I was putting away my children's clothes this morning and sighed a bit about the state of their rooms.  It could be and has been a whole lot worse but for a moment I thought how much easier it would have been if I had any idea way back at the beginning how to keep up with things. 

I'm not so much remorseful as hopeful.  If your children are small, you have the opportunity to train them just by your example.  My three year old has made me think more of this lately.  She sees how neat everything is and tries to keep it that way.  She knows when something is out of place and needs only a small reminder to put it away.  And the truth is I see it.  When the whole house is a mess, a new mess doesn’t stand out but if things are generally tidy, it’s easier to remember to put things away as you use them. 

One of our many mottos has become “Leave No Trace”.  We’re not scouting anymore but at least we learned something!  It is so much easier to clean a clean house.  That comes from putting things away as you use them.  I know it’s simple but we often forget.   Put away the last thing you used and you won’t have to put it away tomorrow or several weeks from now after things have piled up.

I do this when things have started to unravel a bit because of a hectic day.  I go back and put away all of my messes from today.   Of course that starts with the kitchen and the laundry.  Then I will go to the other piles that started today.  That way they don’t have time to get comfortable and if I did have other piles around, the new items wouldn’t be allowed to melt into them camouflage style.

If you are in need of a real system for pulling everything together, join us at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AuntieMs/

Blessings,

Auntie M.