Managing the Mess…Mission Possible?

Posted by Beki on Jun 22, 2013 in Family | 2 comments

I am about to do something that makes me very uncomfortable. Well, two things actually. Show you my messes, and then clean them.

Let me explain myself. It doesn’t actually make me uncomfortable to clean my messes…I don’t specifically enjoy cleaning…but uncomfortable? No. It does however, make me extremely uncomfortable to have someone see those messes. I am one of those types who is really good at the ten minute tidy. I can pick up my house and make it look “company decent” pretty quickly. However…don’t look in my laundry room. Don’t open that door….and whatever you do…DON’T go in my bedroom. I am really good at hiding my clutter. I’m a closet clutter-er.

Today, in an attempt to get the mess under control…I’m “outing” myself. Oh boy. This is going to be tough. I really don’t want to show you. But, if I show you, I know I will make myself clear out the clutter JUST so I can take after pictures and prove to you that I do know how to make it look pretty.

You see. I can’t think amid a mess. I hate mess. If the house is cluttered, my brain is cluttered. I have to clean the kitchen before I can make a mess in the kitchen. Is anyone else like that? If I know I have a day off, I need the house to be clean, or I absolutely can not enjoy that day off. Otherwise, I will sit around looking at the mess and it will start to bother me. Then it will really start to irritate me. Then there is a festering somewhere in my gut and I get the creepy crawlies all over my skin. It actually manifests into a physical reaction. I almost need to scream. 

No one else in my family feels this way. I don’t hold it against them. They are all male. They are wired differently. I do believe they enjoy a clean house. I just think they are able to overlook the mess. They can function when it is there. I. can. not.

Did you notice how well I have been avoiding showing you those pictures? Yeah. I told you. Not comfortable. Ok. It’s noon on Saturday. I think if I work really hard, I can get these messes managed by the end of the weekend, and show you some refreshing “after” pictures.

Crap. I hate deadlines.

Here we go with the pictures. Don’t judge me please. I bet you have “trouble spots” too. Just say you don’t and I’ll show up on your doorstep unexpected one day.

The dining room table is not too bad, but it seems to be a catch all, and is covered with debris at all times. We never eat there. Those backpacks are left over from school, which ended almost a month ago, still waiting to be unpacked. I’m scared.

Ok. Let me explain. This is the chair in my bedroom. I have to admit, it does seem to collect laundry pretty regularly. Clean laundry, mind you, but this is out of control. In my defense…my husband did just clean out his closet and his sorting got interrupted somewhere in-between take stuff out of closet and take stuff out of house. I’m happy to take stuff out of house for him. Especially now that I have shown you this. Those cubbies by our front door were meant to help things stay organized and “tidy”.  Now they are just a cluttered mess.

Oh boy. I don’t know what to say about this other than..I’ll work on it. These are the cabinets in our laundry room. It is where we keep our school supplies and resources. Then it became a place to throw stuff when we were doing a 10 min. tidy to make the house “company decent”.

So there you have it. Ok. I’ll admit. There are a few other places in my house that I need to work on. But my goodness. Do you think I am going to expose everything to you guys? I have my pride.

Now that I made this stupid promise….I better get crackin. I will be much happier in the end. So will my cluttered brain…and I believe, so will my strangely wired men.