The path through my domestic wilderness, Part 2

Naming my blog anything to do with wilderness seems remarkably petty. If this is the thickest my wilderness grows, I am incredibly blessed. Please see the Bible for a more detailed rendition of what true wilderness looks like.

But back to the mess. Three simple steps to climbing out from under it:

1) Do the breast stroke rapidly to the surface of your piles of paperwork and take a deep breath.

Being creative in a messy, packrat kind of way (smile), countertop clutter, usually in the form of paperwork, would take over our kitchen and dining room table. This was a constant source of stress in one of those subliminal kind of ways. It would rear its head, form fodder for complaints and occasionally crash to fluttering piles on the floor.

Clutter is easy to grow and is far less demanding than a pet. After awhile, it becomes an accepted member of the family. Once it's gone, though, one feels so liberated. One realizes how the little beast has been controlling the picture for too long. I finally started a filing system dedicated to the task of eliminating paperwork confusion and countertop clutter. I will definitely need a third and fourth but for now, it's under control. I say "finally started" because I have read for years (in the books about organization which are so much more interesting than actually doing something) that this is the key to more domestic order but had not taken action in a lasting way.


I had an early victory that encouraged me in this process and has kept me at it. Needing to quickly grab all of our important documents like birth certificates, etc. for an appointment, I was able to stick the file under my arm without worrying for one second whether I had everything I needed. This was an encouraging moment because the last time I could remember doing something like this, it took me seeming days to find it all.

The key is to get very specific and deal with the paperwork in front of you. What categories do you require? For us, it involved general categories like "auto" and "current bills" and "action items," as well as more specific files like "Cub Scouts," etc. Another important step is to dedicate an empty filing container to the task above and beyond what you currently need. Have labels ready and waiting to go. That way, you won't start forming extra piles that don't have a place yet while waiting to get more filing materials. Finally, it is vital that you deal with your paperwork daily, not weekly. Not monthly. Otherwise, all bets are off and you will then be stuck with an unused, outdated filing folder system and piles all over your house that are now too big that you don't want to deal with after all.

2) Post and follow a daily routine for each area of your house.

I am only partially done with this step~~at least, to the extent that I want to implement it. Here's what I posted in the kitchen:


It's a list of daily and weekly routines that need to be done in order for order to be maintained. (It is also a utilization of one of the twins' more adorable pieces of preschool artwork. :) I started thinking about what needs to happen on a daily and weekly basis in order for our home to stay clean. (Yes, for some of you, this is very natural. For me, I can think of all sorts of other fun and exciting activities, like writing this very blog, which will perpetually attract me from the task!) Posting it and doing it makes it all about maintainance and less about a prayer such as "Please give me a five hour chunk of time without my children so that I can clean my house!!"

Daily:
Sweep
Do all dishes
Clear counter
Clear and clean table
Clean coffee pot
Pick up under table
Check trash

&

Weekly:
Scrub floor
Shake out rugs
Clean appliances
Clean out fridge
Clean fishbowl
Clean window

So instead of just doing the dishes in the evening, I check in on these other areas as well. I sweep, even if there doesn't seem to be anything to sweep. (Turns out there's always something to sweep.) The trash does not necessarily get taken out at this time because it's usually less than 10 degrees outside. It waits until the next morning when someone actually leaves while fully dressed, etc. This system should be replicated for every area of the house and can be done at any point of the day. There's no need to wait until the very end, just as long as whatever needs to get done daily gets done daily.

The great thing about this is that, once you have a list of the actual steps that need to be taken (for instance, a daily task for the bathroom would be to wipe down the counters, quick and simple) it is easy to have a list of chores compiled that children can help with once they are old enough. If you don't know what needs to be done daily, then your children will not know either.

I am inspired by a mother I know with six children who explained her process to me. Every child has to do as many chores a day as they are years. So the two year old has two chores a day, the ten year old has ten chores. There is no reward system. The clean house is its own reward. I like this concept. Reward systems have not worked for us because then the reward becomes an obsession, at least for our kids. They start making up activities in hopes of "moving up the chart," things that have no real challenge or value attached (except in their reward-driven minds...smile).

This is in process for us. While our kids do chores, I would prefer a more systematized approach that gets the whole job done. As my friend put it, she is then free to deal with the bigger jobs that need done that kids can't, in fact, do. Psalm is our only kid who actually seems to get a big kick out of picking up toys. Once recently, he cleaned up the whole downstairs and then said to Alex, "Dad, you can vacuum now." :)

3) Eliminate problem areas.

We had a set of shelves underneath our countertop which became a veritable greenhouse for all kinds of piles of paperwork. The shelves are now gone. Enough said.

(Sadly, there has grown a small pile of textbooks on the floor in its place like a rugged weed. I think what I need to find is a little wooden cabinet with a door, or something that looks nice but can be closed off to the rest of the world. Must add this to the weekly thrift shop peek-in-the-door after going to the library.)

To be continued...

Once again, I really want to hear from you. What have you done that works?