mess.

Christina - For reals I want to be your real life friend. 🙂 I am showing my husband this video so he can see your laundry room, and stop asking me if we are still behind on the laundry!! haha 🙂

Heather D - Maybe you could do something with the laundry basket drawers. I have seen ideas for them all over Pinterest. You could just do them up and put their names on each set or whatever. Here is a link to the blog that I saw them on. http://ana-white.com/2010/11/laundry-basket-dresser?page=1
She has the plans and everything on how to do them.

Heidi Jo the Artist - Oh, and I forgot to write that I love the rainbow list of things to get done. I think I’m going to have to do that with my sharpies, maybe more will get done then-with the happy colors!!
And um, catching up on your blog…I’m avoiding house work, shhhh, don’t tell!!

Jennifer S. - Hey! That looks like our house, but there is only two of us 🙂 You guys LIVE there, of course there is going to be a littlle mess. Great Vlog, by the way. I felt like I was there visiting and you were talking to me! Hope to see more! I just did our first real vlog…on a chili recipe, haha. The world needs more of those, right? It feels weird to me, the whole vlogging thing, but I want to try more. Hope you will to!

s - thank you thank you thank you for that video – hysterical! I always think geez, why can’t I be more organized, why can’t I be like so and so who is always on time, car neat, clothes neat, and house neat. my kitchen table is piled with papers, bills, riff raff. I’ll clear it and it comes back. argh! and my laundry room…its a mess, although its usually a mess with CLEAN clothes not dirty, but still not organized!! so thanks for keeping it “reals” and no, you are not a big fat mess, you are a busy mom like the rest of us who admit to keeping it “reals”!

LeAnne - You are so cute! I love how real you are. It is so refreshing in a world where everyone reveals a partial reality. Love it. I’m right there with ya!

Deborah - Ahhh, Meg, you are the best! Thank you for keeping it real! You know you’re not the only one right? I’m off to fold laundry shortly.
Blessings!
Deborah

dawn - You’re awesome. And your big fat mess looks so familiar…!

melissa - I love that you are keeping it real for all of us that love and follow your blog. It can frustrating to only see the seemingly “picture perfect” homes and lives on blogs and then look around at our own homes and see the daily mess. I so enjoy your creative ideas and colorful home. Keep up the inspiring work!

Ella - Thanks for every moment of truth you share with us Meg! We have a hot mess of a laundry room too. However we do have a laundry system that’s working. It’s a vast improvement over what we used to do… yup mom doing it all and kids not caring and clothing strung all over the house more often than not.
We have an almost 15DD, almost 12DD, 11DS, 9 1/2DS and an 18mosDD. All but the youngest does their own laundry (mostly) on their assigned day. They start in the morning (before school) with picking up any stray dirties and stripping their bedding and toss the first mixed load into the washer (yes we wash cold most of the time to). I move the first load to the dryer and start a second load (if they have a second) in the washer. As soon as they come home from school, they put away the first load from the dryer & transfer the second. The second they put away after dinner/before bed (the last load always has the sheets…incentive). Each kid has their own hamper… for us it works best to have the hampers in our shared full bath. Easy to tell if we need to reassign days with overflowing hampers so obvious. Our laundry room is between our full bath & our kitchen and was previously a small bedroom w/out a closet. We turned it into a family closet since we have an older home with very little storage/closet space. Our eldest doesn’t have an assigned day as she’s old enough now to determine when she needs to do her laundry. However, if she chooses to do her’s during the week on someone else’s day she has to do all of hers after theirs and still get it all put away before bed. I rarely have to touch her laundry anymore.
We used to have those laundry mountains in our living room for days on end as I sorted clean laundry by person. That was the bane of my existence… it really was. Then we had the invariable laundry trails all over bedrooms and from bedrooms thru much of the house. It really drove me bonkers. But led me to realize that teaching kids independence with their laundry was a very smart thing. Now we just have a hot mess of a laundry room that occasionally trickles into the full bath. It’s not perfect, but it’s close enough for us most of the time.

Sophie - I just watched this with my 4 months old and he started smiling and laughing at you! I guess you have a new fan.

Becky @ Farmgirl Paints - YOU are not a mess…you’re wonderful. Love how you keep it honest. I got a mani/pedi a few weeks ago…it’s my happy pill. Anyhoo the guys put a new kind of polish on my nails that WILL NOT come off. You have to try it. It won’t chip. It’s amazing. Have no idea the name…just say the polish that won’t come off. Good luck on your conference. You’ll do great. Say hi to Heather for me. I’d love to meet her too.

Debbie - You are sooooooo REAL! I love it! Thanks for sharing, and making the rest of us feel ‘normal’, whatever that is.

debi meyers - bleah, i hate when they change the desktop wallpaper on MY MY MY computer!!!
I prefer screenshots of inspiring interiors. Last week I booted up to Kip Dynamite layered with floating soap bubbles. see what i mean.
love your little video, you’re fun.
deb meyers

Kim - Love your blog Meg!! I also have 5 kids and have FINALLY found the best laundry method for our family so I wanted to share it with you…. We have tried everything…. from me doing all the laundry, to the kids doing their own laundry, to me doing the washing and then putting the kids laundry in “their” individual baskets to be folded (which always resulted in wrinkled clothes)…. So here’s what I do now…. When I know I will be home all day, that’s a day I pick to do the laundry (or spread it out over 2 days if you’ll be really busy). The kids all have a laundry hamper in their room. I ask the kids the night before I know I will be washing to bring their hamper to the laundry room and separate their clothes. I usually know it’s time when I see more clothes on their floor than in their hamper. In the laundry room I have 4 baskets – one for darks, one for lights, one for whites, and one for darks to be washed in hot. Once a load is finished, I take it out of the dryer (preferably while it’s still warm and not too wrinkled), shake it out, and lay it over the back of the couch in the family room. I lay shirts/tops in one pile and pants/bottoms in another pile. I put items to be hung up over the arm of the couch and have a basket for undergarments/socks. I do this until all the loads are done. I just keep alternating loads during the day. When ALL of the laundry is done, I assemble everyone in the family room for the “folding party”(which usually includes the bribe of a movie) and I start tossing them their items from the pile. They fold as we go and believe me, when I have finished tossing out items (which is actually funny in itself), they are practically done folding. I then pause the movie until they have all taken their items to their room AND put them in the proper places. I then fold mine and my husbands items and I, or one of the kids, will take care of the undergarment basket during the movie. Believe me, I have tried everything and this works great (and yes, sometimes, those items sit on the back of the couch for a day or two but this eliminates wrinkles pretty well and also eliminates having a ton of baskets floating around the house….. Love to you Meg – Good Luck!! 🙂

Library Momma - You are too funny! Glad to see there are “real” mom bloggers out there who don’t have everything perfectly in order. My house looks similar, but you know what, that means that there are lots of wonderful loving memories being created with my family. I will have plenty of time when they have moved out to clean! 🙂 Hope the baby pictures went well!

Michelle Whitlow - that was too cute 🙂

Shivaun - You are beautiful!!! Inside and out. Your family is blessed to have you!! Thanks for the sweet vlog. Can you feel the love from the ladies here? You’re our hero!! Enjoy your fun time 🙂

Ann Williams - You are my soul sista. Yes, I want to see the inside of your fridge next, because right now mine is disgusting and I need to feel better about it. Or clean it out. Or both.

Holly - haha! My laundry room kind of looks like that too. You should totally show us the inside of your fridge next!

Aby - Meg!! You are so darned cute!! And REAL!!! You crack me up!!! I just love you!!! Thanks for keeping it real and making me feel so normal!!!

karen - yay..you did a vlog!! where was waffle though???
ur so preeeety 🙂

Jenny Wells - ok, I LOVE your blog and it’s like a little pick me up when I see a new post in my reader! thanks for being so honest….just realized as I tried to capitalize my “t” that my kids must have broke that along with the # five that no longer works 🙂 I have 4 kids and the oldest is five and a half…..so glad my house is not the only one that is a mess! I feel like mine is never “dirty”, i vacuum and dust often but it is ALWAYS messy! Guess I better get used to it cause it doesn’t get better as they get older?!?!

Emily - We all appreciate your honesty! We are all in your shoes!

Hannah - hey meg! what lip product/shade are you wearing in this video? i love it!

Hannah DeVries - That video made. my. day.

Amy G. - Okay. I loved you before, but I like love you to the second power now. I was ready to call my husband – at work, no less – to tell him that my mental breakdown is imminent because of: the state of my home, the huge pile of clean clothes we hid in the closet when guests were coming over – 5 days ago – that has yet to be removed, the entire roll of paper towels I had to remove from the toilet – AFTER my son had pooped on them… Um, yeah. You get the picture.
Thank you for the video and letting me know that I am not alone (okay, I may be alone on the whole poop/paper towel thing). And that there is hope for fabulousness in my future because you are fabulous. 🙂
Have a wonderful weekend!!!!

julia - seriously, I think you’re great…I’d really do it for you.

stephanie - ah…..comfort. lol. hanks for posting this. i know i am normal, but liivng here with my parents temporarily makes me feel like the biggest slob in the world sometimes. we have seven children and we are staying in my parents upper floor. so 9 people in 3 bedrooms. things get CUH-RAZY but no one understands here. YOU get it. thanks, Meg. yu have the prettiest smile, btw! you look like Nancy McKeon.

Sarah @ Handbags*N*Pigtails - I havent watched the VLog yet because Im watching Temple Grandin, a movie that was recommended to me as a teacher(about autism). I cant wait for this weekend. I fly out tomorrow as soon as I can get out of school. Im nervous and scared about flying/traveling alone by myself(all the way from NY).
And you’re gonna do/look great! Have a safe trip and we’ll see you soon.
PS Im staying with Shauna and some others!

Toni :O) - Join the crowd…we all have rooms or houses like you so you are sooo not alone! By the way, I just have to comment, you have BEAUTIFUL teeth and a great smile!!! If anyone else said that, I promise I didn’t say that to steal from them but those pearly whites certainly showed up on your vlog…so fun by the way…and I wanted to just give you a compliment. Have a beautiful day, hope you find your ear plugs (so annoying, I’d be really mad!) and have the best time at Blog Sugar, you will rock the house I’m sure! Woot Woot!

Alicia @ La Famille - AAAAAHHHH!! Meg! you’re a doll, not a mess! BUT I thought of the BEST IDEA EVER FOR YOU!!! Well, it’s not my idea, i found it on pinterest….this would be terrific for your laundry situation….
http://pinterest.com/pin/89555188/
you can thank me later 😉 have a great day!
xo,
alicia

ira lee - i just have to comment EVERYTIME a blogger does this….THANK YOU!!! thank you for letting us know that we are all busy, unorganized, and have messy houses. its so easy to let the pretty pictures on the internet trick you into feeling not up to par with the rest of the world! and this relates to a pin i saw yesterday and it was soooo true: dont let comparission steal your joy!!! AMEN!!! and horray for messy moms!!!!!

Kerry - I am so glad i’m not the only one with a house in a big fat mess!!! You make a great vlog Meg. I love how you say Craig 🙂
And only just this morning I flipped at my girls for constantly taking my things… drives me C-R-A-Z-E-E-E-E-E-E!!!!!!!!!

Kimberlee - You’re a natural vlogger!
And our lists are very similar today.
Can’t wait to jet!

julie - Thanks for keepin’it REAL!!!!!!!!!!!!m

becky@oursweetpeas - You make me laugh. I recently wrote a check to the library for around $20. Yeah, ridiculous. I am usually on top of things except for when I am not. 🙂
Good luck with your to-do list. My kids just went down for nap so I am off to make a list also. Today I wasn’t “on top of” making the list so here I am at 2 p.m. when the day is 1/2 over.

shauna - oh wow! my house i never dirty like that!
ha ha! see you tomorrow!

Dana D@BoysMyJoys - The only way I can keep from ‘backsliding’ and doing my kids’ laundry for them, is by keeping them on a schedule. Each child (I only have 2) has a set day of the week that is THEIR laundry day. If they miss it, they get to spend weekend time doing it, instead of whatever fun activity we may have planned. We don’t miss they fun, but they do! It took them only once of missing the fun, and then they realized I meant business. Think about adding it to your chore list on the chanlkboard. If they only need to do one load, they could probably get that in between the start of dinner and bedtime. There have also been times when they bartered with each other- if one needed just a few things washed to re-wear in the week, he offered to help his brother fold his clean clothes, if he could throw in what he needed washed with his brother’s load. Just a thought! Have fun at Blog Sugar!!!

Katherine - Our six kids have been doing their own laundry for about a year–we’ve got a system that manages to keep the laundry room clean and their bedrooms reasonably clear of crushed clothing. They each have a hamper in their rooms and a designated laundry basket/cubby in the laundry room. We’ve assigned each of them a specific day for doing their laundry and we enforce it.
So on their laundry days, they get the laundry basket (which should be empty of clean clothes, but often is filled with clean, unfolded clothing or stacks of folded clothes that have to be put away) and empty their hamper into it. They’re also supposed to pick up whatever clothing is littering their rooms–they don’t often do it, though. Then they can sort and start their laundry.
We have a deal that if they get up before school in the morning, gather and sort their clothes, I’ll finish the laundry during the day, either by drying it or hanging it on the line. I may or may not fold it, depending on how much time I have. The hope that I might dry and fold it for them is often enough to get them out of bed a few minutes early on their laundry days (well, the younger ones, anyway–nothing gets the older ones out of bed early). Hope that might help you some!

Breeanna @ a brilliant melody - I would be so mad if someone took my headphone when I planned on using them. I have music playing all the time.
It’s nice to know I’m not the only one with a messy house (but I don’t have the excuse of kids!) Just me and my hubby.

got2havefaith - You’re so funny…that’s great! I hate when my kids take my stuff! I even have a sign taped to my closet door that says “Kids stay out!” but it doesn’t work. They are always sneaking in to get something. I hate sneaky kids too. Whew! Thanks for letting me get that off my chest.

tiffany m gardner - Thanks for showing us you are real. For reals! Sometimes our life through photos looks a lot more put together and we feel pressured we have to be put together all. the. time. I love that your home looks like a home. Laundry, dishes, crafts and even a sonic cup on the couch tells me that your life is full. Full of little people, full of love and full of life. Isn’t that what it is all about?

Michelle Torres - You are not a mess at all!!!!!! Your home is still Beautiful and you are a Beautiful woman too!!!!!!

Brook @ BeingBrook - Love your haircut! So cute.
My kids steal my ipod headphones too. HATE IT! I even bought bright pink earbuds thinking that it would stop my 3 boys and husband from “borrowing” them and they still take them. Ugh! They all borrow my chapstick too!
I don’t think your house looks messy, I think it looks lived in. Love the sonic drink on the couch. I thought stuff like that only happened at my house and I usually don’t notice until someone is over. Laundry is my biggest challenge too so I have no advice. I can get mine all clean but then I put it in a GIANT pile next to my bed to fold…sometime. Our clean laundry has even earned a nickname “Mt Laundry”.
Good luck on your speech!

beth e. - if anyone ever gives you a hard time about your house mess, you should kick it old school, and tell them these 3 words – “sorry for livin’!!!” Nuff said! 🙂

Jennifer - That is great! I mean it brought a smile to my face. You are real….just like the rest of us. Thank you for sharing your mess. It looks just like my house. Big hug!

Simies - You are beautiful! And so realistic, I like it 🙂

jenni - I’m not going to take time to read all the comments so someone might have already said this because it isn’t that earth shattering, but here’s what works for us with the laundry. I have 3 kids, 11 yo boy, twin 8 yo girls…
Each kid has a hamper in their room. (The girls share a hamper because they share a room.)Each kid is assigned 1 day per week for laundry. After school that kid does 1 load of laundry
we wash almost all of our clothes on cold, so we don’t spend a ton of time sorting. In the winter when we all have jeans, I usually do a load of everyone’s jeans.)…lugs to laundry room, washes, dries, folds and puts away. Kid days are Monday, Tuesday, Thursday. I schedule their days based on after school activities and those days pretty much stay the same until the next school year. (The rule for the girls since they share a room is that they clean all the clothes out of the hamper that are there when it’s their day…one is Monday and one is Thursday, so they get a pretty equal amount of laundry.)
Wednesday and Friday are my days to do my laundry, towels, sheets, etc. Occasionally I do a load of my hubby’s laundry.
That leaves the weekends open for Honey’s laundry and any extra loads that the kids need.
It works for us.

shannon - soooo….i love the video! you’re so funny! i saw where you are returning things to cato….i LOVE cato…so you asked for questions….what are some of your favorite finds at cato? what’s your style?

Michelle - You are adorable!

Sarah @ Redhead in Ruffled Flats - You are so cute and hilarious! Thanks for a look into your home! I don’t feel so bad when my home gets messy – although it’s only my hubby and me so far. Hopefully you can figure out a way to get the laundry room in order because that would be very stressful for me (which it seems to be for you), especially if kids were running up looking for a certain clothing item that they couldn’t find because they left it in a heap in the laundry room. I say kudos to you for making them do their own laundry and hopefully someone will chime in with some advice. I don’t have kids yet so I know nothing about it, sorry!

Chantelle - Really (reeeeeeally) appreciate seeing your mess. It’s so easy for us to see these gorgeous houses and moms (like yourself. man, you’re BEAUTIFUL!) and feel like you have it all together and we’re a hopeless disaster. Thanks for keepin’ it real!!

leigh - I decided that checking your blog was more important than reviewing a case study for school 🙂 i love your vlog….and i love how real you are…have fun at blog sugar!!

Lori Austin - First…your hair is fab!
Second…sharing you actual size and your “messy” house in one week. You rock!!
Safe travels.

TamiV - Thanks you somuc for sharing your real life!!! I feel so much better! 🙂 Those sunflowers in the background, are they real or faux? If faux, where did you find them?

beth - Thanks for sharing your mess! ha ha–we ALL have them. I know that even the moms who look like they have it all together, really *don’t*, and it’s so nice to see a mom being REAL! Love that!
And, I can not run without music. Impossible. My husband can’t not (?) run with it. Crazy.
Have a blast at the conference–you will do great!
beth

Mickey - Thanks for that. I feel much better now. Your hair looks cute though! Post a video of Waffle, whom I cyber love. Would love to see and hear him fer reals (fur reals?) instead of pictures.

Shar - I found some really cool laundry sorters in a stand at IKEA. they were pretty cheap and work pretty well for sorting things. Don’t worry about the mess, you are just living!

Susan - Love it! I love homey homes that are “for reals”!

Courtne Huffman - I’ve been reading your blog for over a year and the thing that keeps me besides your creativity, is how real you are. I appreciate it so much. Thank you!

Kimberly Dial - I know I’ve said this before but I just have to say it again … You are just too funny! Take it from me, one day you’ll only be doing laundry for the two of you & it will make you sad 🙁 BTW, I know you don’t believe me but ’tis true, ’tis true 🙂 You should work for the Kansas Department of Tourism ’cause you make me wanna visit … have a great day!

Julie - So funny! Thanks for providing me with some humor before I clean my own messy house today!

Janelle - THANK YOU!!!!! Just came in after bringing three of my kids to the bus…the dog attacked the newspaper, there are shreds EVERYWHERE…the kitchen is a disaster, laundry, the basement with all the toys I haven’t even looked at in a week. I can not tell you how much I appreciate seeing the reality of life happening at others houses as well!

Terrie - My house is a big fat mess too…and I have no motivation to clean it. I’d rather be making baby quilts…and knitting baby hats…and baby hammocks to hold that new grandbaby in all the photos I’ll be taking! Can you imagine what my house will look like when the baby actually comes? I won’t care…’cause I’ll be at my daughter’s…with the new baby!! 🙂
Oh and my SIL just told me that she grocery shops with her ipod and headphones too! Why didn’t I think of that??!!! It will make my shopping trips more fun from now on for sure!!
Have fun at Blog Sugar! In one of my favorite places…home sweet home!

alamama - i hate when the kids take out stuff too. i knwo i don’t always comment, but i ALWAYS read your blog. so much so that i dreamt about you last night. what! it’s not something weird, we met. hubby and i drove to your house. your hubby was there, i think a couple of your kids were running around in the background. even your really close friends were there (the ones you always post about). sorry i can’t remember their names. anyway, you and i hit it off right away [of course;)]. you showed me around your house, which did not look like your current house. anyway, it was nice to wake up with you this morning! heehee hope your day gets better.