Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Swamped--part 1

So, once again, I have been absent from posting for a long time. I am swamped with housework and feel as if I am drowning in toys, paperwork, and crap. The mess really takes a toll on my psyche and I have no energy to do anything else. I play around a little bit on facebook, but I almost feel as if that is my socialization. Without that, I would be a total looney-tune. I try to maintain a clean house, I do, but I feel as if I am treading water, about to go under.

I grew up in a messy house. I hated it. I would come home during the summers and try to go through the obvious stuff--I couldn't deal with my parents paperwork, obv. There would always be stuff everywhere. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not talking about an episode of Hoarders or anything. Just really messy. So, you would think that I would be a neat freak in response, but it just hasn't turned out that way. Even before we had kids, the house was a little cluttered. Since kids, we have just added way more stuff to our house! Ally doesn't keep her room cleaned, and Kelly thinks its fun to throw all the toys back out of the box that Mommy picked up. Yes, I know this is normal kid behavior, but it is frustrating!

So, once the kids are in bed, I feel sapped of motivation. I want to relax and watch an ADULT tv show. I want to read. I want to scrapbook (another source of the mess--huge piles of pictures!). I want to talk to my husband. Instead, we bust our asses washing dishes, doing laundry, picking up toys, dealing with paperwork, etc etc etc. Or if I'm lucky, I get to go to the grocery store at 9pm. Woo-hoo. (insert sarcasm). I feel like we are always in survival mode, with regards to cooking and cleaning, and don't get a chance to delve into handling the messes that get pushed to the side.
How do you handle the housework? At night? On the weekends? Do you forgo sleep? (BTW, that sure as hell ain't happenin'!)

1 comment:

Giselle said...

I am afraid my children will grow up feeling the way you do about your childhood home. We are cluttered with a capital "C". I love having people over, because it motivates me to really clean up. Otherwise, I tend to just not notice until it hits a certain level...then I go bat-shit crazy and clean like a maniac, swearing that I will just do a little at a time so as not to get overwhelmed by it again. But it is really hard to spend my free time scrubbing a shower that doesn't look dirty...I am not motivated by it.

I don't have any advice as far as the errands/paperwork/laundry goes. I just kind of do it all with kids in tow. Well, not the paperwork...that requires a little more concentration, so I do it at night. I get some comments and crazy looks when I drag 3 little kids through the grocery and getting an oil change and haircuts and buying a car battery at Sears (nightmare of last week)...but I am just too wiped at the end of the day to do it any other way.

Good luck figuring it all out!