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This week, my house is a foreign land. I came downstairs this morning to find a sink full of dirty dishes and a dishwasher full of clean ones. Ugh. In the MORNING. The cat’s litter box hadn’t been scooped and my mail had piled up.

“Who LIVES here?” I thought. Oh yes — that’d be ME.

I’ve been spending a bunch of time on a new volunteer project, putting in 32 hours in three days and by week’s end, I will have invested another 20. I’m not complaining. I’ve enjoyed it, but my lack of time in my house lately has me feeling like one of my clients, who often see their systems breaking down a bit. It also drives home the fact that disorganization is caused by “too much stuff.”

So what the heck? To celebrate my house being an irritating, albeit temporary, mess, here are five surefire ways to make yours a wreck, too!

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Wrecking Tactic #1: Volunteer. A lot.

Home organization and productivity systems require small bits of time to maintain. Be sure to commit to plenty of volunteer projects so you barely have time to brush your teeth, let alone clean or tidy up your house.

Solution: Give yourself a break. Volunteering is a selfless act that has many rewards, but spending too much time away from home can result in the loss of your sanity. If it’s getting to be too much, scale back the hours you spend volunteering — it doesn’t make you a quitter!

Wrecking Tactic #2: Do everything yourself.

For Pete’s sake — your kids are just teenagers, why in the world would you ask them to do their own laundry and cook meals? They’re only kids once so make sure you don’t wreck their childhood with chores and household responsibilities.

Solution: Stop doing everything yourself! Getting the whole family involved teaches your kids discipline and organization skills and household skills. If you don’t teach them, who else will? Not to mention, it will help them to appreciate everything they have and all you do for them.

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Wrecking Tactic #3: Say yes to EVERYTHING.

Kids’ playdate? Yes! Lunch on Thursday? Sure! Babysit this weekend? Absolutely! Birthday party next week? Yep! Be sure to say YES to every favor, invitation or opportunity that comes along. After all, it’s rude to say no. Look at it this way, you won’t be home very often so the ever-growing chaos there won’t bother you.

Solution: Although some days may seem to prove this theory wrong, you’re not a superhero. You can’t be in six places at once, and, unfortunately, you don’t run on batteries. Give yourself permission to say no to engagements that you just can’t handle during any given week.