Since we put our house on the market, our life here has felt so temporary. We haven't been working on the house on the weekends, or organizing the closets, or planting anything, or doing any of the home projects we'd normally be thinking about at this time of year. Maybe I need an outlet for my Martha Stewart impulses, and that's why I keep thinking of the new house as this magical place where I will transform into a magazine-perfect homemaker. I keep saying to JW, "In the new house, I'll..."
...plan out our weekly menu in advance, and prep in advance.
...prepare a healthy lunch for each of us every weekday, instead of scrounging in the fridge in the morning to see what I can pack for K.
...bake bread regularly.
...have an open house party and invite all the neighbors.
...keep an inventory of everything we buy, and use it to keep running shopping lists.
...make an album from all our family photos.
...spend a little time cleaning every night so the mess doesn't build up.
...organize K's old clothes into boxes by age.
...do yoga every night before bed.
...other things that I can't think of at the moment, but that pop into my head when I imagine our perfect new-house life. (Also, while doing all of the above, I'll be wearing an apron.)
At first, JW looked skeptical, but then he started to go along with it and reply, "Yes, and in the new house, I'll learn how to do my own plumbing."
(Update: He DID learn how to do the plumbing! Today he unclogged the shower drain. We now own an auger. I don't even know what that is. Does this mean I need to actually do all the things on my list?)
Okay I do the "spend a little time cleaning up each night" and "organize old clothes by age" things religiously and it makes such a HUGE difference in feeling organized and not forcing my weekends to be clean up catch-up time. I find that once everything is perfectly cleaned and organized (i.e. everything has a home) then it only takes about 10 minutes each night to straighten everything back up. Landon has to clean his play room every night before bed, so I find it's really just the kitchen and the magical stack of mail items that insist on piling up on the counter that I have to deal with.
ReplyDeleteAnd as far as the clothes- I have a plastic bin labeled "Landon - year 1", "Landon - year 2", etc. As he grows out of something, it either goes in the good will box (we keep a big box in our garage that we fill with good will stuff and then take it whenever it gets full) or in the bin for "year 4" which sits on the floor of his closet. It's been great with baby #2 because I have Landon's old bins in Claire's closet to go through when needed. Claire already has her "year 1" bin and it has all the newborn clothes she only fit into for about 48 hours. Very sad.
My big resolution is the planning out meals and prepping ahead. I'm terrible about that and I'm really trying- last week was a big success, but it seems I can't do it two weeks in a row. It's like I need a week to slack off, even though, when I do plan ahead everything is so much easier.
And finally, yay on the new house!
I do the "spend a little time cleaning up each night" now, since we always have to keep our house clean for potential buyers. It makes a huge difference, but I'm still not sure we'll keep it up in the new place. I should start listening to music while I clean, to keep me motivated.
ReplyDeleteI toss outgrown clothes on the bottom of the wardrobe, and when there gets to be too much I dump it in a big box of old baby clothes and sort out some items to give away. So everything is roughly sorted by age, but it's in various strata rather than in separate boxes. I figure that there will be plenty of time to sort through it all either before or in the early days of kid #2, so that's lower down on my list.
Having your house on the market is an unsettling time and feels like you're stuck in no-mans' land.
ReplyDeleteHope things work out with finding your dream new house soon! :-)
I made a nearly identical list in my head of the things I'm going to do when Timmy starts daycare so that I can start working with as organized of a household as possible.
ReplyDeleteMy biggest priorities are the meal planning/packing lunches and organizing photos. Do you read Real Simple? This month's issue has a feature on meal swapping, and those recipes might work well for making ahead and freezing for yourself.
It might seem silly to think that just living in a new house will be enough change to actually make all these things happen, but sometimes the motivation and enthusiasm just comes from feeling like you have a completely clean slate to start with.
I do this too! We aren't in the process of selling our home but I let our 100 year old house be my excuse for my lack of housekeeping ability. I really want to build a home- I can't imagine a better feeling than moving into a brand spanking new home still smelling of construction. Knowing you're the only person who has every lived there! I'm sure it would NEVER be messy :)
ReplyDeleteP.S. moved to: http://wildnorthwestlitigator.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeleteThanks, Cee and Michael!
ReplyDeleteCee, there's so much new construction around here that's put up very quickly to make a profit that I think a 100-year old house (well, ours is 93) is a better bet.
LEO, of course I read Real Simple -- how do you think these ideas get in my head? Between that and Apartment Therapy, I have a vivid home-fantasy life.