I love The Home Edit. Clea and Joanna are magical. I seriously binged watched the whole show on Netflix the week it came out. I have not read their book because I am a mom of three needy girls. I actually haven't read any books lately except for audio books. Following them on social media allows me to dream of the future possibilities. I have tried to do a million things to organize my kids stuff. The problem is any organizational system will not work if NOBODY USES IT! When I am the only one using my well thought out regulatory structures it just creates another thing that I have to clean up. I have labeled, sorted, edited, downsized, categorized, and organized until my fingers are bleeding. Every person in the house has a box to put their shoes, yet somehow we can never find shoes. Each kid has a distinct coat rack with 3 prongs on each hanger, yet we can never find a coat or a mask. All the winter wear has nicely labeled totes for hats, scarves, and gloves, yet we can never find any of these items when the temperature drops.
I have three girls that are constantly growing out of three different sizes of clothing. Most of my life is laundry and clothes sorting. Clothing my children consists of constantly pulling the smaller size out of their drawers and putting in the new larger sizes. I am drowning under totes and laundry baskets of clothes that no longer fit but need to be saved for the next little lady. Since I have 3 girls my basement is currently full of containers with girl clothes. Someday they will all be sharing clothes and I won't have to save anymore sizes. There will be much more room in our basement for activities that my husband and I enjoy instead of just girl clothes.
It is physically impossible for one person to pick up after the 5 people that live here. That is just good math. I try my best but cannot keep up. Too many people live here and those people have too much stuff. I chose not to waste my children's tiny years constantly picking up toys, shoes, coats, etc. On the off weekend that I make my two older children clean their rooms it literally takes the whole weekend. It would take me an hour to clean both of their rooms. However, standing over them and making them do it takes about 36 hours. I keep telling myself that it will be better for them in the long run and hopefully it won't kill me in the process.
Marie Kondo wrote a book called "Spark Joy". The instructions are to get rid of things that do not bring you genuine happiness. None of my kids' toys or clothes spark my joy. However, it gives my kids something to play with while I am trying to get other things done. If I tried to get my kids involved it would be even worse. My 5 year old has a tough time parting with a half eaten sandwich. The other day she asked me to trim her hair. I was unable to sweep up the hair clippings because she wanted to save them all in a box. In her 5 year old brain everything is sparking her joy.
No doubt that organization will be easier to use as the kids get older. Hopefully they will be able to find a matching pair of shoes and a coat in the morning. Maybe things will actually stay where I put them, but I feel like that is asking a lot. If not I will continue to be the mom that rattles off the list of things they need for school in the morning. I will do my best to make sure they are prepared for their day while they are running out the door to catch the bus. It is one of the many things I am happy to do because I love them even if they are all a mess.
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