Black Friday Deals Inside!🎄

Dear, sweet, adorable, impossibly neat, put-together Marie Kondo,

Pull up a stool to my kitchen counter, won’t you, love? I’ve just shoved aside a pile of odds and ends (including a teal hairbrush, a candy cane-shaped tube of half-eaten M&Ms, a notebook, pen—sans cap, always sans cap—, last week’s third-grade classroom teacher letter, and a toy motorcycle I still need to superglue) to make space for you. Don’t mind the little bits of nail polish on the laminate I can’t magic erase off from an appointment at the girls’ nail salon last spring (at least it’s coral, and coral never goes out of season). 

Let’s have a little chat, mom-to-mom. 

First, I must confess: it’s been years since you’ve crossed my mind. That Netflix series you did took the world by storm way back in 2019, which roughly translates to four lifetimes ago. But I did watch it, admiring how you folded t-shirts into perfect squares and tamed haphazard closets into cozy nooks I wanted to curl up and nap inside. 

RELATED: My House Is a Mess but I’m Trying Harder than You Know

Does it spark joy? I’d dutifully muse as I side-eyed a stack of sippy cups by the sink or stepped over toys on the living room rug. Does it even matter?

You see, women like you, Marie, have always baffled me a little. I grew up with the “clean enough to be healthy but cluttered enough to be happy” method of homemaking, something I’ve carried over into my own home as an adult. I admire pretty, spotless, purposefully decorated homes, but I’ve never been able to keep one myself. And truthfully? I’m okay with that. Your KonMari Method and organized everything clearly worked for you, but it wasn’t for me. 

Then I saw the headlines today: Marie Kondo’s life is messier now—and she’s fine with it.” “Marie Kondo gives up.” Marie Kondo opens up on embracing ‘messy’ home after having 3 kids.”

Oh, Marie. Yes. Welcome, friend. We have been waiting for you. 

RELATED: The House Is Messy Because Kids Live Here

Because motherhood changes everything. From the moment you bring your first child home, everything else pales in comparison to being a mom. Children color your world (sometimes quite literally, if they’re unsupervised toddlers with markers) and take over nearly every aspect of your life. From the edge protectors you affix to coffee table corners, to the stacks of laundry you never seem to finish, to the sleep and therefore energy you lose—the only method that truly matters is love. A messy house—sometimes or all of the time—is simply a fact of life when you’re busy raising a family. 

Hearing you—even you!—say so? Whew. That’s the kind of reassurance we all need as mothers. 

“My home is messy, but the way I am spending my time is the right way for me at this time at this stage of my life,” you recently said at a media event

That’s refreshing in a way a deep spring clean never could be. So thanks, Marie, and welcome to the other side. It’s a little cluttered here, a bit wild and unpredictable and haphazard, but it is full of the best kind of joy.

Sit down and stay awhile. You’re going to love it here. 

So God Made a Mother book by Leslie Means

If you liked this, you'll love our new book, SO GOD MADE A MOTHER available now!

Order Now

Carolyn Moore

Carolyn has served as Editor-in-Chief of Her View From Home since 2017. A long time ago, she worked in local TV news and fell in love with telling stories—something she feels grateful to help women do every day at HVFH. She lives in flyover country with her husband and five kids but is really meant to be by the ocean with a good book and a McDonald's fountain Coke. 

Dear Hot Mess Mom: To Me You Are Perfect

In: Kids, Motherhood
Dear Hot Mess Mom: To Me You Are Perfect www.herviewfromhome.com

It’s tempting to pretend that there aren’t ritz crackers hidden deep inside my shag carpet, along with some other things I probably don’t want to know about. It’s tempting to pretend my four-year-old doesn’t rock the same “favorite” dress three days in a row, and that I don’t currently smell like men’s Old Spice deodorant. Sometimes I’d rather my life looked like a Instagram feed of awesome. I’d also rather my butt looked like a bubble instead of a wide pancake, but we all have to live our truth. The thing I’ve noticed is that when I don’t pretend, I...

Keep Reading

Dear Lord, Bless This Mess

In: Motherhood
Family at home in kitchen with messy table

It was 5:48 p.m. when dinner was officially over in our house. My husband had taken the shift feeding our baby girl who was covered in food—just the way she likes it at 11-months-old. Her belly, as well as ours, was full. So were our hearts. The minutes were long as we giggled at her dirty face. For a while, we were all carefree. All too quickly, though, reality struck. I looked to my right, then to my left, and all I could see were messes. Pots and pans. Dishes. Paper towels used to clean our little one’s face. I...

Keep Reading

God is in the Midst of Messy Motherhood

In: Faith, Kids, Motherhood
God is in the Midst of Messy Motherhood

I caught you staring this morning. I’m sure I’d stare, too. You saw me, sweating in the sun, pushing a 2-year-old, screaming “S-T-O-P” at the top of his lungs. And he repeats it like it’s all he knows. STOP. And I tell him—it’s time to go home. STOP. And I ask him—can you lower your voice? STOP. And in the middle of the zoo pathway, in the middle of the crowd, I say please, just listen to what Mommy is asking and obey. STOP! So, I’m pushing his stroller out to the parking lot like a race is to be won....

Keep Reading