Okay, I don't really have time for a blog today, but here it is anyways, because I had to tell you guys the crazy thing I found out there in bloggerville! There's a blog called Mrs. Happy Housewife (which I accidentally found when trying to get to my own more smart-alecky blog)!!! Yeah, that's right, her blog name is not sarcastic!!! You seriously have to check this blog out. It's way more elaborate than my pathetic offering, with tons of links, which I haven't figured out how to do, and she's a homeschooler, and she follows this cleaning/organizing/micromanaging every detail of her life system which is way more complicated than anything I have ever seen, and she plans her dinner menus a week in advance, and.... Whew, I had to take a drink of water and relax there just thinking about it!
I spent probably an hour checking all her stuff out and also going to a few of her links. One link in particular, called FLY lady, is good for a nice overwhelming guilt trip, if nothing else. The "Fly lady" recommends organizing your entire life, particularly your cleaning schedules and such, in something called a "control journal," which, dare I say it, sounds a lot like something a.... control freak might have? And in the next breath let me shamefacedly say that I considered making one of my own, in which to schedule every minute of my day and organize my house into cleaning zones and prepare an elaborate evactuation plan for my family and valuables (yes, you read right,) as was recommended. They also suggested having an "errand day" in which one accomplishes all grocery shopping, etc. But then I thought better of it- as in, I thought, "What's next, crazy lady, you're gonna be wearing aprons around the house and making brownies from scratch for no good reason other than to prove a point?"
What I mean to say, with no offense intended toward the obviously intelligent and meticulous Mrs. Happy Housewife, is that while I am a "housewife," and keep a pretty darn clean and organized house, in fact, I in no way wish to be that scheduled and methodical. Ok, well, except for the way in which my inner, obsessive compulsive self (the one that used to cry as a child when I couldn't get those sheets on my bed perfectly flat and smooth) always feels drawn to stuff suggesting order and cleanliness and discipline.
But the fact is, I am home all day with a baby and a dog. I don't want to be so organized that I have an "errand day" in which I get it all taken care of in one fell swoop- I want an errand every day! I sometimes invent errands in order to get out of the house more! And how am I supposed to follow a cleaning schedule when I'm taking care of a baby who has about a three minute attention span?
The answer is, I'm not. I've tried many daily schedules and cleaning schedules of my own (none that involved "control journals," but...) and it always ends up being frustrating, and I just get OCD about it and then overly upset when everything doesn't go perfectly as I planned. So, I have abandoned them and found that I'm much happier just seeing where the day takes me. Everything still gets done pretty regularly, and this way I don't have to stress about what I'm "supposed" to be doing at any given time. Maybe this wouldn't work for everyone, but it's the only thing that does work for me.
Now, we'll see how long this lasts- maybe when I have three kids running around and a million things on my mind, I will need a control journal to keep from losing track of all that needs done.
Until that dreaded day, though, I think I'll stick with what works for me.
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3 comments:
I saw that you had linked to me and I just wanted to say hello. :)
Also, I wanted to let you know that the reason I get so detailed with lists and such is that I have truly terrible ADD - the kind where forgetting to eat is not unusual - and I remember nearly nothing unless I have it written somewhere.
I'm not a great housekeeper and no one will ever be able to eat off my floors. Some ladies are talented like that but we aren't all cookies from the same recipe. Things that work for you, won't always work for me and vice versa. I do enjoy my life as a SAHM, though, and I hope you do as well. That's all that really matters.
Good luck to you and enjoy this season in your life. Those babies grow quickly.
Hey there! Thanks for dropping by. Wow, I WISH I could forget to eat a meal or two! :)
Yes, I do enjoy my life as a SAHM, about 90% of the time, and I figure that's probably about as high a rate of job satisfaction as you're gonna find anywhere, right?
Sorry if I sounded a little mean- most of my blogs are pretty sarcastic, in case you couldn't tell. It's sort of stress relief for me since I have to talk in a happy sing-song voice all day and don't even get to yell at crazy drivers anymore!
I in fact totally admire you for finding a method to keep yourself organized. And for planning your menus a week in advance! I always want to do that and never get around to it.
I think the extent to which we want to be disciplined is related to our personality - I know my personality needs constant change - if I have to wake up at the same time two days in a row, then I feel all out of sorts because I am on some type of a schedule. I crave change. Is that a cop out? I honestly don't know. I wish someone wiser than me would tell me, because I have scrapped the whole idea of discipline, I just keep trying to do the next thing that needs to be done, and play with my kids in between, and hope all is well. Anyone out there who has made it through the whole children raising phase who wants to tell me if I'm copping out or if it's ok?
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