Maintain the Mess!

I stumbled across a blog called Cinderella Duty.  For the month of December, Becky is writing about her messy house.  I laughed my head off when I read her first post.  I whole-heartedly appreciate all the blog posts our there about cleaning, schedules and how to make your home a haven but the reality is, with kids, it is VERY difficult to keep a house clean.  I personally think that the smaller the house, the bigger the challenge.  Becky has 1300 square feet, I have 1350, so I understand her frustration.  I have lived in this house for 14 years, have 3 growing boys (and a husband), I'm an avid cleaner and organizer BUT my house is often a mess.  I don't like it but I have a choice, get stressed or "Maintain the Mess!" (Becky's idea)

Becky asked other bloggers to be brave and post pictures of their messy house.  I really needed some comic relief in my life.  Thanks Becky!


We are very limited on counter space so I often prepare food on the kitchen table.   The table is also a mess because the boys were working on crafts and I had some Christmas gifts sitting there.



I think teaching your children to immediately put away things is a great idea.  When they are 25 and I visit their home, I will know if all my teaching paid off :-)



I LOVE my dining room.  It is in the center of the house so the table tends to be a catch-all spot.



I LOVE my vacuum, I use it often and it rarely gets put away.

This is my laundry room, mud room and back porch.  It is a storage area and stores all the coats and shoes (not showing).  It is right off the kitchen and is generally a mess!



No caption necessary!

Kitchen catch-all!

The bottom of the stairs that often has things that need to be taken upstairs or just brought downstairs.



My boys craft catch-all spot, when not on the kitchen table.

This is actually my solution to the lego saga.  I put a big table in the upstairs boy's bedroom, which is also the playroom.  With the table, there are less legos on the floor.

This has been sitting in the corner of the bathroom since June.  I know I will get to that second coat one of these days :-)

I DO NOT like the screws under the toilet, the ones that get rusty and make a HUGE mess.   I always think it is something else but thankfully not.  Does anyone else have this problem?  Any solutions besides cleaning my bathroom more often?

Our bedroom, long story!  We have 2 bedrooms in this house and also a downstairs office (not a legal bedroom).  In 14 years we have slept in all 3 rooms while meeting the various needs of our children.  Today we are back in our original bedroom.  It use to be lavendar and decorated, a haven for me.  After 3 years of little boys (thus the green) we moved back in and eventually, I plan to paint it a girly color.

We are short on storage space for clothing.

I am SO thankful for my messy house because it means I have active and healthy children.  I LOVE my messy kitchen because it means I can feed my family.  I am privileged to have mountains of laundry because it means we have an adundance of clothing.

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