The Poopsie Collective

Think Tidy

Written by GWEN

Surprise surprise, here comes another blanket declaration from me on my personality. Ready? I’m not a neat person. Yup, I don’t have a flat stomach, I had a super boob and I’m not a neat person. I’m guessing there’s a type out there to describe me, and it most certainly is not Type A. 

My Mister, on the other hand, is a bit on the anal side. He’s extremely organized, neat, motivated, efficient… and while my motto is “why do today what I can put off ‘til after Izzy’s high school graduation?” Adam likes to clear my plate before I’ve taken my last bite. As you can imagine, this poses a bit of a problem from time to time.

Enter “Think Tidy.” Think Tidy is a fictional character Adam has invited into our home to drill into my genetic code how to inherently be a neater person. My new housemate isn’t much to look at, but has the voice of Randy Watson, lead singer of the band Sexual Chocolate from Coming to America. When he regularly offers his helpful common sense tips, I have to smile and nod, because who doesn’t love getting advice from Eddie Murphy circa 1988?

For example…

“Think Tidy wouldn’t leave that cutting board hanging over the edge of the counter like that for Izzy to grab. Think Tidy would clean and put it away when he’s done using it.”

“Huh, did I leave it like that?”

“You sho’ did. And it’s not the first time Think Tidy has found it like that.”

“Oh! Thanks, Think Tidy.”

*  *  *

“Think Tidy would immediately put his pajama pants away after his shower in the morning.”

“But I’m just going to wear them again tonight Think Tidy, so I think it’s ok to keep them on the bed.”

Think Tidy might then ask, “Why ever put anything away? Seems to me it’s smarter just for things to be in their proper place all the time, so they are easy to find when you need ‘em.”

“I guess that makes sense. Thanks, Think Tidy.”

*  *  *

Did I mention Think Tidy likes to refer to himself in the third person???

I’m undecided on how long Think Tidy will be staying with us, but his presence has made me want to be better. I can see the benefits of being a neat and organized person, but every time I think I’ve improved, Think Tidy is right there to remind me of something else even NEATER that I could have done. This has encouraged me to invite my own house-guest over for next month. Unfortunately, she’ll have to share a room with Think Tidy, as we’re a little strapped for space.

Think Tidy, meet your new roommate, Think Less.

A Cleaning Lady—The Gift I Give Myself

Written by BROOKE

Ok, I had a hard time coming up with a picture. I should have taken a picture of my house this week when it was clean but that only lasted for like 10 minutes. 

“It’s the best gift a husband can give to a wife” my girlfriend quoted her mom to me, speaking of having a cleaning lady. And I couldn’t agree with her more. Except, the problem is, my husband doesn’t agree. 

I guess I see his side. I mean, I’m a stay-at-home mom. Cleaning probably falls under my job description. And I always thought I could do it all on my own. My condo isn’t exactly big, I should be able to handle it. And I sort of can, but that’s the kicker, the “sort of” part. When you have two kids underfoot, the day-to-day cleaning—dishes, picking up the toy piles, doing the laundry (the MUSTS)—takes precedence. And the bigger jobs—the mopping, dusting, windex-ing—it all goes to the side. You eek it out, you do a big job every day or two, so little by little things are getting done. But the problem is they never ALL get done. And it sucks. Because you are cleaning ALL. THE. TIME. And still, your house is never clean! At least, never all the way clean. Sure the bathrooms are clean today, but the tile needs mopping. The ceiling fan got dusted (yay!) but the carpets need to be vacuumed. You can never get it all done at once. And if you can, shut up, I don’t want to hear about your over achiever status (except on Facebook). Because most of us can’t. 

And this, my friends, is where a cleaning lady comes in.  Once every few weeks the magic happens. And trust me, it’s not a breeze for me. Getting the whole house READY for the cleaning lady takes at least two days of preparation on my part. I pick up everything, and make sure every surface is clutter free. And then, I leave the house with the kids for a few hours. We usually splurge a little, go out to lunch; I get myself an extra large Diet Coke. I try to stay out until nap-time. And then, as if the magic cleaning elves have come, I come home, and my house is immaculate all at one time. And once every 3 weeks, I put my kids to bed and I put my feet up. I sip that Diet Coke, I watch a DVR’d episode of Grey’s Anatomy and I BASK in the fact that there is NOTHING that needs to be done at that exact moment. No thoughts of, “I should really dust” or “how long has it been since I scrubbed that toilet?” Ahhh. It is the ultimate luxury, and to me, it’s worth any sacrifice. Which is exactly why, although my husband doesn’t see cleaning lady as a budget-worthy category, I make it happen. I skim off the grocery budget, I tutor a few hours a week, whatever it takes. I know it’s a luxury but once I experienced it I realized it was something I owed to myself. If only I could convince my husband that he owes it to me too. 

Facebook: Acknowledgement for Moms

Written by BROOKE

I know you have one of these friends too. On a daily basis her Facebook status usually says something like the following:

“Gave birth, ran 12 miles, canned tomatoes I grew in my own garden, cleaned my baseboards with a toothbrush, made my family an organic dinner, took some to the neighbors, whipped up a batch of homemade bread with wheat I ground myself and now I’m pooped! Time for The Bachelor!” 

Gag. Overachiever. Why does she have to post that on Facebook? Does she want the rest of us to feel bad about ourselves? Job well done. 

And then, the other day I did it, too. I Facebook-bragged about cleaning. It was only my pantry; I cleaned it out and organized it. It was something that had been on my to-do list for about, umm, four years (not joking). I did it. And, well, I knew something. I knew that my KIDS were not going to open up the pantry and say “Wow mom! Look how clean and organized this is! It must have taken you all day! Good job, thanks!” I mean, if they said anything remotely like that I would have keeled over and died right there on the spot. No, they just wanted to know where their snacks were now. And my husband? Well I SHOULD be able to count on him to acknowledge that type of thing but let’s be honest. He’s also pretty much only worrying about snacks. I learned the lesson about him and acknowledgement when I proudly showed him one of the cupboards I had spent all day reorganizing in the kitchen shortly after Zach was born. I was SO proud of my productivity. His response? To open up another cupboard, unorganized and overflowing with stuff, and say “What about this one?” I gave up on him after that. 

So what’s a mom to do? I mean come on, I spent ALL day on this project! So I did it. I wrote about it on Facebook. And you know what? It made me feel good! I got the virtual pats on the back from my mom friends. Even those virtual thumbs up brought me a little smile and made me feel like, see, I’m doing a good job here! 

I even took a picture of part of my organized pantry: the snack basket I made for the kids (which turned out to be an epic fail but that’s for another post!)  

And the best part? I didn’t have to post the next day that we stayed in our pajamas and watched movies all day. Nope, no one has to know about that. So now, instead of rolling my eyes at my friends who post about their productive days, I acknowledge them. I tell them, “good job supermom!” or “I could never do that!” After all, isn’t that what we’re all looking for? A little pat on the back for the thankless job we do every day. Thank you Facebook for giving us moms a place to be acknowledged for all the hard work we do.

Wild Card Wednesday: Simplify

It’s the last week of January, which means most of you probably still have a little bit of self-improvement energy left to burn. Our very own Stephanie is beginning her personal Simply Series starting next week… but while we all wait patiently to learn from her misadventures in self-help, here are a few more of our favorite tips for simplifying your life.

1) We all know what happens when kids get their hands on crayons and crafts. Remove crayon masterpieces from your TV or computer screen with WD40.

2) And since no one likes a messy play area, store your crafts materials with items you already have in the house. A muffin pan becomes the perfect craft caddy and magnets hold the plastic cups down to make them tip-resistant.

3) As Erica (and most new moms) now know, hair loss is an unfortunate side effect of motherhood. Thank god for bobby pins. And now you’ll know where to find them! Use magnetic strips to store bobby pins, tweezers and clippers, behind a vanity door.

4) Ah yes, the old fruit-turning-brown-by-lunchtime dilemma. Stop cut apples browning in your child’s lunch box by securing with a rubber band.

5) Kid or big-kid in a parent’s body (guilty!), everyone craves a sweet treat sometimes. Turn your muffin pan upside down, bake cookie-dough over the top and voila, you have cookie bowls for fruit or ice-cream.

Have an idea of your own? Email us at poopsiecollective@gmail.com

Controlling the Toy Clutter

Written by BROOKE

When you live in 900 square feet with two growing boys, two adults, and a dog there is one thing you learn rather quickly—the art of hiding and clearing clutter. I am no expert yet, I definitely hold on to too many things, but I have learned a few tips and pointers that, as we are all deluged with the after-Christmas toy onslaught, I thought might be a little helpful…

Purge

I can’t say this enough. You have to purge. I suggest doing it when your kids are asleep. They won’t even miss those old happy meal toys, that car that is missing a wheel, and the superman with no head. My rule is if they don’t play with it regularly or it’s broken, someone else can use it.  I purge every year between Thanksgiving and Christmas to make room for new toys. I do some other purging along the way but that is my big one. 

Save it for Later

If you plan on having more kids you won’t want to purge everything they’ve outgrown. That cute little baby toy will come in handy again some day but it doesn’t need to be cluttering up your living room when your kid is four. When I purge I also usually pack away a box of outgrown toys to save for the next round. I store those in the attic since we have no garage. I only save things that are in good condition and that my kids actually liked and played with, otherwise they get donated as well. 

Storage

The best thing we’ve done in our small space is find better ways to store the toys. So far, every year after Christmas we’ve had to add some kind of storage to control it all. It started out with a cute bin from Pottery Barn Kids, which looked good in the corner but quickly overflowed. It was also not great for smaller items, as they would get lost at the bottom. We then found baskets that fit in cubbies in our coffee table but again we outgrew those. The best solution we’ve found is this IKEA piece, but turned on its side along with these Itso bins from Target. I leave the top open for books and bigger items and the bottom is full of bins. My kids know just where everything goes. They can get out anything they want and more importantly they can clean up everything. My four year old will correct you if you put something in the wrong bin! 

OK, it still gets messy, but when they clean it up, it looks good!