Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Spring Purging, and Cleaning, and Sorting.

I've missed ICLW. I'm so bummed. It's the one time each month when I get more than 5 or 6 comments. For that one week I feel like a total rock star! Plus its a great motivator to visit all the other blogs out there. Owell...I guess there's always next month.

This weekend we spent pretty much all day Saturday and Sunday going through all the stuff in the "office" that will shortly become the "nursery." It has been quite a task. That little room has also been the emergency storage - whenever someone comes over and we can't quite get everything clean and organized as we like we just shove it all in the office and shut the door. There was a lot of crap in there that wasn't remotely related to an office. Pulling everything out and trying to find a new home for it has created a brand new chaos that's consumed the entire house.

I was raised by a mom who is totally anal about cleaning. She didn't let me have leg.os or any other toy with little parts because she didn't want me "making messes" all over the house. There were no posters allowed on my bedroom wall, and everything, and I mean everything had to be put away before we went to bed. To this day, her house is always perfectly clean (almost sterile) - if you put your water glass down, it'll be in the dishwasher by the time you go for another drink.

This probably isn't the ideal way to raise a family (rugs must be vacuumed in the same directions so the lines are parallel, bath towels must be folded and put in the linen closet with folded side facing out, etc), but, it has shaped my sense of what a house should be: clean and orderly. However, I'm just not as good as my mom. When I look around my house and see piles of crap or things laying around it drives me insane, but I just don't have the time to deal with it all (I work full-time unlike my mom who didn't work).

Our little house has become maxed to capacity. There is no room for anything. Every cupboard and closet is overflowing - one wrong move and "boobytrap!" (remember that game?). I get a little overwhelmed when I think about adding one more person to the mix, not to mention all the accoutrement that goes along with her.

Deep breaths. Deep breaths.

It doesn't help that BigB comes from a family where orderlineness isn't next to godliness. He doesn't "see" that pile of tools on the kitchen counter that belong in the garage. He'll let them sit until I ask him to move them. Getting him to throw things out is like pulling teeth.

More deep breaths.

I think I've relaxed a lot since we got married. But now without the fallback crap room/office being eliminated? What to do? I have this relentless urge to purge. Must make more room! Friends say that it's the nesting instinct and that it'll ease up once the little girl is here. I dunno. Will it? Maybe that's why my mom has a little supply of Valium in her bathroom drawer. I shouldn't be so quick to judge. Right? Eleven weeks and counting. So much to do...so little time.

7 comments:

Jen said...

My hubby comes from a long line of pack rats, so I very much feel your pain.

just me, dawn said...

i missed ICLW this month too....perhaps this will give you more time this month for purging! I have the opposite, my grandma was a packrat....an thus I must purge LOL!

Martha@A Sense of Humor is Essential said...

Sorry about missing ILCW.
I hope you make some progress on your Spring Cleaning. Also that you find a balance with the neatness thing. Purging is good, we only use less than half of our stuff.

areyoukiddingme said...

I am not a purger, but I am not a pack rat. My husband wants neat and orderly (well, when it comes to my stuff, anyway!). His mom is a total pack rat and he accuses me of that too. If I had no space, I would be a purger, though.

Delenn said...

Coming from Lost & Found: I am sorry you are feeling so overwhelmed. You do need to step back and realize that clean is in the eye of the beholder--and with a new one around it will get messy and you will not be able to always keep up. I am speaking from experience--my first time with baby--I tried very hard to do EVERYTHING and it nearly broke me. The second time around--I learned to let up a little. Its okay if the dishes sit a little longer in the sink, etc.

(And, it really is great--if you can afford it--to hire a maid service--it REALLY saved my life!)

Unknown said...

I'm the pack rat in my family. I know I drive my husband nuts with the piles that I don't see. I'm very good at ignoring them. Lately though, even I've been feeling like it might be time for a purge.

momofonefornow said...

My dh and I have the same issues. After 10 years I have learned to relax my expectations a lot!