Just Do Something

Most people with young children and babies will agree that it is easy to let the house get out of control!  I find that it can be spotlessly clean one day (scrubbed floors, dusted sils, toys all away, clean benches) and within 24 hours or so, can be back to complete chaos (sticky spills on the floor, rugs covered in dirt, toys everywhere including the bathroom, washing all over the house).

I am the type of person who gets both panicky and miserable when the house is chaotic.  I am not a neat person by nature, but I get anxious if things get beyond a mild state of disorder.  I find it overwhelming to look at a room, covered in stuff - where do I start?!  Will it ever get tidy?!

So I have a policy of 'Just Do Something'.  It is SO hard to find a block of time to really get stuck into cleaning, so instead, I just chip away at it all day.  Every time I open the fridge, I try and throw out five things.  When I was making lunch, I threw out an expired yoghurt, a near-empty tub of ricotta, some medicine, half a limp cucumber and a forgotten lamb chop.

Every time I walk from the living room to the bedroom, I take a few things with me - some clean washing, a book, a pair of shoes.  When I walk into the bathroom, I change the towels or the water in a vase.

It never seems like I'm actually doing much - but these tiny things, combined with a single "burst" (I often race around for ten minutes in the afternoon and do a speed-clean, including a vacuum), mean that things really do stay under control.

So when it all seems too much - I suggest you Just Do Something!

PS - I have to share a bit of hilarity.  Look at Tabitha's passport photo.  Doesn't it look like a baby mugshot?  She has her Very Serious Face on: