P.U.A.Y.

Guess what that stands for? It is something I have been talking to my kids about quite a bit lately... It is the first and most important habit to develop if you want to have a somewhat neat looking house. It doesn't come naturally, you aren't ever going to wake up one day and start doing it. Pick Up After Yourself!! That's it! Here is my tip for the day :) Don't ever set something down telling yourself that you will come back and get it later. If you do that, things just pile up and then there are so many that you don't even see them any more! I used to live that way, so I know first hand, honest! My husband is a very neat man, and when we got married I was embarrassed one day to realize that he was always picking up after me. Then I realized that I never had to pick up after him! Yikes!! Humiliation drove me to gradually change my ways, but I am a firm convert to it now, as my kids will attest. If you absolutely have to put something down without putting it away, as you release it from your hand, tell yourself when you are coming back to get it and put it away, and never go to bed without a quick look around to put away anything you have left out of place. I had a light bulb moment years ago: it is just as easy to drop your clothes into the hamper as it is to drop them on the floor, just as easy to put the cinnamon back on the shelf, as leave it on the counter, just as easy to put your dish in the dishwasher as stack it in the sink... I even changed a song from church to: Ere you left your room this morning, did you think to puay? (It kind of sounds like "pway"). So hey everybody, PUAY!!