Awhile back, someone commented on a picture I took and posted on Instagram. She thought the picture was cute, but also commented on how clean my counters were, which she noticed in the background. "How on earth do you keep things so clean & tidy, especially with 5?!", she asked. Her question was legitimate and I was glad she asked. The answer, however, was probably not what she expected. But I appreciated that she asked. I appreciated her allowing me to answer her question.
My counters are clean. Truth is, my house, as a whole, is fairly organized. But not for the reasons you might think. Ok, I admit, I'm someone who is, by nature, organized. I'm a list maker. I'm a planner. It's the way I've always been. I ENJOY it. All that said, the reasons go deeper.
When Dylan was about two, he started to "clear counters". Basically, he didn't like counters, tables or any surface to have "stuff" on them. So, everything got pushed to the floor. He didn't mind it on the floor, just didn't want it on the counter. It drove us batty. Over the years he has improved in this area. Now, he'll just push everything to one end of the counter. It's still annoying, as piles I've created are then one jumbled pile! Grrrrr...
My solution? A home for EVERYTHING. We had an issue, so a solution was created. I try to be proactive vs. reactive. If I didn't address it, items were going to continue to go missing. So, that was that. This started when he was 2, he's now 15. After 13 years, keeping my counters clutter free is like taking a shower. It's easy. It's second nature.
But it wasn't just the counters, he would take the DVD's out of there cases, carry the DVD's around and put the DVD cases UNDER the couch...perfectly aligned, shoved to the very back. The result - missing and broken DVD's and cases. Again, we had to get creative and Rob - aka my IT man - burned and uploaded EVERY SINGLE MOVIE we owned to our computer, connected them to our Media Center that he connected to the TV and, TADA, all movies at our finger tips! No more lost DVD's or cases. Since the development of the Apple TV, life is even better.
With each passing day, month, year, we find something else Dylan is getting into to and once again a solution is needed. The result: a very organized home. Yes, this is nice, but it has a down side....I know, gasp...
Let me share a story. When Greg entered kindergarten, he had full access to scissors - he had his own pair in his pencil box at his desk. While this may not seem abnormal, for this boy it was like being a given a piece of his favorite candy. A few weeks after starting school, I got a call from one of the classroom aides. She said, "Mrs. Stewart, Greg is FINE, but there was an incident. He gave himself a bit of a haircut." I laughed and laughed and laughed. Oh, my poor boy, he had VERY limited access to scissors prior to kinder. In our home, scissors are kept under lock and key. Dylan wasn't necessarily "bad" with them, but he also wasn't yet at an age where he could be trusted with them, so they were stored out of reach, location unknown. If you wanted to use scissors, you had to ask mom or dad. Needless to say, Greg had cut out the middle section of his "fohawk"...I was just relieved he hadn't cut the little girls hair beside him, who had informed his teacher of his hair cutting shenanigans...
People commend me for my organized home, but the truth is, even if I am a generally organized individual, 75% of the time it's out of necessity due to our family dynamic. It can be cumbersome - it's mentally, physically and emotionally draining.
I'm not looking for sympathy - this is my life, I love it and in the end, I do have a crazy organized house. I share these details of our life because, like anything, there is often "more to the story", whatever the situation. We can be so quick to think we know the why behind this or that, when we don't really have a clue or only know part of the truth.
All this to say...be cautious in your assumptions about others in any given area. The truth might surprise you. I know I've surprised many when I share the depths of why our home is neat & tidy & ridiculously organized. I just want to be able to find the DMV registration paperwork when it comes time to pay...if I don't keep up, it will become Dylan's paper for his next to-do list at Six Flags or the Halloween Spirit store...completely, totally serious about this people...
Oh, and while my house is organized, whether or not it's clean is a debatable...just keeping it real...