I'm going to re-name this article, "Clean Your Childless Loft In Less Than One Hour."
And just to prove my point, I tried it. Here's how it went down.
I started in the catch-all of the house, my bedroom. I hope this makes you feel reeeeeally good about yourself. Otherwise, I've published these humiliating photos in vain.
As you can see, 10 minutes was only enough time to move 1/8th of the mess onto my bed. It usually takes 1 hour to clean my room and 10 minutes to fill it up again with all the laundry I don't have time to fold at the moment.
So, I gave the cleaning challenge another shot in the bathroom.
Verdict? To clean the bathroom in 10 minutes, you must decide which is worse: skids in the potty or soap scum in the bathtub. On to the living room...
If having a clean home 24/7 means having no children, then bring on the mess! I cherish these days with my little ones. My home says, "I have happy, energetic, curious children living and learning here."And when they're grown and living on their own, I know I'd trade the tidiness and quietness for their creative explosions any day.
P.S.
The "Mom Exhibit" will be open December 1-31, 2011. Feature one of my buttons on your site and I'll do the same for you. Email your 150x150 pixel (or similar size) button to cinderelladuty@gmail.com.
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i came to your blog after you followed me on twitter... i LOVE this post. i'm childless at the moment, but live in a 2 bedroom house with 1) my musician fiance and 2) two dogs. there is no way a house can get clean in an hour. ever.
ReplyDeleteLove it! My room looks like yours, it too is a catch all for EVERYTHING! When I am in a cleaning mood, it's the last room I get to and by then (like 5 hours later) I'm to exhausted to even look at it!
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this and seeing others comments, I've come to the conclusion that more often than not most peoples homes look the same way! Makes me feel better!
-Candace K.
hahahaha. Yeah, my son follows me around the house IF he lets me get anything done at all... and "uncleans" what I've just "cleaned". Oh and my bedroom looks pretty much like yours. It a wonder I can even sleep in my bed.
ReplyDelete@Candace K. Yes—it's the very last room for me, too. Which mean, I probably only clean it once every 3 months. I'm thinking that's pretty good! :)
ReplyDelete@brit Perfect way to put it! That's exactly what my kids do, too. I laugh out of insanity!
ReplyDeleteLoved it! We have SO much in common. I really think the square footage makes a difference. I have 1350. It is SO hard to keep a smaller house tidy.
ReplyDeleteA dear friend of mine lived in a 950 square foot house, with 2 children, for several years. It was a constant mess. Then they moved into a 3000 square foot house and she said it was much easier to keep picked up. She also said she made a committment not to fill the house.
I love your last statement on how you will miss the mess someday.
Oh and my bedroom looks just like yours. Nothing matches, I have misc blanketts on the bed to keep us warm, there are always piles laying around, it is a catch-all, the walls are still a nasty color and I have never decorated it. We are only in there to sleep and...
Oh Becky....I wish we lived in the same town. We could take your daughter's "car" out to get away from our messes! :)
ReplyDeleteMy stairs look like that. My side of the bedroom looks like that. The dresser looks like that. My bedroom is the catchall too!
I am such a fan of this series!
xoxox
p.s. I'd take the kids and messes any day.
Even before kids I couldn't get the entire house cleaned in an hour, but I could deep clean the entire house in 1 day. Now I can quick-tidy each room in 15 minutes but rarely tackle deep cleaning more than 1 room at a time. Becky your the best, thanks for helping us all to see that our lives are normal, and so is our messy house.
ReplyDeleteYou can clean your room in an hour? WOW! I'm impressed. That's a job that has to be saved for a day I have nothing else to do. If anyone doesn't know where to put something, or doesn't want to find out where to put something....that's where it goes. There is a lot more sorting than just laundry in that room. I want to see the house they cleaned in under an hour. It must have been a studio apartment of a single woman with out of control OCD that makes it impossible to set anything down without putting in it's proper place. I feel good if I can acomplish even one room in under an hour.
ReplyDeleteI linked here from Jillee's..I wish I had visited in December! I would have posted a Mom exhibit that would've one awards! Mine takes the cake! I have a 1200ish sf house with Husband and 4 kids! #5 is in CA on his mission! ;) but he left all his stuff here for me to clean up! I'm a creative crafty person, so that adds to the mess. I, too, have a bedroom that you can't relax in. There's just too much stuff in there! It is definitely the catch all. It is the bed/office/craft/sewing/sometimes-nursery/room. If you need it you can't find it. I Might know if it's in there or not! LOL My room would take a week-end to clean.
ReplyDelete