The New Rules (or Nature Abhors a Vacuum)
I had my downstairs completely redone last year (not a euphemism).
It looked lovely, we got rid of LOADS of stuff, we de-cluttered and I spent six months going back and forth to either the charity shop or the tip, or on the computer selling things with eBay.
But what's the saying? 'nature abhors a vacuum'.
That's my home.
Where there was once space there is now clutter once more, I am not saying that I am not complicit in this, and may have bought the odd new thing to fill the space.
But, oh my God, children totally fill space.
So I set some new rules:
All shoes to be tidied away in their bedroom....now I spend all my time telling them to take their shoes upstairs.
No socks on the living room floor. (What is that, anyway? - the minute they come in the socks are off and the bare feet are out, even though they have multiple pairs of slippers!)
To the eldest one, her end of the sofa is no longer to be her 'office' where she leaves her school books, headphones, sweet wrappers, pens and used tissues (Ugh!)
To the youngest one, rubbers, pens and pencils are to be put away in the cupboard provided and her yoga mat is to be rolled up and put away after use.
Then there is the hair brushes, I have no idea how this happened but it is like they are breeding, they are quite literally EVERYWHERE. This has to be a girl thing. I wonder what a group of hair brushes are called? If a group of starfish are called a galaxy then a group of hair brushes must be called a follicle or something.
Having said all this, I am someone that thinks a house is not a home without a bit of personal 'stuff' in it. I like family photos to be all about the place, I have lots of knickity knacks, all of which mean something and couldn't possible be thrown away, including a tub of shells from various beaches and a favourite stone (don't judge me). I have too many books to be minimalist, ever. And although I do shave the numbers when the bookcase is overflowing there are some that are just too special and I hope my girls will read them one day.
But what I don't understand, when I go to other people's houses, who are a lot less cluttered/messy/not full of 'stuff', is where do they put it. They must have personal items, things that mean stuff? How do they hide their wires, where are the half read, and you are definitely going to come back to, magazines? How do you get your kids to be tidy and put stuff away? I am baffled.
So I am curious, is my home the only vacuum of 'stuff' or is everyone else just better at hiding it?
It looked lovely, we got rid of LOADS of stuff, we de-cluttered and I spent six months going back and forth to either the charity shop or the tip, or on the computer selling things with eBay.
But what's the saying? 'nature abhors a vacuum'.
That's my home.
Where there was once space there is now clutter once more, I am not saying that I am not complicit in this, and may have bought the odd new thing to fill the space.
But, oh my God, children totally fill space.
So I set some new rules:
All shoes to be tidied away in their bedroom....now I spend all my time telling them to take their shoes upstairs.
No socks on the living room floor. (What is that, anyway? - the minute they come in the socks are off and the bare feet are out, even though they have multiple pairs of slippers!)
To the eldest one, her end of the sofa is no longer to be her 'office' where she leaves her school books, headphones, sweet wrappers, pens and used tissues (Ugh!)
To the youngest one, rubbers, pens and pencils are to be put away in the cupboard provided and her yoga mat is to be rolled up and put away after use.
Then there is the hair brushes, I have no idea how this happened but it is like they are breeding, they are quite literally EVERYWHERE. This has to be a girl thing. I wonder what a group of hair brushes are called? If a group of starfish are called a galaxy then a group of hair brushes must be called a follicle or something.
Having said all this, I am someone that thinks a house is not a home without a bit of personal 'stuff' in it. I like family photos to be all about the place, I have lots of knickity knacks, all of which mean something and couldn't possible be thrown away, including a tub of shells from various beaches and a favourite stone (don't judge me). I have too many books to be minimalist, ever. And although I do shave the numbers when the bookcase is overflowing there are some that are just too special and I hope my girls will read them one day.
But what I don't understand, when I go to other people's houses, who are a lot less cluttered/messy/not full of 'stuff', is where do they put it. They must have personal items, things that mean stuff? How do they hide their wires, where are the half read, and you are definitely going to come back to, magazines? How do you get your kids to be tidy and put stuff away? I am baffled.
So I am curious, is my home the only vacuum of 'stuff' or is everyone else just better at hiding it?
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