up in the corner!! (It is nude I might add).
It’s been raining you see. And I have a one year old who hasn’t slept more than two hours since she was born.
However I have a new routine! While hub is in bath with daddy supervising mummy does the dishes. It’s been three whole days so far and I have this huge smile on my face all day because I wake up to a clean kitchen.
Yay for imperfection!!
I’m always trying to keep my house clean and perfect but while I’m trying, I miss the time to make the things that I like. And I’m always tired, my head never stops thinking what I can do next, what’s still missing to clean or organize… I can’t help myself, but I’m getting really tired of it…
My house is a total mess! I have a 13 week old and a 4.5 year old so am constantly dropping the balls!
I would much rather catch up on sleep than clean 🙂
Thank you for this post! I definitely needed to read this today! I like a clean house, picked up and clean….pre-baby I could keep up with it but I am learning to let things slide and learning to be ok with good enough instead of striving for my idea of perfect! 🙂 like the load of laundry I got washed and in the dryer will just stay there til tomorrow. They are clean and dry so that’s a win for me!!
awesome, I love it! At the moment my bed is unmade, my study/sewing room looks like officeworks and spotlight went three rounds in it. But who cares? do we love blogging? yes. do we ever say that we are perfect? no. here’s to messy houses that are lived in and where love abounds. pooh to the neat tidy houses where children don’t get a say in the decor or where their teddies can sit.
My neighbour, who has adult children, once said to me upon entering the warzone that was my house (6 weeks after the birth of my second son) ..” your friends come to see you not your house!!” The single best piece of advice I’ve ever been given!!
My house is constantly trashed!!!! Like seriously. Floors resemble a crumby barnyard at the moment! My thing is cooking, but tidying up is my absolutely worst trait. My poor husband is used to the house being in a state of disarray and luckily he helps a lot. And I’m the same as you… I’d LOVE it to be tidy and in order but I just can’t seem to make it happen! Or when I do, it’s trashed again so quickly that I don’t bother again for awhile! Cleaning, I can do, but tidying ain’t my thing. My old boss couldn’t never believe the state of my desk and declared me the world’s messiest germaphobe! 😉
And I HATE unannounced visitors! The only time my house gets a good tidy is when I’m shamed in to it by impending guests!!!!!
I would love to name and shame my daughters room….it is horrific!!!! Although in her defense all the washing folded neatly in baskets and on the floor everywhere IS clean 🙂
I like my house to be clean and tidy and everything in its place, but Im slowly relaxing my rules (Im trying to kick my anxiety control freak nature to the kerb) and you know what? I AM feeling better for it, funny enough xxxx
Hmm – I am not quite sure where to start. Let’s just say I am aiming to get through the rest of the month with LESS yelling at my children………
Oh my gosh I am horrible at leaving drawers, doors, cupboards open too. I cook corn dogs and mac and cheese as often as we have it (or any other similar quick and easy meal). I dont even try to put on anything but sweats unless I am going to be out of the house for over an hour. There is always a days worth of dishes and usually a couple days worth of laundry needing to be done. I never iron anything and very rarely do I get around to washing any bed items. 🙂
I just found your blog via a 100 photoblogs to follow in 2013 list (couponaudit) – and fell for it after the first post. And just as I randomly browsed through elder posts I read this one and had to think about a picture I found yesterday on pinterest: http://pinterest.com/pin/106467978663563702/
All my working mum colleagues agree. 😉 And btw: Last week we had the best spring weather in this year so far – we had icecream for dinner.