This morning I was working on tidying up the house and thinking about how monotonous it is to clean up the same messes over and over... A few years ago, I wrote a blog post about the top mess makers in my house, and I started wondering if our messes have changed at all over the last few years. I haven't yet located that post to compare, but I figured I'd make a list of our current top ten messes and then go back and see.
10. Golf balls
We have hundreds of golf balls around here. They are everywhere but mostly in the yard. When we mow the lawn, we have to spend half an hour picking up golf balls first.
9. Jackets and outdoor wear
This problem clears up a little bit in the warm months, but in the heart of winter, we have coats, hats, gloves, boots, and scarves all over the place.
8. Books and magazines
With four kids who hate reading, they sure have a great capacity for leaving books all over the place. There are books on every flat surface. Books piled up on their beds. Books on the floor. Books in the van. The bookshelf always looks like a tornado recently passed through.
My kids love to read magazines when they're on the toilet (just raising them up right, ya know), so there are always magazines on the bathroom counter and on the laundry hamper (which they use as a toilet desk) and on the bathroom floor.
7. Blankets
My kids love their blankets and drag them everywhere. I had to make a "no blankets at the kitchen table" rule, which I have failed miserably at enforcing since I find at least one blanket under the table everyday after the kids go to school.
6. Socks
Clothes come in at #5, as you will soon see, but I had to give socks their own spotlight because socks are a huge problem around here. At any given time, I can walk around my house and probably find 20 socks on the floor. It drives me crazy.
5. Clothes
This doesn't really need an explanation, right? We have six people living in our house - none of which are nudists. There are clothes everywhere.
4. Holiday and party junk
Our house is constantly littered with the latest holiday/party favors. Right now it's all the Easter stuff. Plastic eggs, candy wrappers, silly little toys... My kids always have bags of pinata candy (I think we experience more pinatas than the average family. I should take a survey).
3. Food
This is another category that doesn't need an explanation. We eat. Therefore we have food messes.
2. Barbies, LOL dolls, and LEGO
SO. MANY. THINGS. Vacuuming is fun.
1. Projects
The number one mess maker in our house, hands down, is my kids' arts and crafts. I love their artistic, little souls, and I give them a lot of freedom to create. Thus, I have a never-ending battle with getting all the crap put away. I don't think a day goes by where our kitchen table doesn't get completely covered in supplies - paper scraps, glue, markers, googley eyes... whatever it be. Our recyclables are always dragged back in the house, chopped up, and pieced together with hot glue to make doll furniture or pinball machines. I often resent the mess, but I hope someday my kids look back fondly on their creative childhood, and that will make it worth it.
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I've now gone back to my previous mess post (circa 2017) to compare, and not much has changed. There are some things on that list that I didn't think about this time that are still a problem - like hair stuff. That should probably remain in my top ten (maybe I should bump golf balls?) Other candidates for the list include electronics and charging cords, shoes, bags/purses/backpacks, and the infamous COVID masks that are tucked into every nook and cranny.
I have to confess, after writing this, I feel kind of like a slob. I better go clean something! (That's a weird urge I don't normally have).
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