If there was one thing that I could change about my life it would be all the housework that seems to linger over my head no matter how much I work at it. It never goes away! Does it go away for you?
I wake up in the morning, stumble down the stairs (literally), look around and think "oh man, I just need to crawl back in bed and pray that God will send me a maid to surprise me with a clean house!". Sometimes I get really discouraged by all of the clutter. The toys that I step on daily... I end up throwing them away reminding myself that my children have enough and they will never, and I mean NEVER miss that toy. The goal about throwing away toys or even school work that, mind you, is the same word written over and over again that you also got a copy of last week, is to make sure to bury it deep down in the trash can so they cannot see it when they throw something away.
So, as I am typing this I am thinking about the laundry that I need to finish folding. Never mind the laundry that is still in the washer and dryer that needs to be switched and folded. Oh yeah, don't forget the dirty laundry that still needs to be washed. :) This morning, I cleaned the kitchen, all but sweeping and mopping. I got dinner in the crock pot... steak fajitas, YUM!
So, how do I do it with 3 children 6 and younger, a husband that has ADHD and explodes when he walks in the door and can't remember when I ask him to do something, keep up on school work, and do all the housework?
Well, first of all, a confession of mine, school work NEVER takes precedence over anything else. That is unfortunate of course, but I have been going to school for 3 yrs and I am quite burnt out. I am nowhere near my degree so I am finishing up this summer session than taking a break.
All the other stuff... I pray! I try to do as much as I can when Liesl, my 8 month old, is entertaining herself or napping. My two older children, Dominik 6, and Kyra-Raine 4 watch movies/T.V., play in the toy room, and play outside. This gives me some time to focus on the dishes, laundry, and picking up the clutter. When my husband, David, comes home I ask him politely to put his shoes on the front porch, pick up his work back and set it somewhere out of the "middle of the road". I try to have an empty dishwasher so when we are finished with dinner we can immediately clean off the table and do a load of dishes.
I am by no means an expert at keeping my house de-cluttered and clean. I am still learning, even as I sit here and type. One website that I like is called www.flylady.com this is a fun way to keep your home clean. Check it out!
I want to hear from you! How do you do it? How do you keep from pulling your hair out, getting a shovel and throwing it all away?
I pray that this blog post finds you happy, healthy, and keeping cool or warm, depending on where you live! :) Take care and God Bless!
~Erin~
Hey! it worked today! I'm going to post your links on the Ruby site . . . . but can you go over and post this article in the discussion section of the Lil' Mamas group? Here's another place you might want to join to get more connections and followers: www.bloggymoms.com I'm over there, too, but I think there are LOTS of young moms we can encourage on over here and to the Ruby community. I love you ;o)
ReplyDeleteI am by no means as busy as you Erin. However, what I do is I pick a day, once a week, for cleaning. This seems to work for me. I do it either Saturday or Sunday, which ever day I feel the most ambition to get up and clean. Throughout the rest of the week I am then able to focus on Juliana, and my school work. Of course, I also find myself on a daily basis picking up and doing dishes...but thats to be expected. How do I keep from pulling my hair out....after Juliana goes to bed I take the rest of the evening for myself. Even if I can't do it everynight because of extra school work that must be completed I still take the time to do things that I enjoy and help me relax and prepare for the next day. I have a suggestion for you, Have you tried to get the kids to help you with the housework. They are still young so I know they can't do much, but little things like picking up the toys every day will keep you from tripping over them....hehehe :) Like I said I am not as busy as you are....but this seems to work best for me! ~Justine
ReplyDeleteJustine, thank you for your post! I am busy but every mom is busy and every om feels like she is the busiest mom from time to time. :) I have tried getting the kids to pick up their toys and some days it works other days I am too exhausted to even ask... lol but I have them clean their rooms on a weekly basis and this helps a lot. Kyra doesn't do much, she actually tends to make it worse! But Dominik does great! As they get older they will have chores. That is how I was raised. You could ask Josh if he remembers my mom's (Nina from above) dry erase board that was in the kitchen. She would write down my daily chores on it. I need to get one of those! I totally forgot about it until just now! (Light Balb shining above my head as I sing aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!) LOL I am so glad that you follow my blogs! Thanks! You should check out the ruby for women Lil*Mama*s website... i have a link at the bottom of my blogs for it. ;) Oh and I like your idea of picking a day to clean, I am going to try it!
ReplyDeleteoops, Nina is not above, she is mamas*little*treasures... lol that is my mom. ;) She has a blog too!
ReplyDeleteI love that you work with teen moms! I always wanted to do that in some capacity, having had my 1st son very young and before i was married... Love the pics of your kids :)
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