OT: cleaning up after everyone

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
OT: cleaning up after everyone
12
Fri, 01-13-2006 - 7:49pm

I'm sorry for the completely off-topic post, but I know this is a safe place I can come for support and encouragement. And it's totally petty too (sort of!), but I am just feeling really burned out on cleaning up after everyone around here!

I know, if I were a superb mom, I would just be oh-so-efficient at getting the kids (and their father!) to clean up after themselves, and it doesn't help that I'm a terrible housekeeper myself... and it doesn't help ME feel any better to know I'm at least in part to blame, but...

I'M SO SICK OF FOLLOWING EVERYONE AROUND CLEANING UP AFTER THEM!!!!!!!!

There. I feel much better. Thanks for letting me yell.

Anyone else feel like they spend most of their day moving from one mess to the next, and never actually accomplishing anything?

Okay, so it won't be *completely* off-topic, I suppose this probably applies in finances too. Anyone feel like they're constantly cleaning up after a SO's financial messes? LOL

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iVillage Member
Registered: 08-27-2005
Sat, 01-14-2006 - 4:52pm
I completely understand how you feel, on all accounts!

Janice

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Avatar for endomagazine
iVillage Member
Registered: 11-09-2004
Sat, 01-14-2006 - 5:15pm

Hello,

I noticed the post about the chair where everyone dumps their coats. Moving the chair doesn't work, because the "habit" of "dumping coats on the chair" is already formed. So if the chair is in a different location, it won't remind people to use the closet. If you write a *big* note and put it on the chair asking that people hang up their coats, that would be more effective. Also, asking the people involved to hang up their coats *before* they get to dumping them in the chair (and "hiding" the coats if they don't do it) can also be effective. Basically, the chair has become a dumping ground because people coming in to the house are carrying too much. It's easier to dump it on a chair than put it away when you're carrying a backpack, purse, and a few papers or mail. =)

My husband does the same thing, hanging his coat across the back of a chair that he passes on his way into the house. I've tried moving the coat rack closer to the door, but he walks around it to the chair. Really, verbal (or written) reminders are needed to overcome the "I'm acting out of habit" response.

Also, ask yourself some questions:
Is it easy to hang coats in the closet?
Has the floor in the closet been decluttered?
Can little hands reach far enough to hang a coat?
Do items threaten to fall off upper shelves?
Does someone hanging a coat have to shove 30 other coats to the side in order to hang it?

I asking these questions most of our closets are so overstuffed that it's easier to lay it on a chair than wrestle with a coat hanger and 30 other coats in the closet. My mother used to lament that we never hung up our coats, then I asked her why she didn't make sure there was *room* for them. She found out the closet was so stuffed you couldn't hardly hang anything new in there, and cleaned it out. =)

Sincerely,
Lindsey Schocke

Got Dot? Why Not? It Pays!
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Edited 1/14/2006 5:20 pm ET by endomagazine

Sincerely,
Lindsey Schocke

Geeks on Tap: Mission Accomplished

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