This is a test. What do you see in these photos? 
If your answer is, “Nothing but brown shag carpet” {thank you, previous owners} then you are like my children and husband and suffer from Pile Blindness. I am very sorry. Or perhaps I should be quite envious. If you saw hair clips, ice cream, coasters, a box, Dora, Thomas the Train Underwear, laundry, pretend money . . etc. then you are like me and suffer from Pure Frustration most days. So I am here to discuss Pile Blindness and if it truly exists. Because I am willing to bet that in homes across America millions of children and husbands don’t see those piles. So is it real? And if so how do we cope with family members that are afflicted with such a thing. To my most wonderful hubby who is a team player through and through . . please don’t feel as though I am attacking you. I want to help you. I will search high and low for an optometrist that can outfit you with glasses so that you too can see these piles. I won’t stop until you have perfect vision. Until science and technology catch up with what we women all know to be true. . . Pile blindness exists, what is your method for coping? Please share with us the systems you have set in place. Do you have baskets? Do you have rules? Please help a 20/20 seeing sister out.
That is HILARIOUS! Oh yes, sister, all members of my family, except me, suffer from this horrible problem. I have tried placing their piles right in front of their bedroom doors so that they may trip over them as entering, but somehow the always manage to leap over them and land safely on the other side. I have also tried putting their piles on their beds so that they may not go to sleep until said pile is picked up. But again, the outsmarted me and simply pushed the pile to the floor again so they could climb in bed. My latest remedy is to get out the vacuum cleaner and threaten to suck up anything in my way. So far, it's working like a charm. Good luck and let me know if you find a permanent cure!
The TRUTH is spoken… we have all forms of systems in place @ our home to avoid piles. And they STILL persist, despite all efforts. I'd love complete elimination!
This is HILARIOUS! You are too funny. And yes, I suffer from Pile Frustration because my husband, who I adore, suffers from this horrible horrible syndrome. He is in recovery (haha), but the only thing that we have found to help is placing the pile on his dresser, which is then often ignored for a day or two, but eventually the Pile Frustration catches up to him. Thankfully, his syndrome isn't too bad and I feel very fortunate. Haha. I do LOVE the idea of baskets!!
Hilarious! We had more piles when the girls were little, not so many now. Our youngest is the pile maker (more so than her dad, and her sister…well…she now has to clean her own apartment-sure cure for no more piles! LOL) For Kate, it is more about lack of time (with school and volleyball) than…I just don't see it. Having set places for things and baskets help. She can throw things in quickly, but they don't have to be just so. I was one of those moms who did a clean sweep each night after my kiddos went to bed. I hate waking up to a mess! I also used to set a timer, and asked them to pick up their things…a small reward never hurts either!
This is the funniest post ever! Oh my the piles we have here. I think you are right pile blindness is a real thing. I don't have a system in place but I do have a rule – before bed all piles must be cleaned up and put away. It's part of our bedtime routine. As for the hubs piles – don't get me started 😉
We need a support group!
I loved this! After you have kids it seems like there are piles everywhere! My husband is the worst he never notices and it drives me crazy. Let me know if you learn any tricks:)
So true! What a funny illness…you should get that published 🙂
My stairs are the exact same way! There's always little piles of things that need to be taken up, as soon as one is removed something is added. Almost always shoes and dirty bibs.
It must be becoming an epidemic! My family suffers from this debilitating "disease" too! I try putting them on the stairs but they walk right over them. I try consolidating many piles into a bigger, more noticeable pile, without success. My lovely family has added the dreadful shoe symptom that leaves piles of shoes in the most unlikely places. My cure is that on my second request to pickup their piles I tell them that if they don't I will, and they all know that if I pick things up they go into the "circular file" to the curb. If shoes don't get picked up, they end up in hiding for a week.
I love this! We have had the same problem at my house but here are a few things that have worked to (unfortunately, not eliminate) lessen the piles. We have a strict "No one goes up or down stairs empty handed" rule at our house. Even if it is one thing, they have to take it up or down stairs and put it where it belongs with each trip. I have also played a game with my kids of "I get to tell you 2 (or any #)things to put away, then you tell me". My kids love this game because they get to tell Mom what to do. I figured I am cleaning it up anyway so I might as well get help with half of it from them. One other thing that is a game is before dinner, bedtime, playing, whatever you choose, we EACH, yes even Mom and Dad, have to pick up 20 things. It goes pretty quickly and the kids have fun seeing who can finish first. It is easy to get to 20 things if you count shoes as two, throw away trash, put things in recycle, etc. Hope this helps.
LOL!!! Yes, our house has been afflicted with the same disease. Fortunately (only in this case), we don't have stairs. Unfortunately, that means all the piles are usually in the living room, hall, and kid rooms. And usually there's a stray or two in the kitchen and by the door in my room that leads to the patio. DRIVES ME NUTS!!! I've added trays and hanging baskets in the kitchen to corral The Dad piles – thinking they would only get as full as the container and then he would have to empty them. Buwahahahahahaha. Silly me.
Hmm… looks like my stairs 😀 But, I'm afraid that I'm the one that piles things up on the stairs! I get sick and tired of seeing random shoes, hair clips, and general crap laying all over the house that I pile it up on the stairs so I can take it up the next time I go. Problem is my arms are usually too full when I do go up that it just sits there… collecting more junk 🙁
Ha! I make a pile during the day and at the end put it all away. I seriously could not keep putting away stuff all day long.
HA! We {or that Ryan} has this issue!! It's everywhere…AHHHHH!!!
I've given up trying to fight the piles and instead try to work with my family's natural tendencies. I wait to see where the piles tend to form and then put cute containers of the appropriate type in those places (e.g., a straw basket for papers/magazines/mail or a decorative laundry hamper for clothes). It has definitely helped!
So funny! My husband also suffers from pile blindness. If any of you ladies has figured out how to get your husband to put stuff away when he's done with it, I'd love to know!
Now I wish I could've appreciated how EASY it was to keep our house clean before my son was born. Lucky for me my husband is a neat freak so he always puts things away when he is done with them but my son is a different story. We are trying to teach him to put back his toys when he is finished but I have a feeling it is a never ending battle. I've heard that collecting all of the stuff and threatening to throw things out the next time it is laying around will help. Only thing is you have to follow through with it! Good luck.
You crack me up! I don't have kiddos but I do have a husband and two dogs… baskets, baskets, baskets. There is no other way!
My entire family suffers form pile blindness. I actually do tests and refuse to pick up the sock on the stairs that's been there for 4 days. Eventually it is me saying, "Anybody see this sock?" They say yes and do nothing about it. AHHHHHH
I saw the money! Too bad it was pretend, haha.
My routine is, I have my kids (3 & 4) clean up their toys before lunch and again before bedtime. They don't eat lunch till all their toys are put away (some days they eat a late lunch)
My 17 yr old has a really busy schedule (marching band, swim team, competes in triathlons, etc.) As long as his stuff is contained to his room, I don't mind as much. When it gets really bad (ie. piles of clothes shoved in the bottom of his closet, etc.) I'll have him clean his entire room before he can go do x. He doesn't like it, but it works.
For my hubby, I've stopped picking up after him. But not wanting to nag either, I give it some time for him to put his stuff away. I'll point stuff out after it's been there a week.
SOOO Funny!! And true. I deal with this everyday. It does exist and my hubby is also afflicted with this condition. I sometime see how messy things can get before he will notice. He never does. "Honey, where are all my clean work socks? There aren't any in my drawer…" my husband asks. Meanwhile- every pair of work socks is currently scattered throughout the house (on the floor of course) where he left them. story of my life. I need to start the policy: If they don't make it into the hamper then they don't get washed.
HAHAHAHAHAHA this is so TRUE!!! It drives me crazy as well, trust me…you are not alone! I find that if I have one place (behind closed doors) that I can hurry and throw stuff into (piles from the hubs) than atleast I feel good about it because I can't see it…unfortunately it just leaves the mess somewhere else. The only solution is to help them "see" but that kind of goes against "blindness" now doesn't it. Hm…frustration indeed.
too funny! I myself have pile blindness, they suddenly hit me and I am like OH my goodness, what am I doing!!! So, in order to help with that, I have a bag I got from Thirty One, that is soft sided, but has a firm band around the top, it sits at the bottom of the stairs and gets filled with stuff that needs to go up, and when I go up it does too. There is also one upstairs, and when I go down it goes down. This helps a lot! I really love the bag, when I have company it is easy to hide because it collapses flat and I can slide it behind or under the couch! Hope this helps!
Too funny!!! We have piles too- but they are mostly on our kitchen counter – drives me crazy- I'm always trying to clear it off:)
That is hilarious, and so true. Although, if I am being totally honest I have a rare day where I ignore a pile or two! 🙂
Girl, I am with you- my roommates suffered from Pile Blindness to the max and it made me want to pull out my hair!!!!
So funny! But wait – there is a cure! well, for you anyway – W.I.N.E 😉
Ha-ha! This definitely hits home. So glad to know that it's just not my family that seems to have this problem. Please let me know if you find a cure.
Too funny! I am totally laughing!! Our stairs suffer from the same condition – I wonder if it is contagious!?
i am so guilty of creating piles. my husband too and of course, the little one. my kitchen island is in dire need of clearing ~ bills, magazines, craft stuff, letters etc!
My husband is a piler and it drives me batty. I put baskets/containers where he normally puts piles. I've discovered that piles tend to appear because items don't have a designated home or it's too difficult to put away. Baskets make it easy. Plus, I can handle a basket full of stuff because it's contained.
Somehow, his socks still end up on the floor RIGHT NEXT to the hamper. Anyone have a cure for that?
The best post EVER!
Okay, this is just plain *awesome*…my whole family suffers from "P.B."…poor souls…I thought for a while that constant nagging was the prescription for such and ailment, but have since discovered that sometimes piling the piles on the offender's bed (or side of the bed) can work better! Truth be told, I think it's incurable. DANG YOU, P.B.!!!
Oh my gosh, it must be an epidemic! It seems to be affecting every household in America. Unfortunately, I've tried everything and I just don't think there is a cure!
Good luck,
Lori
http://www.lorimayinteriors.com/blog
My whole family suffers from this too. I only let my husband get away with it tho!! I want him to ignore any pile I may leave (and of course he does!). Wouldn't it be worse if he were the one always nagging at me for my messes??? Oh yes!!
Oh…we definitely have the same problem here. I think I should take everyone that lives here for an eye checkup!! I make the piles and everyone grabs what they need and then the piles go up again. If you find and answer. let me know!! 🙂
XO,
Janie
This is so funny to read this. You are definitely not alone. We have a similar affliction here. My husband has the hardest time cleaning up after himself. He will do something halfway and then leave it. For example, the other day he finished off the juice, and left the container next to the sink. I said, how about you rinse that out to recycle? So, he rinses it out and then puts it back on the sink. Um, how about you turn around, take exactly one step, and put it in the recycling bin? All I could do was laugh. I just don't get it. And it's something like this all the time, all over the house!! So, last night I instituted the "one touch rule." If you touch something, it needs to find it's final destination before you put it down. Let's see how long it lasts. 🙂 Good luck to us all.
This is so funny and definitely divine intervention, because I have never been to your blog before but just last night said to my children "I know you act like you don't see it but you do, just pick it up and put it away." This was because someone had left the hairdryer of all things in the middle of the hallway floor and they each walked over it a minimum of three times and still it sat there. I am usually not into gimmicky things but we started using handipoints (www.handipoints.com) about 2 weeks ago and it is helping considerably. I have it set up that their award is their allowance but for younger kids you could do easier, less expensive rewards. They actually come home from school, do homework and check their account for chores without me even prompting them. It's pretty fantastic. (and I'm not affiliated with them by the way, just something that seems to work). Going to poke around your blog for a while now…