Girly-girly Clothing Catastrophe

On Monday a note came home from Kindergarten explaining the class would be reviewing colors over the next few weeks.  There was a schedule of what color would be the focus each day, and a request that the kids dress in clothing of the day's hue.  No problem!  At least until I went downstairs to the girls' room to help Sophie find a red shirt and her denim skirt.

I was stunned to see that once again the clothes I had washed, dried, folded, and sent down in their buckets to be put away in the closet are heaped on the floor.  Dirty laundry mixed in with the clean, dress-up items, gymnastics and ballet outfits, all of it strewn about as if a fashion burglar had ransacked the room.  I can't say I have never seen anything like this before.  Several times over the course of the past 7 or 8 years since the oldest daughter acquired a lower level bedroom this situation has arisen.  Once in this condition, it is not possible for the girls to fix it totally on their own.  This means I have gone down and sorted, organized, re-vamped, etc, or supervised their efforts again and again.  This process is ALWAYS miserable for everyone involved.  It has usually been preceded by my attempt to pack the kiddos for a vacation, find an outfit for a special occasion, or the rare total house cleanup.  It involved much anger and irritation on my part over their poor stewardship of their possessions.  It is a major stressor.  It makes me blow my top.

I am trying to figure out where the breakdown in the process/system occurs.  I am concluding the problem is with me following up on checking their rooms, and applying reasonable consequences when they choose to not meet expectations.  This happens with the downstairs bedrooms in large part because I don't WANT to go down there.  It is always a huge mess.  Even when it is clean for a week or so it doesn't seem like part of the house, I don't like it down there.  Because of this, I have been lazy.   It is faulty logic, because avoiding the few minutes downstairs checking ALWAYS results in hours and hours of my time being spent (WASTED) on doing the same work again and again, be it room organization or laundry.

It is time to overcome these bad habits once and for all.  There is no reason for any part of our home to be such a mess.  This is not some toys out being played with, or a few pieces of lint on the carpet.  No, this room looks like it belongs on one of those reality shows.  In fact, the ENTIRE lower level, all 2000 plus finished square feet is like that.  It robs me of joy.  It steals my peace.  It makes it impossible for me to practice hospitality (as commanded in the Word) without risk of total humiliation.   It is simply unacceptable.

I am tempted to post a picture to illustrate how bad it really is.  I can't bring myself to do it, however.  I will also be tempted to spin my wheels, not knowing where to start.  Do I neglect the maintenance upstairs to focus on the disaster downstairs?   I tend to think in "if only's".  If only I had two weeks with no kids to really dig in and get it done.  If only I had designed the layout different down there.  I felt rushed to get the floor plan done for construction.  If only I could back build some of the rooms.  If only I had the money for new paint, furniture, etc.  I can keep going and going until NOTHING is done. 

My personality needs a plan, and structure.  My next goal on the to-do list is to make a plan for getting the upstairs in reasonable order and getting started on the girls' room.  I'm giving myself today to accomplish the plan making.  Digging out of this mess is not going to be easy.  I would rather avoid it.  I want more to be where God wants me to be, and not be in bondage to the mess.  I will put one foot in front of the other.  I will do it.