How do you clean?!

I just spent 3 hrs cleaning like a madwoman in my jammies. For months, we've had piles of clothes here, there, everywhere upstairs needing a home. The clothes that Brooke had just outgrown. The winter clothes that I needed to move temporarily that might fit her in the fall. The winter clothes Hannah outgrew, and the ones that might fit her in the fall. The summer clothes that hopefully Hannah will grow into before the summer is over.

Having a four year gap between girls has a lot of advantages, but keeping track of and storing all those clothes is a huge task. I hate it.

It's bad enough that laundry is such a big task. Not quantity wise per se....grandma likes to shop so both girls usually have at least 2 weeks worth of clothes before I have to do laundry- and that's just when the basket is too full or Brooke runs out of jammies or panties. But getting it put away...sorting thru the huge pile of clean clothes...it's a lot of work. Then you get behind on the stuff mentioned in the first paragraph, and all the sudden your house is a disaster!

But it's not a task that I can just tackle easily. None of it is. I can't work on Hannah's stuff while she's napping. It's hard to work on the big clothes switch-aroo when she's awake... everything is upstairs and she's all over the place and we certainly don't need (another) dive down the stairs! So basically, such cleaning/organization, etc has to happen when Matt is home and can spend the hours entertaining the girls and I can just go to town upstairs, running between rooms, moving bins around, vacuuming, folding, etc.

I mean...I always say it is not cleanliness that is our problem- it is clutter. This morning I got tired of looking at the clutter. I wish I had time to tackle this main level of our house too but time ran short. I told a friend/acquaintance of mine the other day- who is a clean freak - that she would run screaming from my house. I don't really want it to be "that" bad...!

So how do you clean? Those of you with clean, organized all the time houses....how do you do it? Those of you with housekeepers can "talk to the hand." lol... I would love one to do all the CLEANING stuff....but they're not going to file papers, put away clothes, etc. I'd still have to stay on top of that so the cleaner could actually clean. By the time I get that far I might as well do it myself.

Or so I say! Anyways..... do you just always find yourself cleaning? Do you do it at night when the kids go to bed? Is there anyone else out there that just kind of deals with clutter like I do? Am I the only one with a house this messy?

On Thursday evening I thought "I haven't gotten much done around the house this week." When I thought about it, it was because I chose to spend the mornings doing things with the girls, swimming, playing, etc. The afternoons are nap time, so I can't do all the stuff that needs to be done then--there is a certain level of quiet that needs to be maintained. In the evenings, we get thru dinner, usually take the girls outside, then it's bath time and put them to bed time. We tend to do all that together, because it's our "family time." But I'm also not one of those moms/wives who will spend hours after the kids go to bed cleaning. I'm just not programmed that way. I might bake because I love doing that. I always try to at least not have dirty dishes in the sink when we go to bed. But I don't go around and de-clutter. I sit down and see what's in the DVR. I surf the net, I read, I blog, I paint my nails. I figure I deserve some down-time too.

Though I do take probably more downtime in the afternoon during nap than I should. What can I say. I have a minor facebook addiction.

So-- what do you do to your house?

If I'm going to solicit ideas I thought I should share one too.... when I fold sheets, I fold the fitted, the flat, and one pillowcase. Then I stack them, slide them into the other pillowcase, fold it over, and stick it on the shelf. So the sets of sheets are tumbling over when I open the door, because they're each in their own little case.

What a boring post- huh? CLEANING! I mean really..... well--hopefully a more exciting one next time! Have a great weekend!