We are all very, hopelessly messy people in this house. The main difference between me and the other inhabitants of Lone Star House is that I realize when the house crosses the line into filth and do try to invoke force to get it back to my decidedly low minimum standards, while the rest would frankly be happy to wear the same clothes for ten days in a row (although Lone Star Pa always makes sure we have clean towels - an interesting priority system), buy new dishes instead of washing the old ones and never see the floor again. It's tough. Especially as I have no intention of caving to the age-old solution and just doing it all myself.
Anyway, the Lone Star Girl's room has been out of control for a very long time. I periodically insist that she clean it which usually results in her sitting in the midst of the mess, poking at it hopelessly and sullenly, through whatever weekend it might be until it's 1am on a school night and she begs me to let her go to sleep before school the next day. Slightly more successful attempts have seen her actually clear walkways on the floor, but that's about it. The combination of her laziness and resistance and the sheer magnitude of the job overwhelm her. And me.
The increasing academic rigor of the Lone Star Girl's classes at school have convinced me that this is no longer a small problem of my personal preference. She really needs an organized, private area in which to study. Our neighbors gave us a lovely old desk that their son outgrew, but we couldn't get it through the debris and into her room for the longest time. Yesterday we instituted Operation Clean Room, however, and now...a new life! I employed my baby sister to take the day and clean and organize the room with the Lone Star Girl. They moved furniture, picked up and organized, as well as filling about seven trash bags...with actual trash.
The desk got moved in and the room is...amazing. Even the Lone Star Girl has had to admit that it is much better this way.
I have made it clear that from here on out , the Lone Star Girl will have to get the room back to its current level of cleanliness before going to bed every night, so hopefully we can keep it this way. Eternal gratitude to the awesome Auntie Jazz!!!!
1 comment:
Multiple exclamation points and political viewpoints aside, I found Flylady's system quite helpful in our house. (And despite her admonitions to wear shoes in the house, I still don't.) Breaking things down into 15 minute tasks, and not trying to do it all at once was a real breakthrough for us. While we're not on the system officially anymore (I'm on an "Alt" list now), we do still just say, "I'm going to commit 15 minutes to this task and no more." Oftentimes, it takes us less than 15 minutes to do the job. It didn't take just a day to get everything messy, after all. Anyway, I just thought I'd bring it up in the event it could be helpful.
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