Anyway, my post about guilt struck a chord with some of you. I feel guilty because I'd rather do anything than housework and I continually feel that I'm a housework slut. I look at craft blogs and rather than think 'my goodness, that felt corsage with a button sewn on it is fabulous!' I imagine how pristine the blogger's home must be in order for her to have the time and clear conscience to make little 'pretties'. My house is just full of....well, I call it eBay stock, Big Man calls it shite (he's not the most eloquent of men). We both agree it's 'stuff'. When we made our annual visit to my sis-in-law Sophie's place which is very minimalist and clean, all I could say afterwards was 'where was all her stuff?'. I tend to think people without oodles of 'stuff' are pretty boring (well I would, wouldn't I ;P) and was gratified when a first-time visitor to our place, a friend of Red's said yesterday 'you've got so much cool stuff here!'. (As an aside, Carb Addict was prancing around to 'The Boys Are Back In Town' on my iPod wearing blue winceyette pjs and a jaunty Tyrolean hat, picked up for 50p last week in a charity shop. We strive to make an impression chez nous).
In an attempt to bring some order to my life and because I just CAN'T live in this turmoil any longer, I have decided to follow Flylady's Beginner BabySteps program. Plenty of people on MSE.com swear by it though it looks a bit like nibbling round the edges to me at the moment. Day One was Shine Your Sink. Day Two is Get Dressed And Tie Your Shoes Up. Hmmm. That doesn't really help when my cupboards look like this:
We have two sets of stairs at our place - this is the cupboard under the kitchen stairs.
It's full of implements I just HAD to have - mini chopper, giant cupcake baking tin,
apple peeler, burger maker. Utterly shameful mess.
Cupboard under (now shined) sink. Note nine bottles of Stardrops.
Can't find anything in here without getting everything else out :(
Tins, veggies, stuff from Approved Foods....it's all crammed in here.
Luckily I was able to thin it out a bit this evening by donating to Carb Addict's
Harvest Festival. Hope they like hot dog sausages!
Cereals we don't eat but kept in case I decided to make Rocky Roads one day.
I've made Rocky Roads loads of times but the cereal remains unused.
Everything falls on top of me when I open these doors.
I tried to organise this cupboard by getting Big Man to cut pieces of 2"x4" that I
could use as tiers on the shelves but it didn't really work. Plus I can't reach the top shelf
so can only use honey when Big Man or Mr Charming are home. Or get a chair,
and frankly who can be arsed with that?
So you can see why I think shining my sink is not going to make much of an impact in the scheme of things. I AM going to make a big effort in the next few weeks to tidy and declutter as much as I can - after all, it's one of my goals on my profile so I suppose I've got to do it. I always have this feeling that I'm not allowed to do things I enjoy or like, or even just slack off whilst the house is so messy - almost as if I don't deserve to kick back when there's so much to be done....it's that female guilt thing again I guess. I just can't let things go to rack and ruin whilst I sew or knit or paint or read and though I doubt very much that Big Man would say 'why are you reading Heat magazine when this place looks like a tip?' (he wouldn't dare!) I always imagine that he disapproves.
Maybe I've just got a complex. Am I (and my house) beyond hope?
Your cupboards are SO bloody tidy. Visit me, I'll show you chaos.
ReplyDeleteMy line is about to snap, it will be me who sources, buys and attempts to replace it.
I get a little bit twitchy once everywhere is tidy, because I just KNOW it'll be a pig sty again in no time.
Oh Lucy, now you're being facetious. Tidy cupboards indeed.....(snorts disdainfully)
ReplyDeleteK xx
That stinks that the clothes line broke! And your cabinets are jam packed! Most of mine are pretty empty.
ReplyDeleteYour cupboards look like mine.
ReplyDeleteI don't get that FlyLady stuff- looked at the site once and clicked away with a bit fat "Meh!" It's all a bit too 1950's-Stepford Wives for my liking.
Tidying up gets done sporadically, as and when, and I am OK with that.
If sewing up pretties means that things around here get a bit dusty and dishevelled, then so be it.
See email. I will always wear the untidy crown. And despite how it sounds, I'm in no way proud.
ReplyDeleteYep guilt thing here too.
ReplyDeleteHuge bummer about the washing line. I am feeling very happy because we just put up an indoor one. For ages we've been thinking about it and talking about it and finally last week I went and bought it! G did put it up and now we can have clothes drying indoors along the landing in the winter. Yes it'll look a tad unsightly(!) but it's better than mocing the flippin airer around our bedroom as it's always in the wrong place!
I have been doing a little housework every day. Nicked someone else's idea on line and adapted it. An idea for a blog post there I reckon!
Lisa x
I look around my house and see so much that needs to be done, it can be overwhelming. I have changed my view, instead of looking at the whole room i try and set smaller goals like, today i will declutter that one cupboard. i find, for me, that works better than tackling the whole room in one go. i have decluttered a lot recently and it makes me feel a whole lot better.
ReplyDeleteHaha, I've got a steamer shoved in a cupboard too, SP
ReplyDeleteI am having palpitations!!! just send me your address and I will come round and sort them all out. check out my post and you can see my food cupboard . yes if you have seen sleeping with the enemy. all my tins face front ! http://saphysprogress.blogspot.com/2011/10/things-to-do-when-you-are-sad.html
ReplyDeleteSP - the steamer is the only thing I DO use lol!!
ReplyDeleteK xx
Oh your post made me smile (not the bit about your washing line - that must have been so frustrating). The idea you have that crafters have tidy homes is really funny because we have so much stuff around in case we need it and can then never find it when we do. When my clutter gets overwhelming I just promise myself that I'll clear one area a day and do all I can in 15 minutes and then do some more tomorrow. It gets done in the end.
ReplyDeleteI think you are very brave to reveal your cupboards. I fall somewhere between you and Saphy, don't have many gadgets and try not to overstock but I do have clutter of course. I wonder why you have so many bottles of Stardrops, must have been a great bargain - buy one get 8 free? Hope the line is restored.
ReplyDeleteJenny - Stardrops is the best cleaning stuff ever, for anything. It's hard to come by in my neck of the woods so when I saw some I grabbed it!!!
ReplyDeleteI'm just jealous of the amount of cupboard space you have! And if there was approved foods over here, I'd have groaning shelves too. On the plus side, looking at the contents of those cupboards, you could do a 6 month storecupboard challenge ;-)
ReplyDeleteYou would feel so at home at my plaae and me at yours I promise you lol
ReplyDeleteJust found your blog and I share your pain. sometimes I just look around and don't know where to start. At the risk of sounding a bit too jaunty, just start somewhere! I don't follow flylady to the letter but I like her ideas. Like just set your timer (for however long you feel like) and tidy,declutter, whatever until it beeps. Then stop. If you do that a couple of times a day, things will start to look easier.....I say that sitting a desk filled with so much stuff I can barely find room for my coffee cup so I have a long way to go too.....
ReplyDelete