Things I'm learning to let go of...
When I started my parenting and homemaking journey almost eight years ago, I did it with great gusto. I am not by nature an easy-going and laid-back person, and the way I parented and kept my house certainly showed that.
Things were neat, tidy, organized and as squeaky clean as they were ever going to get in a 150-year-old solid stone house. The baby was dressed and bathed meticulously and hovered over as is appropriately befitting an overbearing, uptight new mother. Not only did I wash clothes and hang them out on line to dry every single day, I hung them neatly up in categories - first all the jeans and pants, then all the long-sleeved shirts, then all the t-shirts, and so on. And I immediately folded them into piles for each person as I took them down and put them in the wash basket when they were dry. I ironed jeans and folded underwear. If we were having a gardening day and I realized we needed something at the store - I washed up and changed myself and the babe into nice, good clothes and then we would leave. I was so on top of it all, my attic was more neatly organized than most store shelves.
Get the picture yet?
Four kids, a fixer-upper house, homeschooling, and my own college classes later.... I am learning to let go of some things.
Now when I do wash, not only do I not bother to turn everything right side out before washing them - I usually don't even bother to turn it right side out when I'm folding it. That can be done on an as-needed basis and seems so much more efficient that way! I no longer agonize for hours over the sock basket, so carefully seeking out perfect matches for each socks, scrutinizing with a magnifying glass to verify thread-count matches on close calls... Now, white goes with white, black goes with black, and blue goes with blue. If they are the same size and the shades of each color match up - I consider that a pure bonus for the wearer!
I've also given up completely on fall cleaning. It makes no sense. Why on earth would I clean the house from top-to-bottom just *before* we spend the most time in it and creating the most dirt in it? Nope, pointless work. Instead, we focus now on spring cleaning and I can usually find a good enough reason that makes no sense to do either on most years.
Oh, the things I'm learning to let go of....
Things were neat, tidy, organized and as squeaky clean as they were ever going to get in a 150-year-old solid stone house. The baby was dressed and bathed meticulously and hovered over as is appropriately befitting an overbearing, uptight new mother. Not only did I wash clothes and hang them out on line to dry every single day, I hung them neatly up in categories - first all the jeans and pants, then all the long-sleeved shirts, then all the t-shirts, and so on. And I immediately folded them into piles for each person as I took them down and put them in the wash basket when they were dry. I ironed jeans and folded underwear. If we were having a gardening day and I realized we needed something at the store - I washed up and changed myself and the babe into nice, good clothes and then we would leave. I was so on top of it all, my attic was more neatly organized than most store shelves.
Get the picture yet?
Four kids, a fixer-upper house, homeschooling, and my own college classes later.... I am learning to let go of some things.
Now when I do wash, not only do I not bother to turn everything right side out before washing them - I usually don't even bother to turn it right side out when I'm folding it. That can be done on an as-needed basis and seems so much more efficient that way! I no longer agonize for hours over the sock basket, so carefully seeking out perfect matches for each socks, scrutinizing with a magnifying glass to verify thread-count matches on close calls... Now, white goes with white, black goes with black, and blue goes with blue. If they are the same size and the shades of each color match up - I consider that a pure bonus for the wearer!
I've also given up completely on fall cleaning. It makes no sense. Why on earth would I clean the house from top-to-bottom just *before* we spend the most time in it and creating the most dirt in it? Nope, pointless work. Instead, we focus now on spring cleaning and I can usually find a good enough reason that makes no sense to do either on most years.
Oh, the things I'm learning to let go of....
posted by The Sensenigs | 2:26 PM
1 Comments:
You ironed jeans? I'm glad you have come to your senses. I also vote for sping cleaning to be optional.
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