This is so funny. I am almost in the same place you are! I have never been a "neat freak" although I am not a slob either. And I am doing much better with this house than I have ever done with previous houses!! But i am also not doing as good as I said I would. One pieces of advise I read somewhere....."don't put it down, put it away". I try to remember that and really am doing much better, but yep....my kitchen does have a "lived-in" look. I guess there is no hope.

If you find a 'cure' let me know. :)

Invite people over. That will motivate you to get it sparkling clean.

yep...it sure does! And that's really one of the biggest reasons it stays as clean as it does. We have folks drop by a lot. We rarely had people over when we were living in our temporary home while we built this one because it was so horrid. It was an OLD mobile home with no storage and floors that were starting to fall in. I was too embarrassed to have people over. And I guess because it was so bad, I felt no motivation to keep it clean so I got in some bad habits. But this house is so nice and pretty I do keep it much cleaner. If I know someone is coming over, I can have it sparkling clean within 30 minutes. So that's not too bad!

now excuse me while I go clean up my kitchen. lol!

Boy can I relate! My DH has always said you can't have anything nice as long as you have kids. Well you can have them, but be prepared to have it damaged or just junked up. We are now empty nesters (well 22-yo has temp moved back in) and we are going thru an "upgrading" phase now!

So what I'm saying is - you're fighting a losing battle until the kids are gone! Then and only then, can you do something (cleaning, remodeling etc) and know it will stay that way!

Dear Teacup;

I don't know if you are . . . well, old? seasoned? experienced? enough to remember Erma Bombeck, but I swear, I was laughing so hard when I reached the end of your post, I swore I was reading one of her old columns! Toooo funny, and perhaps tooooo realistic for me as well.

I am doing my best to keep on top of "clutter" on the counters, island, and tabletop (my prime spot for "stuff" since I tend to go through the mail, read the paper, clip recipes and coupons, and leave to-do lists for myself, etc., while I am sitting there). I am determined to keep it at a manageable level, and NOT let it get totally out of hand. Some weeks it gets away from me a bit, but I usually try to force myself to weed through and be ruthless about it every few days (filing or tossing as much as I can). This way, with very short notice, I can scoop up the (hopefully) small piles and deposit them temporarily in one of our two message center drawers, and voila! The kitchen looks neat and presentable. Just don't look in the drawers!! LOL

Lol!! You are not alone. My kitchen's not done yet so I consider the horrible mess of my house part of the 'reno phase' but I can so relate.

As someone else mentioned, entertaining is the best way to stay on top of cleaning. I had a standing 'girl's night' at my place every Thursday (before the reno) and it was a great motivator to clean. Every wednesday (or honestly, usually thursday when I got home from work) I would run around like a mad woman trying to clean everything for my guests. Without that, I probably would have been living in a dump ;)

I'm not a slob and there are no kids in the house so I generally keep the now not so new kitchen looking pretty good. But some days even for me it's just not a priority to go through all the mail, pick everything up, etc. I think we all make choices about what's important to us - cleaning up the kitchen or doing something else.

I do think though that whether you're anal about tidiness or a self proclaimed slob - you're probably not going to change - even with a new kitchen. And while having kids around results in more stuff, kids can be trained to throw empty juice boxes in the garbage, not to leave shoes on the island, to help clean up dirty dishes before bed, etc. I know our house was never a mess when we were growing up - my mom was tidy and she required that we take some responsibility for helping and for our own stuff. (My room was a total mess though throughout junior high but I was required to keep the mess contained to my room. Somehow I grew out of the messiness stage.)

Teacup: Love this thread! Actually, for awhile I collected teapots because of having "teas" with female friends. I so relate to your experience!

We kept our new kitchen and dining room looking good for about 2 weeks after finishing. The good news is that even messy, it looks and works 100% better than the whole space.

When I go on a tidying/cleaning spree, the kids (age 18, 19) ask "who's coming over?"

I have books on organizing, follow Oprah's tidying up shows, and intellectually know what needs to happen. Ha ha! There is something deep in my psyche that keeps this challenging. (Also grew up in a tidy, clean house. Maybe, it's still parental rebellion. I'm now 60+ yo)

For those neat folks who can't understand this, I have to say that I enjoy a healthy and happy life.

Put your house on the market. I am a relatively organized person but I have certainly stepped it up a notch since our house was listed. The idea of some busybody from my small town nosing around in my house is more than enough incentive to keep it clean and neat every day.

Perhaps someone can invent a pill that causes you to think that company is coming over or strangers will be tromping through your house. :)

HAHA! Teacup princess, your catchy title caught my eye. I was hoping for before and after pictures of your new kichen (the uncluttered and the cluttered). I promised myself also, but know the end result. We are still in process of the remodel (DH still cursing at the water pipes though). So we still have a ways to go! I want my dishwasher!! Tired of dishes in a bucket by the tub! See, I can't even keep up with that. :-(

Personally, I'd rather see a lived in kitchen than a magazine ready one. When I see pristine toys in their original boxes selling at auction, I feel sad that no one played with them. Teacup may have gotten up to a fresh look at a very messy kitchen this morning, but it sounds like it would take about 10 minutes to put to rights. Not for perfection, maybe, but for clean and organized back to normal. And how much better to have all those signs of life!! All the kids who've been sipping the juice and abandoning the shoes, and the enjoyers of the kitchen's output who left the dishes and the crumbs and the sticky.

I say, "Hurrah!!! A lively family lives here!!!"

Juice boxes and kid's shoes--don't need to say anything else. We are empty nesters, and yes, it will take that long before the place stays "almost neat." I find controlling the mags, newspapers and mail a losing battle. DH leaves dishes/glass/cups in the sink, not a problem, it's his other stuff that I find on the counters that drive me crazy. I even gave him an entire drawer for his things, drawer is still empty. So, kids are gone, but the stuff still piles up.
One luxury I do give myself . . . a housekeeper comes in every other week. This forces me to put things where they belong the night before she comes.

teacup, thanks for a nice giggle. =)

Our new kitchen certainly doesn't look like a magazine cover most days either! I'm pretty neat but DH and DD not so much. One thing that helps a lot is that I included an entire bank of drawers on one end of the island that is exclusively for all the stuff that DH dumps on the island. I just open a drawer and sweep everything into it!

Despite being a bit of a neat-nik, I frequently have dirty pots and pans sit in the sink until the next morning because I want to spend a few hours before bed with DD and DH.

I agree with what gibby said about training your kids from an early age to pick up after themselves, for the sake of your sanity if nothing else! I learned early on that cleaning up after my DD was the worst thing I could do. If she wants to leave a mess in her room, I let it go for about a week. In the common areas of the home she's expected to put things away right after she's done with them. Of course there are those craft projects that take a whole weekend to finish, but that's why a nice big, flat island is so useful.

Yup. Yup. Yup - on all counts. (Except maybe the shoes.)

Really glad I went for the quartz countertops. I wanted something easy-care where I wouldn't have to worry about wiping up immediately after every smudge... Of course then I started looking at how beautiful granite was, and I *wanted* it. But I just didn't trust myself as a housekeeper.

And as it turns out, that mistrust was well-placed. Best of intentions, worst of housekeeping abilities (or interest). ;-)

Wait one darn minute. You mean when my kitchen is done I don't automatically become neat and the kitchen doesn't clean itself??? No, that can't be right. That's impossible. I've researched and planned this kitchen for a year and could swear that I was told by someone on GW or some kitchen place that my kitchen would always look immaculate!

You must have a different kitchen than what I'm getting. I'm getting the one that always looks like a magazine cover, yet is comfortable and warm. The sink is the kind where you put the dishes in dirty and they end up clean and put away. The countertop and floor have a special anti-crumb sealant on them that when a crumb hits it, the sealant will vaporize the crumb harmlessly into the air and won't harm the environment. They are also sticky-stuff resistant. I also upgraded to get the clutter fairy, who miraculously finds a place for every piece of mail and school flyer that comes into the kitchen - I could be wrong, but I think she can take care of shoes as well. The last item I splurged on (I had to take out the warming drawer and never mt but I think ultimately it will be worth it)is the kids that come with my new kitchen will always put away the milk when they are done with it, they will remember to throw away their juice boxes and other garbage without having to be told 10 times, and just generally be the kind of well-behaved kids I always told myself I would raise.

So, as you can see my kitchen will be different. When it is complete, I will be sure to post pictures with details, details details!

Actually, remodeling the kitchen practically cured me of kitchen slobbiness. I am by no means a neat freak, but my kitchen has remained pretty neat and clean for a year and a half now. For the first time in my life, I have a kitchen in which I have enough room to store everything, and everything has a designated place. The remodel also opened up the kitchen to the rest of the house, so while I could once just close the kitchen door if things got out of control, now there's not even a door to close. So, I'm more motivated to keep things clean and the rest of the family is, too.

I'm not a slob. I'm surface intensive. That's why I need all the room in the new kitchen that has 4 times the counter space as the old one. Also try to remember that we can't fight the laws of the universe. Clutter accumulates to fill the space provided. This is a corollary to the basic law that work expands to fill the time allotted.

Interestingly, We have a rule at my house that no new horizontal surfaces be introduced into the house without haveing a family meeting first in order to decide what other surface to get rid of.

We decided that it must be one of Murphy's Laws. If a room is empty and we put a coffee table in it we immediately accrue magazines, lamps, cups, doiles, whatever. AGH!

The ironing board would go up and within 15 minutes be piled high! I stopped ironing. I could find no other solution.

OMG I have no kids yet and it is still a battle to keep my kitchen clean.
However, I'm completely convinced that my kitchen ends up messy and filled with papers, shoes, coats, iPod headphones, and whatnot because I do not have built in cubbies like these next to my entry to our main entry/exit to the house:

{{!gwi}}

Clearly, I NEED it! Or as DH would say, "no, you WANT those, not need"

LOL, stretchad! Our remodel has been done for 1 1/2 years now, and the main force behind it was that I needed (wanted!) a mudroom to keep the backpacks, shoes, coats, etc. out of the kitchen :) You know what? It's mostly worked. The gorgeous kitchen stays pretty gorgeous. The mudroom stays relatively presentable, because there's tons of storage. But my awesome little mudroom "command center" area that was going to be my own space? Piled about 4 feet high with the kids' end-of-school-year papers and junk. I guess the junk has to go somewhere...

good thread :)

I can't even find my peninsula.

you guys are SCARING me. why remodel if it won't stay clean? Isn't that in the contract??? That it stays clean? not sure what DIY'rs do tho...

what a shame...I had such high hopes for next year...

I used to always say 'until the board of health comes to shut me down it can't be that bad'... I don't let anyone come visit anymore because the next day the BOH would be in my driveway with a 'closed' sign to tack on my door. Oprah's people would reject me.

I'm glad to hear (read) that I'm not the only one who can't keep up with all the mail / paper work in our lives now (wwhhhhhyyy? why do we have so much? it was supposed to go away with computers in our lives).

I did catch a good idea from someone above tho - I'll be keeping a drawer in the kitchen empty to stuff paperwork into when needed...a big drawer - like 24" wide and 10" deep.

"I don't know if you are . . . well, old? seasoned? experienced? enough to remember Erma Bombeck"

what? old? who said that? lol! I sooo remember Erma. her writings were awesome. I'm sure they can be found for the younger ones to get and read. good idea to do that WHILE remodeling - you need a good laugh!
I remember during my divorce time I got her books and curled up on my bed one evening to read them... I was just rolling in laughter. Each of the 2 kids still home came by and looked in to see if I was ok. ds even asked if i was ok! lol!

teacup--very funny and interesting thread! A good while back I thought of starting a thread "My kitchen faucet doesn't shine anymore". Your thread is exactly what I was thinking. My redo was in 2003. Even when the counters are cluttered the good looking Silestone and backsplash make the mess not look as bad as in the old kitchen.

What I need to do is now rearrange where I put items and get rid of duplicates . I don't have enough space for the many different size plastic containers, pots/pans small appliances. I think a walk-in pantry in the kitchen would be the answer. My cousin has one with a sliding pocket door that holds everything within easy reach.

I feel the main reason mine stays cluttered is the fact that I don't have a designated place for items so everyone can easily put things up off the counter.

Oops! I almost forgot--company is coming for Father's Day so I better hurry up and do a quick straighten up job!

With a little sleuthing online I was able to find this short, but significant quote from Erma . . . .

Erma Bombeck
Housework

My theory on housework is, if the item doesn't multiply, smell, catch on fire or block the refrigerator door, let it be. No one cares. Why should you?

Another one of my favorites is from Roseann Barr, when she was primarily doing stand-up -- it was something like "Yeah, I'll vacuum . . . when Sears makes a riding vacuum cleaner!"

I think that would be a great way to get sons more interesting in cleaning, though.

desertsteph--I never said the drawer was empty.... :-)

I do however, make sure it's never too full to use as a temporary (key word!) repository for my stash of mail and dept store coupons. As soon as company/guests/visitors leave--the stash does come back out! Hey, if I don't keep those coupons in full view, I forget I have 'em. Of course, that would be a good way to cut down on some shopping sprees........

What about "My second favorite household chore is ironing. My first being hitting my head on the top bunk bed until I faint."

DH hates all the clutter that tends to accumulate on every surface, but doesn't see that he is as guilty as anyone. I can get the kids to hang up coats and backpacks when we get in but he empties his pockets onto the kitchen counter every day. Wallet, change, i phone, little connector bits from his work (I don't even know what they are called but he always seems to have a bunch of them in his pocket at the end of the day) and then complains the place looks messy.

I am under no illusion the new kitchen will be any tidier or cleaner on a daily basis.

An old friend used to say "If you want to visit me drop by any time, if you want to see my house make an appointment"

When we were doing our kitchen last year, I saw a post where Buehl had mentioned planning for the junk drawer and planning for where the junk would inevitably accumulate. I realized the junk would all accumulate on one end of our bilevel island. After pondering it for a bit, I went out and got a pretty square basket. The kids put their paperwork on the counter, the mail gets dumped on the counter. I go through it all every afternoon/evening and recycle or throw out what needs to go immediately. Stuff I'm not too sure about gets thrown in the basket. The basket gets cleaned out once a week.

If someone comes over unexpectedly at any point, I just throw whatever is on the counter in to the basket and then the basket goes into the hall closet - just a few steps away.

I also very specifically planned a junk drawer in the kitchen which has been a huge lifesaver!

Is my kitchen perfect? Nope. We have two boys, ages 13 and 11, and they're not always great about putting stuff away. But, even when it's bad, it usually only takes about 10 minutes to tidy up and wipe the counters down. Far better than the old kitchen!

I guess we are kind of intermediate in maintaining our kitchen. It's been 2 years since our remodel. There is always a clutter of bread bags and fruit on one of the side counters and usually a small cutting board.

When our son, DIL and grandchild were living with us for a while, the island always had a clutter. That is harder to keep managed with more people contributing and busy taking care of children. But with just me and my husband the island is kept pretty clear.

What I don't have is sticky counters or crumbs on the floor. I draw the line at unpleasant tactile stuff and we go barefoot most of the time at home so that includes the floor. And our granite counter tops are so much easier to keep clean than our old 1970's kind of bumpy tile with wide grout. It cleans with an easy swipe so anything sticky gets quickly dealt with. We tested the stone for porosity before we bought it. It doesn't stain and even if I find something that was overlooked the day before it comes right off - as easy to maintain as "quartz" engineered stone countertops.

And the floor gets swept or a light mop as necessary to control crumbs or sticky spots.

But our kitchen gets a lot of use - the rangetop often isn't pristine. The grates get run through the dishwasher from time to time so they aren't terrible but there are often some splashes or bits of stuff on them in between times. And the stainless and black appliance fronts are often not perfect. They clean up quickly when needed and the stainless steel cleaner usually keeps finger prints at bay for a while after it is used but it doesn't get brought out again at the first finger print.

@jaksopcam, can you PLEASE post your contractor's name? we haven't found those options for our DIY build.

@lululemon, is that bunk bed thing original or to be attributed to that 'anonymous' that we all know and love? I really like the one from your friend too.

New kitchen is staying much cleaner...more space to store, deeper sink, granite is easier to keep clean, and the miracle of microfiber cloths to wipe up fingerprints everywhere.

I wanted a spot in my new kitchen to contain the paper-newspaper-mail-book clutter (3 kids and a clutter-king...I mean husband). A desk didn't fit but the kd and I came up with a 'drop-down' desk area-it's basically a nice-sized cabinet sitting on its side on the counter, with the door as a drop down desk. I outfitted the inside with a metal shelf, 4 stacking in-out boxes, a pencil basket, and a file for coupons, notes & uncategorized paper junk. Mail like bills goes to the in&out boxes. My phone is hooked up in there, along with a surge protector, and I can fit & charge my minilaptop and all the cell phones. Finally all the paper and junk fits...and I can close the cabinet when someone is coming.Looks great and works "great". I'm using the dropdown as a desk & typing this . I love it! Another trick is to keep the portable paper shredder in a lower cabinet near the mail drop (which of course ends up being the island) & shred asap!

Our remodeled kitchen probably has 3x the counter space as our old one and it doesn't seem like I have any more room for working since we just tend to spread stuff out more on the counters. The big improvement is that it's a lot faster to clean it up when I want it to sparkle since there are places for everything. Plus the end result of cleaning is something I enjoy looking at. Our old kitchen looked almost as bad after cleaning as it did before. There wasn't a whole lot of incentive.

I'm always amazed by the posters here that can quickly respond to a thread by immediately snapping a picture of something in their kitchen and posting it. It's obvious that they keep it in great shape.

lululemoon, I'm going to steal your friend's phrase.

jacsopcam, ROTFLOL!! I had to read the OP and yours to DH and even he who doesn't give a care about crumbs, much less cleaning them up, had to laugh. You made my day. This actually is why I'm not suffering having to downgrade my kitchen reno.
I took a good long look after I was starting to fret about money and said, you know what? Who cares if I get laminate counter tops? They'll soon be cluttered with stuff anyway. I'm not exactly "slob" but I'm no magazine cover either. There are nights when there are dishes left soaking and a few glasses strewn around. And, don't even talk about the mail, recipe books, newspapers, and towels! I always am grabbing a new towel, and will have up to 6 on the counters at once.
I thought to myself: this is how we live. Do I really want to spend on magazine perfect when it isn't going to stay that way??

We have the same problem with horizontal surfaces- if it's flat and doesn't move, it generally gets covered in SOMETHING! I ended up designating an 18" wide section of counter that's next to my fridge (isolated from everything else) as my "slob zone". I allow myself to just pile and pile and pile on there till the pile threatens to fall over, then I clean it out and put things away. Of course, nothing REALLY important goes there (or else I would have some problems with the bills) but the mounds of paper that the kids bring home from school, the tool manuals and receipts that my husband leaves all over the place, the ends of our soda cartons (because I never seem to have time to enter in all the Coke Rewards we collect), everything else ends up in that pile. As long as I allow myself that one bit of sanctuary, I seem to be able to keep up on the rest of the clutter ok. =>

And, also, we got a 10" deep, 36" wide sink specifically so that the dirty dishes will stay relatively out-of-the-way. I laughed when I read the few people that mentioned "last night's dishes", we usually don't get caught up until the weekend...

LOL...This thread reminds me of a package of cocktail napkins my sister once gave me:

"desertsteph--I never said the drawer was empty.... :-)"

they're installed empty tho, right? lol! mine would never be empty after the 'pick up and dump into' it either!

"if the item doesn't multiply, smell, catch on fire or block the refrigerator door, let it be. No one cares. Why should you?"

now i know where I got that thought process!

Our architect called us horizontal surface abusers. We remodeled our kitchen 4 yrs ago and it looked pretty good for a couple yrs. My DH is the horizontal surface abuser. No kids so no one else to blame. Altho we have containers to file mail/magazines a lot of the mail ends up on the counter/island. We even have a drawer for old newspapers since in our old kitchen we had stacks of newspaper lying around. Also since we got more storage space in our remodeled kitchen I found myself buying more stuff that I wouldn't have bought before. My pantry started off being organized but now it's packed and out of control.

Lol...I love this thread. It's like first, you admit you have a problem.

My problem is putting things back after I take them out. There, I said it :) Thankfully, my fiance is very good at putting things back. It's a symbiotic relationship.

robin_d wins. If only because of the extra credit for font size.

Shame? Fear? Keeping her typing voice low so she doesn't anger the mess, like a feral skittish animal?

You're not a slob! You are living your life, and it is only a kitchen. If you have kids, there is no way that the kitchen or house will ever look like a magazine cover. I'd rather have a mess and have a family than a place that looks like a kitchen cover!!

I try to keep on top of the mess, but when I am busy living my life, it does get out of hand. We are not neat freaks nor are we real slobs, but we do not make our home a priority. There is too much "living" outside for that.

Enjoy your life :-)

"Invite people over. That will motivate you to get it sparkling clean."

That's what motivates me to clean :)