Let’s be real, here. Those of you that know me know that cleaning and keeping an organized house, or car, or whatever is notmy strong suit. I don’t even think it’s my weak suit. It’s so bad, there is no suit at all for it.
It’s not for lack of want. I would love to have a clean, tastefully decorated, organized home. It’s not completely for lack of trying either. I have tried the Flylady way, and the Motivated Moms way, and I love both of those programs. Some day in the future maybe I will return to one of them. But for now I think it was still too much. I felt paralyzed by how much had to get done with each of those systems. And then when I get paralyzed it turns into lack of trying. I just give up. I *think* I could be better at it if I didn’t have my thyroid problem and had more energy throughout the day, but I don’t like to blame everything on my thyroid. I certainly don’t think being fatigued all the time helps the situation, but it is not the ONLY reason. My room was always a disaster growing up, so messy and lazy in this regard is just in my nature.
But I want it to stop!! As with the exercise and diet (the physical) and the motivational stuff (the mental), I also want to start being my best self possible when it comes to my possessions and my orderliness. I realize that by not taking good care of my house, my car, etc. I am in effect showing that I don’t have appreciation for these things. But I do! And I want to start showing myself and my kids that. I want to model to my kids how we should take better care of not only our bodies and minds, but our things. Our stuff. I feel bad when they get in trouble for not picking up, because they have no role model in me to show them that it’s important. How can I expect them to do chores when I don’t do any?
So what’s a girl to do to figure this out? I found Flylady and Motivated Moms by a Google search, so this time I decided to go on a Pinterest hunt! I looked and looked and looked some more. Most of what I saw I got tired just from looking at the list. How do people have energy for all this stuff? There is no way I could get it all done while having two kids under 4 if I wanted to be able to spend actual time with them (which is way more important than any “thing”). So I kept hunting. I needed to find something that was manageable. That I wouldn’t feel like I was failing right out of the gate. And then I found it! It looked manageable and it was oh so pretty!
Here it is hanging up on my fridge. I’m going to put it in a sheet protector and use over and over:
I found it at this site and you can download the document to print if you like the looks of it too. I am going to try this until the end of November and see if I can keep up with it. I will let you know.
Do you struggle to keep a clean and tidy house? Or are you one of those that it just comes naturally to? Either way, what’s your secret of success -do you use your own schedule or an already made schedule? HELP ME!
That routine still looks daunting to me. It’s a good thing to try but in the meantime, try this:
Meals – As you fix a meal, clean the pans right then – don’t leave them in the sink. A couple drops of soap and a swirl with a sponge – done! When done with a meal, teach yourself, your spouse and kids to take their plate to the kitchen. Teach your spouse to scrape his own plate, rinse and put in dishwasher. You do the same with yours and the kids then and there. If the kids don’t eat at mealtime, tough! Plates are put in dishwasher. They will soon learn that they will go hungry between meals if they don’t eat at a designated time.
Snacks – Have a bowl of allotted snacks for the day. When the child or you opens a granola bar, etc. they MUST put the wrapper in the trash. That goes for you too. If there are dishes or disposable containers, those go to the trash or counter THEN!
Clothes – When you take off your clothes either hang them up or fold them neatly if you are going to wear them again. There is no reason to only wear a garment once and then wash – that only adds work at some point. What I do is this: If I wear a top, I either hang it inside out (so I know it’s been worn at least once) or fold it inside out. When I do wash, I go through the closet and wash only what is turned inside out. Putting clothes away after washing is difficult with an 20 month old. On wash day, fold clothes while little one is napping. Teach older one to fold his. When little one is up, put them away.
Work materials – Have a designated space for books, papers, etc. When you’re done, put it away THEN! Don’t start another project until the old one is put up.
Toys – No more than three toys out at a time. If they want a different toy THEY must put the old toys away before getting out a new one. The same applies to YOUR toys.
While this all seems to take a day in itself, if you do it all the time it takes very little time and cleaning days are much easier.
Remember the Rules I still have hanging in the kitchen:
If you sleep in it…make it up
If you wear it…hang it up
If you drop it….pick it up
If you spill it…wipe it up
If you eat out of it…wash it up
If you open it…close it up
If it howls…feed it
If it cries…love it
Correction:
Clothes – After wearing once, turn inside out and you can wear that again. When you’ve worn it to your personal max, put it in hamper. Then there’s no need to go through your closet.