To The Mom With A Messy House

You know that amazing feeling when you go to bed knowing your entire house is clean?

Yeaaaaaah, neither do I. 

And to be honest? Most moms don’t.

Being a mom is a whole lot of work! As you juggle your daily lists of things to do {which INCLUDES cleaning the house at least seven times}, it can lay heavy on your shoulders as to why in the world your house just CAN’T stay clean for longer than five minutes.

I once heard the world’s shortest story that went something like, “Once upon a time I had a clean house…and then the toddler woke up. The End.”

To be truthful, I am never more confused than when someone with kids has a clean house. I truly wonder what in the world they do to keep their homes so perfect and beautiful. {If you are one of them… know that I praise you and welcome ANY tips you have to come straight my way!}

Often times when we hear the doorbell ring at our house, my little one will run to the door so excited to open it and to see who it is!

And then there is me… hiding behind the couch, lucky if I have a bra on, rockin the mom bun, worried about the dishes in my sink and the toys scattered EVERYWHERE, when she flies open the door and I am left there standing looking like a hot mess in my chaotic home.

Today we’re going to be real. We are going to talk to you cute, hard working moms who DO clean your house. Who work REALLY hard on keeping it clean. Who do the dishes. Who takes the trash out. Who vacuums the floors and mops the kitchen. Who spends their afternoons organizing toys and lining up stuffed animals.

Those moms who could spend an entire day cleaning, but by  3pm the house is destroyed AGAIN and all of your hard work goes unnoticed. THIS is for you.

To the Mom With A Messy House… I hope you will remember these six things:

1. YOU ARE NOT ALONE: Heavens! You. Are. NOT. Alone. How many times can I say it?! You aren’t. There are moms all around this world that feel for you. That are experiencing the EXACT feelings that you feel right now. As you read this article and look around your home to see the bucket of blocks you JUST put away dumped out again and hear from a distance the box of legos being poured out all over your floor for the third time in the past hour – know that it isn’t just you.

Women work hard. YOU work hard. And you should never forget that your hard work is important. In fact, THE most IMPORTANT work you will ever do, is inside of the walls of your home.

2. DON’T COMPARE: I know, I know. Easier said than done, right? It is SO easy to compare our homes with our friend’s houses. It is SO easy to compare our homes with the beautiful pictures in magazines. And it is SO easy to compare our homes to the perfect houses and perfect moms and perfect wives that are all over Instagram & Facebook & SnapChat.

Know that those homes don’t always look like that. Know that those homes get messy too. Know that nobody is perfect and nobody’s house is perfect either.

3. STOP APOLOGIZING: Don’t you love when you clean your entire house on your hands and knees for three hours – and then when your company arrives you STILL apologize for “the mess?” You worked hard on cleaning and preparing for them to come over! And you did a great job!

Pat yourself on the back! There is no need to apologize for your kids having fun. Or your family making memories. Just embrace it and welcome your company in with open arms. You have kids – they understand. And if anything, your messy house will make them feel better about THEIR messy house.

4. YOUR HOME DOESN’T DEFINE YOU: Because YOU are way more important than a few dishes in your sink or a few boxes of toys spread across the floor. You are more than that. Think of EVERYTHING you get done on a daily basis and all of the many roles that you hold as a woman. You are a wife. You are a taxi driver. You are a nurse. You are a chef. You are a professional organizer. You are a planner. You are a maid. You are a friend. You are a daughter. You are an exerciser. You are a laundry doer. And you are a mom… and a stinkin’ good one too!

5. CREATE A ROOM TO SAVE YOUR SANITY: I’m not saying that having a messy house is good for the soul. I am actually a big believer in trying to tidy up the home and making it a pleasant place to live. As moms, we NEED organization and cleanliness. But since we have the little ones running around, to destroy all of our hard work every few minutes…choose a room for YOU.

Choose a room that can be YOUR “clean” room – for example, as long as the kitchen is clean in my house, I feel good about myself and all is well in the world. 🙂 So choose a room that is important for you and your sanity and clean it in the morning. That way if…no WHEN…all else fails and the rest of the house looks like a tornado of toys hit it, you can have confidence in YOUR room.

6. IT WON’T LAST FOREVER: Something we all need to be reminded of often. That one day those piles of laundry will be a whole lot smaller. That one day those buckets of toys will get dusty and the children’s books won’t be read over and over again. That one day the smudges on the mirrors and the sticky finger prints on the sliding glass door will fade away.

And your house will be clean…

So for now, let’s play with our children. Let’s turn off our computers and phones and get on the ground and make a mess together! Let’s dump out the blocks and build a really tall tower. And get out the toy cars and have crazy races. Let’s grab the doll house and make it a beautiful home. Let’s read the same 3 books over and over and over and over again. And let’s live.

Let’s make memories. Let’s cherish these days. These moments. Let’s love our babies and kids and make sure they know they are our world. Let’s make them laugh and let’s make memories together.

Because one day when the toys are put away and the house is really quiet – the memories are what we will hang on the tightest to.

And maybe we will even miss our messy houses.

Danielle is the owner of Today's the Best Day. She strives to provide creative and uplifting content in order to enrich the parenting experience for women everywhere. Danielle hopes to help you and your family to make every day the best day!

August 24, 2016 by Danielle Davis | 4 Comments