Cleaning Out the House!

Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing. ~Phyllis Diller~

Housework can't kill you, but why take a chance? ~Phyllis Diller~




I like to think I keep a pretty clean house. I have real issues with having dirty dishes or dirty floors around me so those I might even over clean. But for a few weeks now I haven't been cleaning UP the house. I have been cleaning OUT the house. Believe me there is a huge difference. And in My case I haven't cleaned out the house since I moved here so It was way passed time.



In a little less than a Month I will have been living here for sixteen years. I moved here a single Mom with three kids and a spare. George was My oldest son's best friend and needed a place to live and he chose us. We allowed him to stay. Dave joined us two years after that along with David and Jennifer. We all enjoyed life here and almost never ruined anything. The kids took great care of their toys and we found out that you can pack a lot of stuff into small closets. Dresser drawers hold almost more stuff than you can imagine too. Boxes built from scrap lumber can be stacked to hold even more great old stuff. Un-used suitcases under the bed.. Wow.. Lets fill those with every one's baby clothes and even Anthony's first Cowboy boots. Emily's first patent leather shoes have a shelf of their own. Cooper's sheriffs uniform made from "Aunt Ruby's" real one couldn't be gotten rid of. He might want that for his own son one day.



David and Jennifer's first report cards after we married and All the school papers they brought home that year fill a desk drawer. Reports they worked so hard on and booklets they made for school fill another. Tiny teeth paid for with quarters and dimes fill a prince Albert tobacco can. They were hidden behind those tiny shoes of Emily's. Cigars from I guess every birth in the family have a cigar box all of their own to stay hidden inside. Some say Girl, Some say Boy! The box was Daddy's I have to keep that. I bet you are beginning to understand why I needed to clean OUT the house.

Cleaning OUT means carefully opening boxes and drawers that haven't been disturbed in a while. It means digging through old papers and photo's and baskets and files. It means looking over old car titles.. A couple who's matching car has long since been junked... and divorce papers... Both his and mine and we could maybe need those one day so back they go.. together this time though in one file marked old documents. I did whittle those files all down to one. So much room in that drawer now I was able to move some other things into it.. It's hard really to let some things be shredded when you have held on to them so long.. But those things will make great mulch and after all. I'm Cleaning OUT the house!

Beginning in My own room and Bathroom I cleaned cabinets and dressers and closets and shelves. I looked at everything in old jewelry boxes and tin cans and baskets. I emptied the suitcases from under the beds. Any clothes that I hadn't worn in the last 6 months went to the "outta here" pile. I tried to get rid of about half of what was on every shelf. About a third of the way through I got to thinking that somebody somewhere might could use some of my old junk.. I sent for boxes.. I was now cleaning out the house and planning for a yard sale... Now I had three things going on.. Cleaning out the house.. bagging all the pure trash and washing and dusting anything that might be worth a quarter. I had linens and blankets we never use any more. I had ear rings and bracelets and candles too. I swept the dirt from every crack and crevice and dusted with lemon scented polish. I spent well over a week in mine and Dave's two personal rooms.

Moving on to the Kitchen and dining rooms I have finally declared myself to be half done. It has not been an easy task. I have way to much stuff. I have way to many collections. Tea sets and shot glasses and dolls. Lots and lots and lots of dolls. Bottles and antique Coffee pots and books. Many, many Books! But I have surprised myself. I have thought over a few things; debating with myself; but in the end I really have got rid of a lot of things that were just taking up space here.

I have boxes and Boxes of stuff to sell and bags and bags of trash. I have lots more room on the shelves and even an empty drawer or two in a dresser here and there. I still have baby clothes and cigars and a couple of pairs of tiny shoes. They get to stay this time.. They have their own space for now. Trophy's and drawings have a new space as well. All those "pre-us" photo's have been divided and one day will be dispersed between the five children. Each of them have stuff here that I don't have the heart to throw away. I really hope that one day I can pass some of this clutter on to them. And hopefully I will then smile and think of all the years I held it in trust for them only to see it tossed away the very first time they Clean Out their House!!

Material things can be important because of who they belonged to or what they represent but in the end they are just things. My loving memories of our lives here will always be with me even if I threw away everything. I will enjoy the new look of a little less stuff. And if I know me..... I'll find some new stuff to save. Mason's school work already hangs on my fridge and he has toys and games here too. I love to make doll clothes for Maya so that requires thread and crochet hooks and new dolls that match the ones she has.. I think I saved a drawer each for their stuff.

I have three rooms to go. I have declared this to be a no cleaning week. I am looking the remaining rooms over each day. I am deciding what I can live with out. I am imagining being done. I am seeing things in a new light. I can imagine them sitting on the table outside with a quarter price tag and not shudder. I am on a roll now.. I AM Cleaning OUT the house!

Live simply when you can. Remember that things are never More important than the memories they represent .. Have a great Day!
Patsy

A Housework Holiday!

Housework is something you do that nobody notices until you don't do it. ~Author Unknown~

Our house is clean enough to be healthy, and dirty enough to be happy. ~Author Unknown~


“Life is denied by lack of attention, whether it be to cleaning windows or trying to write a masterpiece.” ~Nadia Boulanger~

Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing. ~ Phyllis Diller~


Guess what today is? Today is NO HOUSE WORK DAY!!
Finally a day that I will be happy to celebrate. Tickled to death in fact. I don't have to buy a gift or wear a funny hat. I don't have to bring any special food or wear a shirt of any particular color. This is a day to celebrate!One of my favorite days. A holiday from housework.


Years ago when my kids were small I developed a plan for housework. It came right in the middle between I'm busy with a child and I'll finish this later. That's the way it worked for me.I always managed to keep the dishes all washed and the floors clean. Everything else got done when I found a spare moment. If you have small kids you will understand that spare minutes are very rare. If you ever find one an emergency will immediately arrive to gobble it up.

I personally know women who drives themselves nuts trying to keep their house spotlessly clean. They sweep or dust every single day. They carry a cloth and polish of some kind with them every where seeking out and destroying every speck of dust of dirt. Making themselves and their families miserable. Dust happens, dirt happens, even spills happen. Sometimes I want to say to them. " Girl, put your feet up and relax. Take a day off. Give a cobweb a chance to start. It won't destroy your life, It might even enrich it.

I see tips and hints on-line all the time. I read most of them because if I can get a job done faster I'm all for that! I honestly hate most house work. It's not the job itself that I hate. It's the loss of the time it takes.Time that I could spend writing or reading a good book. Time that I could spend With my husband or children or My sweet Grand-children.. I hate to give valuable time to cleaning. I know cleaning is important but it shouldn't always be the most important. I always read over the hints and tips but I have never found a wonderful easy way to clean a house. It takes work and a plan to get that work accomplished. Once you have a plan you execute it in what ever way works for you and your house. Maybe you have time in the afternoon or maybe your time is at midnight. No two of us can follow the same plan. No two of our lives are exact.


When my children were small I did floors on Monday and laundry on Tuesday. Dusting on Wednesday and on Thursday I did a little of everything. I Did what ever I had to on the other days to keep everything in good shape. It was right then when I got a routine established that I decided to get married again and I doubled my household size instantly. Let me assure you that eight people use an awful lot of towels . I needed one whole day each week just to wash bath towels. Then there were sheets and blankets and rugs.. Not to mention clothes for all those people. So for many years every days plan included laundry. Every days plan included washing bath towels!

I now live in the smallest household I have ever in my life lived. Dave and I make very little mess. We do live in an old home on a dirt road so dust will always be an issue here. I really could skip days and days here and there and simply ignore all house keeping and get away with it. No one would notice. The truth is that I don't really need a holiday from housekeeping. I have been taking those holidays with-out permission for years and years. When I missed a day of house cleaning, no one cared. If the children wanted to go fishing or on a picnic at the lake, the floors would still be needing a sweeping when we got back. The dishes would wait to be washed after the bedtime stories were told and retold and the songs sang a thousand times and then once more. I always managed to get it all done.. eventually.

We lived in our house and it reflected that fact. I always cleaned the kitchen every night before I went to bed myself.. I have a thing about dirty dishes. I'm not going to bed with them in my house. Another trick I had was to get up a few minutes early and do laundry before the rest of the house was awake. I could get a load started while my coffee made. Them move on to something else while it washed. I also gave the older kids an extra amount of allowance for any chores they did.. You would be surprised at how much it helps when someone else folds a load of towels or dusts the bookshelves. I always welcomed their help and they always loved the extra money they got for doing chores. When you have eight people in your house, you have no choice but to figure out a way to get it all done. We had a lot of chores but we took days off for relaxing and play. We took whole weeks off for camping trips or trips to the beach. If you have children, remember that housework will wait. Nothing is as important as children. Not the load of dirty clothes, the breakfast dishes, or the cobweb hiding behind the screen porch door. Give your self a NO HOUSEWORK Holiday often. Put down that broom and have a great day!
Patsy.