annakiss' house is spotless and my diaper pail smells like flowers - Page 6

[annakiss]

After all these years, my idaper pail still does not smell like flowers, but it does smell better at the moment as my littles are all out of diapers. It's still there, of course, thanks to family cloth and we put our rags in there too. And it still smells rank, though not as rank as it used to, I'm sure.

[lactivistmama]

Thanks for bumping this back up! You have a beautiful home, and your art is very inspiring!! Where do you paint?

[lunar forest]

Yeah, um, you told me to change it, and then I forgot, and then I couldn't think of anything cute and clever but I kept noticing how dumb it was that it said spring and it was september, so I thought well, I can just change that one word and then come up with something clever later. You should probably tell me what you want it to say. It's not like I'm the smartest and funniest girl in cleveland or anything. 'sides, "fall into green" makes it sound really simple and effortless. yeah, that's it.

[That Is Nice]

I love your home. Is it really an apartment? It looks so spacious.

I have to say, I've followed the decluttering house picture threads for some time, and yours might be my favorite.

Seriously.

Here's why: your house is very real. It looks great. You've got an eye for color. It looks lived in, livable, but well thought out and decluttered.

It doesn't look like you spend a $$$ fortune $$$ at Ikea or Crate and Barrel or somewhere. Many of the decluttered pictures often look nice, but the well organized ones...you can tell they spent way more than I ever would at stores where I never shop.

Love yours! Very inspirational!

[That Is Nice]

I liked a lot of your art, but especially the placenta print. And your belly casts were more detailed than most I've seen. And they fit in so well.

[annakiss]

Wow, That_Is_Nice, thank you so much.

I did notice while I was putting the flickr show together that most of my stuff is gifted or hand-me-down or trash picked. I didn't buy hardly anything new, except for really large pieces. I just want to thrift more. :

Thank you so much though, I really appreciate it!

[That Is Nice]

Originally Posted by annakiss

I did notice while I was putting the flickr show together that most of my stuff is gifted or hand-me-down or trash picked. I didn't buy hardly anything new, except for really large pieces. I just want to thrift more. :

I think that is why I like it so much. Thrifting, using hand me downs, using antiques, and making another person's trash your treasure really appeals to me, and I think that is kind of the point of decluttering, simplifying, etc.

You have a good eye for color and design, though, too, and that really comes through.

[alexisyael]

I love your new house pictures You are inspiring, in many many ways

[annakiss]

Originally Posted by alexisyael

I love your new house pictures You are inspiring, in many many ways

[KayleeZoo]

Chiming in to say that I, too, am feeling very inspired to continue decluttering and trying to achieve that simple, open atmosphere. We moved from a 1000 sq ft house into our 2800 sq ft house 6 years ago, and it's filled up with lots of crap in the meantime. But I'm chipping away at it- thanks so much for taking the time to share you pictures, Anna. Your home is beautiful :

[operamommy]

How lovely. I adore the warmth and the many unique personal touches. I'll echo what another poster said; I loathe seeing homes decorated with showroom type crap that has no meaning. Your home is so inspiring. Thanks for showing it off!

[thewaggonerfamily]

Originally Posted by annakiss

Generally, I wouldn't mind if someone stopped by out of the blue.

I want that.

I am mortified by my house even if I have 3 months notice they are coming. ::

[Surfacing]

Originally Posted by thewaggonerfamily

I am mortified by my house even if I have 3 months notice they are coming. ::

Yeah, here too. How do you get your whole family to participate and do their share? Sorry, I just read the first page and now this last one, plus looked at your fab pictures (*LOVE your paintings and colours in your home, btw) so you might have already answered this question....

[annakiss]

Originally Posted by Emese'sMom

Yeah, here too. How do you get your whole family to participate and do their share? Sorry, I just read the first page and now this last one, plus looked at your fab pictures (*LOVE your paintings and colours in your home, btw) so you might have already answered this question....

This is complicated. I choose to have a clean house, so generally, I do most of the cleaning. However, I've also got a couple things going for me that means that this fact doesn't lead to an unequal partnership.

One, my husband and I got married when we were 19. That doesn't seem like it should matter, but I really think it's a contributing factor. It basically means that we've become grown-ups together and he has been really well trained, for lack of a better word. I don't ask him to do things he doesn't do well or enjoy and lucky for me, he doesn't do so for me either.

Two, my husband cooks all our meals, when he is home. I don't cook, ever. So I'm pretty free to clean as much as I want.

Three, I'm a natural clean freak. I just like it, so it's easy to feel compelled. I also don't try to stress myself out about it too much. When things are not super crazy-busy, I do one big thing a day - grocery shopping, errands, dusting/vacuuming, cleaning the bathroom, laundry, etc. and just rotate as needed. I also usually have one or two days a week where I don't do jack. When things are crazy-busy, I do a lot of cleaning in one or two days and errands as I can fit them in. Today I have to do both because I'm not going out this evening, but did on Sunday and Tuesday and will on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday I'll vegetate. Plus we're having out-of-town guests this weekend.

Four, my kids are little, so I don't expect much of them. I do ask that they help pick up and sometimes I get all crazy about that and say things in ways that I don't mean, but most of the time I try to encourage cooperation by talking about community and family and helping one another in order to make our lives happen and in order to do the fun things we love to do. It works...sorta. I don't have huge expectations of the kids at all though. There's no chore chart or anything. I'm thrilled that my 6 year old brushes his teeth and gets himself dressed for the day when asked and gets his shoes and gets things ready to go. He does a lot, really. I'm trying to convince them more often to do small things regularly, like taking their dishes from the table to the kitchen.

Five - I have a good organization system, so me doing a lot or my husband picking up quite a bit is not a problem because finding where things go is really easy for all of us, even the kids.

Six - I have a small house and try to declutter as I go, sorta constantly. Makes it easier.


I hope that helps a bit. I guess mostly it's luck of natural tendencies and the unique situation I found myself in. Cleaning should not, imo, be more important than doing other things like projects with the kids or going places, or whathaveyou, but sometimes I am guilty of prioritizing cleaning over other things. I try to just find a way to integrate it into my life in a non-stressful way. I'm really really really busy these days, so if we have a bad run, things can go to hell, but my friends assure me that my version of my house being trashed and everyone else's version of a house being trashed are two very very different things.

[lunar forest]

All hail annakiss, queen of clean!

Seriously, though, I want to be you when I grow up.

[rosie29]

Love it. So, any philosophies on toys? It's been a few days since I looked at the pics, so I don't remember if there are pics of the toys, games, etc. But anyhow, do your kids have a lot of toys, and they're well-organized, or do you go with a simplicity kind of thing? Do you rotate toys?

I don't think that my kids have a ton of toys, but keeping them organized is such a hassle. They're always overflowing their bins, etc. Thank you for mentoring those of us who strive for a simpler, cleaner household.

[guest9921]

Originally Posted by lunar forest

Seriously, though, I want to be you when I grow up.

Exactly.

I'm using you as inspiration, and getting off here to go clean up a bit.

[annakiss]

Originally Posted by rosie29

Love it. So, any philosophies on toys? It's been a few days since I looked at the pics, so I don't remember if there are pics of the toys, games, etc. But anyhow, do your kids have a lot of toys, and they're well-organized, or do you go with a simplicity kind of thing? Do you rotate toys?

I don't think that my kids have a ton of toys, but keeping them organized is such a hassle. They're always overflowing their bins, etc. Thank you for mentoring those of us who strive for a simpler, cleaner household.

I keep things in baskets and don't hold onto crap toys as much as I possibly can. I don't rotate toys because I don't have time or storage space enough. Games and puzzles are locked in a closet because I don't like having to pick up a million pieces over and over. The kids occasionally break into the closet, but it's still way minimized. They can get things out as they want, but for all those little pieces, the closet is essential.

Everything else is in baskets throughout the house - the dining room, living room, and their bedroom. There's also a play kitchen in the kitchen. There are no baskets in the living room because toys are kept in my end table drawers. I used to store my stuff in my furniture, but then Aleks learned how to open them and dump stuff out, so I started keeping his stuff in the drawers (this is like 5 years ago). Mostly the stuff in drawers is stuff I don't even want to see, like action figures and cars. Ugly stuff that doesn't look pretty like wooden blocks in a basket. You can see my baskets in action here.

I do store away toys that are no longer age-appropriate but that I'd like to keep because they're nice. Or at least not simply deposit at Goodwill. I figure when some of my oldest, bestest friends have babies, I'll pass them on. I'm pretty certain I'll hold onto some things for potential grandchildren - mainly the wooden kitchen. Otherwise, I get rid of stuff as soon as I can.

The most genius thing I've come up with is the Lego Tray. There's a whole thread about it here: http://www.mothering.com/discussions...d.php?t=949070 The Lego Tray has saved me countless hours picking up Lego. I'm thrilled to have invented it.

If something's broken, ask yourself if you're really going to replace it and if not, toss it pronto. I like to do this while the kids are occupied elsewhere.

So I guess the basic points are - 1) store according to use in pretty, open containers (a place for everything and everything in its place), 2) pick up constantly and encourage others to do so (I don't like to leave a room without something in my hand), 3) declutter as you go, and 4) have less.

[annakiss]

Originally Posted by lunar forest

All hail annakiss, queen of clean!

Seriously, though, I want to be you when I grow up.

In more ways than one, lady.

[bongoblue]

Originally Posted by Ruthla

I'm just at the "diaper pail smells like flowers" part.

:

Thanks for the advice and the laugh today.