Broken Window Theory

I was texting with my sister in the wee hours of the morning this morning and we made a dog park date for today. 

We ended up being the only ones there (us along with one more friend) and it was really fun!

Before we had kids and our dogs were our only babies, we met at the dog park all the time!  Now all of our kids are big enough to enjoy the park too so it would be fun to start making it a habit again. 

As of right now, the housework is in "maintenance mode" so that makes things really chill around here.  I always say it but I could really get used to this!  What typically happens, though, is that we have some whirlwind of a weekend or get a little lazy and the window gets broken.

I read about broken window theory in this book:

Checked it out from the library. 

It talks about areas of high crime and how buildings with broken windows are most frequently vandilized because the vandals take the broken window as a sign that the caretaker is absent or doesn't care. The author goes on to compare this theory to our homes. When everything is in its place, everyone puts forth that extra effort to keep it that way. But as soon as the window is broken (junk mail left on the table, shoes on the floor in front of the couch, dirty dishes left in the sink, unpacked bags on the closet floor, etc, etc) we are more likely to add to the mess. Before we know it the family tornado has done its work and the house is trashed. I don't know about everyone else but this is so true at our house!  We work for a few days to put everything back in it's place and everything else I discuss in this post but once we get tired, busy or lazy the window is broken and there's no turning back. 

For me, once the window is broken it takes a good week to get things back to where they are right now. I think it is because at our cores, David and I are not naturally "do it now" kinds of folks. We feel good when we are those people but it takes effort. When we are tired or busy, we revert back to our natural states of just leaving things wherever they land. 

I'm going to enjoy our "repaired window" while it lasts because we have been having extra time for the pool, the dog park, extra projects and errands. Just in time to enjoy the end of summer. It has been so fun!

How long are you able to keep your house in "maintenance mode?"  What do you do with the extra time??

~Sarah

Flashback!  Here's what we were up to one year ago today: "A Doting Nurse"

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