<p>Posting this for folks who are continually stressed because they are not more like their sister-in -law the Martha Stewart clone.
This is not a newsflash for anyone that knows me. I love my garden, I like to cook and entertain, but I am also not organized, I am hardworking but have few prioritizing skills ( thank you adhd) and thematically my house could be kindly called “eclectic”.</p>
<p>I am decidedly not domestic and it’s never seemed to be a problem. My homes growing up have always been in some state of disrepair. Subsidized housing is not always the prettiest. And yet, I can never remember a time when there wasn’t something going on in my house. There are always people over. If they have an issue with it, it’s never stopped them from coming back. I think people worry too much. If anyone’s going to judge me because my home isn’t perfect, that’s fine. They’re likely not going to like me anyway because I’m not materialistic.</p>
<p>EK, Romani is right; the link doesn’t work.</p>
<p>My father used to gently tell me that my apartments and houses looked “lived in.” Since I’ve gotten older and the kids are gone, it’s gotten better. Now if only my DH would get the neatness bug . . . .</p>
<p>Romani, your standards may change a bit when you have kids. Or maybe not… but you can’t let the wee ones crawl around on the floor when it has a ton of pet hair on it (I mean, a little, but not too much…). And putting a kid into a bath in a tub that is grubby really doesn’t feel so good as a parent. So while my housekeeping is far from perfect, it did improve some when we had kids. Well, actually, we decided that housekeeping had to improve, so we hired someone for quite a few years. But I do my own now, and it mostly gets done.</p>
<p>We have tiny house with few closets and little kids came with so much stuff!
Toddler climbers, and dollhouses and nerf basketballs.
I thought the post on another thread about boxing up stuff and pretending it was Christmas presents was a great idea! Cause one of the difficulties was getting stuff out of the way to vacuum.
I will say, when I get my next dog, it is going to be one who will sit still long enough for me to brush them instead of having to chase them all over the house.</p>
<p>I also think hiring someone would have been a great idea, because I was responsible for everything, even if I was working & going to school at the same time. Many of my friends had housekeepers, but they pretended like they were just super organized.
;)</p>
<p>When my kids were little and I was working full-time, I hired someone to come in and clean every other week. However, the woman I hired, who was very good, was often overbooked, so she send her GRANDMOTHER! I felt awful sitting there, watching this older woman clean my house.</p>
<p>Then we moved, and I haven’t found anyone since then. I get cleaning fever, and then go through the whole house. I have to change the order of rooms (it’s a big house), because I always either run out of time or enthusiasm before I finish completely. </p>
<p>Now if I could only tack the garage and/or the basement.</p>
<p>int, well it didn’t change when my mom had kids so I doubt it will change with me :)</p>
<p>And I don’t let my house go dirty, neither did my mom. But things were always a little dishelved and like I said, in disrepair. Vacuuming and cleaning the tub are different from having a Martha Stewart house.</p>
<p>Oh, well, who has one of those? Except Martha Stewart… and she has a big staff to keep it that way! I think she was put on earth to make women feel guilty, and I refuse to play along. My mom gave me a subscription to her magazine one year. After the first couple I started tossing them right into the recycling when they came, as they just made me feel bad about my house and my life. My mom might have been hinting. But it didn’t work.</p>
<p>Martha Stewart has/had “people.” I have/had people too…4 boys, a second male cat and a second large male dog. My house is 25 years lived in. Comfortable. A tad shabby. And every scratch, tear, bruise, broken burner on the Viking and every dent on a door and cabinet has a memory good and bad that I really don’t want to give up quite yet.</p>
<p>I think I was destined to be the domestic sort, even with my raging ADD and inability to keep up with anything in life I am supposed to, I am really, really good at keeping house and I get more sense of fulfillment from it than just about anything else I do day to day.</p>
<p>BF was raised in a barn however and I refuse to be his maid, so I am coming to terms with the fact that we just will never have a martha house. It is probably healthier to give yourself a pass on these things anyway. I’ve never thought less of anybody for the state of their home unless it was so bad they were clearly not caring for their children, which unfortunately is the case for one of my relatives. I think “lived in” is a style, too. We don’t all need to pretend we live in Stepford.</p>
<p>*I have hopes that when I get married and can just register for matching everything that my Martha dreams will come true *</p>
<p>We never registered for anything - when we married, had a very small ( less than 100) wedding anyway, so I wouldnt recommend to expect milestones like : getting married, losing ten lbs, making more than $75,000- to make magical changes in your life.
( My house that was built in 1901, also only has two closets & one of those is in the basement- we are big on built in storage or what looks like built in, as well as stuff that can do double duty- a cedar chest as coffee table for instance)
I also could never decide on a pattern & dont like " matchy- matchy", so eclectic suits me better. ( for example, I have several patterns of servingware, dishes, cups… but they are all white- I use charger plates to dress it up)
I have beautiful batik material my daughter brought back from India, combined with antique lace & linens from my great aunt & grandmother and new Persian rugs.
As long as you keep to a few coordinating colors with a couple accents, you can make different styles work together.</p>
<p>Oh soccergurl I so hope you are being a tad facetious because of the use of the smiley face. Anyway, Martha’s life has not been a bed of roses because of her “things.”</p>
<p>I think having things too clean bugs the crap out of me. I was in hospitals so much growing up that super clean and super white houses just remind me of that. Noooo thanks. Give me “lived in” any day :)</p>
<p>I am glad to know I am not alone in my lack of domestic prowess. I keep my house clean, but it is cluttered. I have junk drawers, a messy closet floor, stuff on my counters, and a scarey-looking basement. Every so often, I go through & get rid of some things - try to organize stuff - make it look more magazine-worthy. Sigh … just can’t quite get there. We have been in our house 26 years & the house is paid off. It’s time to redecorate, which scares me!</p>
I love my garden, I like to cook and entertain, but I am also not organized, I am hardworking but have few prioritizing skills ( thank you adhd) and thematically my house could be kindly called “eclectic”.</p>
But it didn’t work.</p>