Madison commented the other day that we have a lot of new in our house, and she noticed that Adam and I are making plans for more. In the past year, we've gotten new furniture, a new carpet, a new car, and new light fixtures. We have plans to replace some more flooring, to paint the interior, and install new cabinets and bathroom fixtures. We've been in the house for almost fifteen years, and it's time for a face lift.
I've written before about how much I like new. I love how fresh and clean everything looks.
And I am PARANOID about when it becomes messed up, lived in, and cluttered again.
I've become that person with the new car. I'm not quite so delusional to think that we'll never eat in it - frankly, we're on the go too much for that to even be a possibility - but I'm so afraid of having ground in spills and food smells that won't go away. I see a coffee drip or a bagel crumb and I start to worry that it's all downhill from here.
I've become that person that makes the girls completely clean out of the car every time they get out of it. They have a trash can that I harp on them about emptying, and I refuse to let them keep anything in the car that could clutter it up. Once a week - at least - we take the car to the car wash. We don't always get the car washed (it's been rainy), but we vacuum it TWICE, clean all the mats and interior, and even go through the door jambs to get rid of ANY build up. I use a car oil diffuser to make sure that any, say, stinky dance feet smell disappears as soon as the dancers are out of the car.
I'm that person with the furniture. It's not really "new" anymore, since we've had it for a year, but they still haven't eaten so much as a crumb on it. I make them sit on the floor. The flooring is "new" too, but we have these fabulous oversized trays from IKEA, and the girls are happy enough to lounge on the floor and use the trays.
I bought Reagan a sticker album entirely because I don't want there to be a shred of temptation for her to put stickers on ANY surface.
I have a new winter bag that I clean out obsessively, because it's my NEW bag, and I want to keep it nice.
If it's old, or stained, or in any way worn, I seem to be ok with letting it be a mess. I mean, who cares if I spill coffee on that old rug? It has 100 stains already and by next week I won't be able to pick out the new one. Yes, the girls got toothpaste all over their sink again, but that laminate is already covered in faint pink and blue toothpaste stains.
New, though? I'm totally paranoid about keeping it nice, and show off worthy, so I clean and I make sure we're all careful. And so far, at least with the couch and the carpet and the car, it's working.
So I suppose, the (admittedly expensive) solution, is to continue to upgrade. We know we can - and will - treat our investments well, and pretty soon, everything will be kept nice all the time.
