Tidy House. Happy Me.

MissM just made me laugh so much I had to share.

I'm cleaning out the fridge. You know that regular task where you throw out food that's mysteriously gone past it's use-by date, or cheese that's seen better days.

My late aunt used to line the vegetable drawers and shelves in the fridge with paper towel. She said that way any spills or leakages would be soaked up by the paper towel and made the weekly wipe-down of the interior of the fridge quick'n'easy.

I've done that ever since I moved out of home and had my own fridge ... and she's right!

MissM asked me 'what on earth are you doing with all the food out of the fridge?'

Cleaning the fridge I replied matter of factly.

You do that? She asked in a high pitched voice.

Yes. I do.

How often?

Every couple of weeks, I guess.

WHY?

To keep it clean and tidy.

You even keep the fridge tidy? I'm impressed.

And that's when I laughed.

Yes honey. I even keep the fridge tidy.



This got me thinking - what do 'we' do that 'they' don't even realise?

If 'we' stopped doing these things what would happen? Would 'they' notice?

The dishwasher is constantly filled and emptied only to be filled again.

Clothes get worn, washed, dried, ironed, put away only to be worn, washed, dried, ironed and put away again.

Food gets bought, put away, cooked, eaten ..... bought, put away, cooked, eaten and so on.

Social plans are made.

Kids outgrow clothes and toys .... they get sorted, recycled, donated etc.

Fridges get cleaned out. Ovens and grills are cleaned.

Cupboards are sorted thru.

There's so much stuff that goes on quietly in the background of day to day family life.

There's been a pile of crushed moving boxes in the garage along with an large basket we used to use as MissM's toy box and more recently the washing basket, full of various items broken in the move, a few broken umbrella's waiting for there to be enough to warrant 'one car load' for the 30 euro the recycling place asks. I said to G at the beginning of the holidays that we had a car load and if we could take it to the recycling place ...... it's all there as of a few minutes ago.

We were going to throw out two small unattractive cupboards, but decided to keep them in the garage as storage. TIDY garage!

Tidy garage meant I could re-ogranise the laundry. Now we have TIDY laundry! Which means the clothes line can live in there and not the kitchen. TIDY kitchen!

We reorganised MissM's bedroom to give her more floor space and at the same time, went thru clothes that no longer fit, toys she no longer plays with etc. TIDY!

I am forever harping on about putting things back when you're done with them; in the house in the UK, MissM had a room all to herself for her toys and arts'n'crafts and now we're in a normal house again, she's relearning how NOT to spread out into the lounge room and share the space. 

Earlier this week, MissM misplaced her sunglasses and before I could say anything she looked at me and said 'I know. If only I'd put them back where they belonged I'd fine them now'. At least she KNEW what to do. Shame she didn't do it.

Our house is by no means a show-home. We LIVE in it and we entertain and we have guests and we love it.

But it's always TIDY. 

G laughs at my OCD tendencies, Mum says thank goodness I took after dad and not her (she has a tendency to be untidy) and poor MissM is exhausted trying to keep up, but they both do very well and I know, in my heart of hearts that if I can show/teach MissM to be tidy that it will bode well for everything else she does in life. 

My commitment to a tidy house is pride, along with a desire to show MissM that we work hard, and invest in lovely things we respect them. That if we stay on top of things, no matter what they might be, we can cope with whatever is thrown at us. That, even tho I don't work outside the home, that there's a responsibility I have towards this relationship that I take pride in; family is a team, and we all have our role to play to ensure it works to the best of it's ability with everyone playing their role. 

And maybe, as I'm getting older, and because I don't have much else to focus on I'm a tad more obsessed than I care to admit.

Best get back to the fridge ........

With friendship

x