It seems like a good day to take stock of my labors, which grow at an exponential and alarming rate. My weekdays are fraught with ordinary things, like this list from Wednesday:
If I don’t get a handle on it soon, you can find me on Hoarders.
- Got both kids up, changed, fed, and ready for daycare
- Drove them to daycare while singing endless verses of the Veggie Tales theme song
- Put in a full day of my job
- Took Dwight for a walk
- Laundry
- Picked the kids up from my parents’ house
- Sang endless verses of the Veggie Tales theme song
- Made dinner for the boys
- Another failed attempt to get either boy to use the potty
- Bubble baths
- Pajamas
- Stories & bedtime
- Review and update a power point presentation
- Cleaned up all of the old papers in my office
- Laundry
- Cheez – Its and wine for dinner
- Reruns of New Girl and The Mindy Project
- Blog post
- Read one chapter of novel
- Nighty night!
This is a fairly respectable list. Or at least I think it is. So how come I’m drowning in chores that I can’t get done? Power-washing the deck. Hanging up my dresses and skirts that have been in a laundry basket for two weeks. Vacuuming out my car. Picking up the layers of clutter that accumulate faster than I can put them away. I am convinced that every mother out there is much better at these things than I am.
I have finally had enough. I have declared a war on clutter, and will go through the house, room by room, until it is free from crap that doesn’t belong there. Mint-in-box balance bike for Grady in the dining room? Gone. Corey’s six baseball caps on the china cabinet? Bye bye. Glassware in the kitchen that hasn’t been used in five years? Sayonara. The house will be much easier to take care of if I’m not tripping over flotsam and jetsam.
A charity called a few days ago to let me know that they would have a truck nearby next week, and asked if I had anything to donate. I’ve never said yes so fast. Hope that truck is big, because EVERYTHING MUST GO!!
2under1 
Wonderful intention, Emily, but be careful not to burn out. Remember, you are not alone. Every family deals with organization and clutter on a constant basis. In my house, just about every time a charity calls for donations, we say yes, then find stuff to donate. Little by little, my house has become more clutter-free, and I don’t mind filling a bag or two every few weeks.
Oh, how I can relate! For the last week I have had a box of clothes from our recent move that gets tossed on the bed each morning with a proclamation to myself, “You don’t get to go to bed tonight (see, the bed is covered!) until you find a home for these clothes.” By evening, either my husband or I schlep them back into the box.
Our list remains long like yours but there aren’t enough hours in the day to do them all! Quite frankly, I consider it a success if I find a pair of socks to wear in the morning (and they don’t even have to match!!!!).
Don’t stress too much. I didn’t start “catching up” around my house until both kids had moved out. Even now, there are tons of extras that don’t get done. (Shredding old bills and paperwork, anybody? Weeding unused clothes from drawers?)
But I’m pretty sure my dying words are not going to be, “Damn, I wish I’d weeded more.”