We had a little pizza playdate party with a good friend. The woman has 3 young, rambunctious boys, and her house is somehow spotless! Now, I know we all do some level of tidying up before people come to visit, but I've been over a couple of times and am convinced that her house is usually this neat.
How is it done? She intentionally keeps the place sparsely decorated and not cluttered. Sheer avoidance of nick-nacks and whatnot. OK, I've got that part pretty well covered and still have piles of STUFF everywhere! I like to blame my mess on kiddo's toys. (neat friend has a playroom and we don't) There's a play kitchen in our real kitchen. The TV stand is a play cube that is full of toys (currently, the openings are covered with blankets to make a "fort".) On any given day, you'll find a varied conglomeration of musical instruments strewn about the living room. And art supplies. The project of the day varies from bead work to collage making to your run of the mill coloring project.
Looking around my kitchen right now, I am faced with the cold reality that I can not blame the entire mess on one 4 year old. Strewn about this one room, I can see piles of ski club related paperwork, business paperwork, travel books, tiles and whatnot from the shower project, a counter full of dishes (clean, waiting to be put away), various laundry (mostly clean), today's mail, empty wine bottles (hic), a bathrobe, and, of course, a few toys and art supplies.
Other friends of ours have a magnet on their fridge that plainly states "Excuse the mess, but we live here." Of course, their house seems cleaner on any given day than ours does lately.
So, I'm striving for balance. I want the zen-like appearance of very little "stuff" cluttering our living space, with the comfort of a home that says "hey, we live here."
If I ever discover the secret for myself, I'll be sure to share.
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