Ok, so maybe I’m not the world’s WORST housekeeper, because it’s not smart to speak in ultimatums and plus, I’ve seen Hoarders, but I will admit to you the housekeeping isn’t my strong suit.
Don’t get me wrong, I love a clean and tidy house as much as the next girl. I just don’t often have all the tools I need to make that a reality. And i don’t mean brooms and vacuums. I mean the knowledge of how to do it well without it becoming this hugely overwhelming thing.
I’m really big on getting my three chores done most every day. Clearing the floor and walk ways for the probable chance I’ll be up in the middle of the night is a must. And I really try to teach my children how to get involved with the household tasks.
But keeping a clean house has never really been my highest priority.
I’d much rather cook a good meal, leaving tons of dishes, play outside with my kids, and count it all good enough if every one has clean clothes to wear on any given day.
Deep cleaning schedules and chore charts and daily cleaning routines have never worked for me. Often I feel more discouraged when I don’t get to what are supposed to be “three simple cleaning tasks” each day.
My husband, bless his heart, wanted to start a cleaning business when he was 10 years old and married me, who, upon getting my own room at 16, found out that I actually was the messy one and I literally couldn’t believe it.
Funny how life works out I guess.
So why am I telling you all this?
Well I think it’s my favorite when we can rally around and say “yeah! me too!” for good or bad, easy or hard things. And for me, this is a hard thing.
I always think if I can get a system into place beforehand that I will be organized. And to an extent, that’s completely right. But I can’t know how all of our daily ins and outs will go before hand. I might have nailed the tupperware storage in bins in my kitchen but my homeschool area is constantly a disaster and the kids toys are multiplying at an alarming rate.
Sometimes everything feels so big and messy, and honestly, I hope ignoring it will make it go away. Or somehow some amazing idea will hit me right on the head on how to fix it, quickly, without having to make a bigger mess on the front side.
Last spring, I spent 3 days with kids clothes all over my house as I reworked my sorting system for stuff to grow into and save for future siblings. And it was awesome. For about 3 weeks until someone outgrew something and I was out of bin space and the pile has been growing ever since.
At Christmas I spent an entire two days purging and making the toy piles smaller and I thought FINALLY there wouldn’t be toys helter skelter all over my house. And there weren’t. For about a week. And now there are stray things hither and yon and I think….why?!?
And I know a huge part is me, and my personality. Cleaning doesn’t feel fun to me at all.
If I’m honest, I DO a lot of things, and feel really busy sometimes, but I’m also very idle with my time. When I set out to start something and dart focus from one thing to another, I’m ineffective in what I do manage to eek out.
I’m not trying to beat myself up here and I’m definitely not trying to beat you up. I’m being honest with you – and myself – about why I struggle in this area.
We also have 3 (almost 4) all little kids. We work at home running our own business. We have a mini homestead. We homeschool. And we daily choose where to invest our time and priorities and that often means the laundry pile will wait or that we’ll all pick up and vacuum together on Saturday.
If I know one thing to be true it’s that the best way to learn something is to walk with someone who has learned it, too, not just someone who is naturally good at it.
My grandma was a fantastic cook but not a great teacher because she was just good at it and didn’t know where to start. I watched and gleaned but there is stuff of hers I’ll never be able to replicate.
I need someone who’s gotten their hands dirty learning the process and can show me how to learn it, too. Searching through all of the well-meaning Pinterest lists and charts leave me feeling like a failure when I blow it again and again and again.
And, when I create my ideal daily schedule, it doesn’t include a lot of cleaning because that’s not my ideal day. It includes a lot of good and important things, but little cleaning.
I love what my friend Katie from Embracing a Simpler Life is doing with her course, Help for the Hopeless Homemaker. She’s taken her own journey of learning to be more intentional around her home and sharing how we can do the same.
Help for the Hopeless Homemaker is an 11 Day course that breaks down different steps and strategies for combating listless and ineffective housekeeping and replaces it with great habits and the tools you need to keep this going.
This is the kind of person I want to learn from. I know she’s taken the time to learn this and has gone through what it means in each step. It hasn’t always been her default or something that came easily for her.
And that’s definitely my story.
What about you?
This week from February 22 – 27, 2017 Help for the Hopeless Homemaker is available for $10 OFF! That makes this course $26. The rest of the year it’s $36. And if you grab it now, while it’s on sale, you’ll get access to a Facebook group, going through and encouraging one another.
I’m so excited to implement some of these strategies into my own home and housekeeping.
How do you feel about this area of your life? Do you have some tried and true strategies to share? Do you find yourself struggling a lot? How have you grown or would you like to grow? Share your thoughts in the comments!
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