Spiritual Sundays: Beyond Decluttering: Living More Simply

This is a topic that has been on my mind quite a bit lately. As I'm sure you probably gathered from the post about my dream home, I am a minimalist wannabe. Meaning, my dream is to live in a space that is cleared of clutter, and has only my most special, most beautiful, and most useful objects in it. Because if you actually stop to think about it, how much of your day is consumed by your stuff? It may not seem that way, but I spend so much time getting after the kids to pick up their toys, doing the dishes, rebooting and folding the laundry, general cleaning and picking up of stuff- granted, much of that is a necessity of day-to-day living, but what if we just had less?

I always get a little bit like this in the summer because while we're on vacation for a week we get to experience life with less. Having a family of 5, I only bring clothes for about 4 days, and we just wash while we're vacationing. I do a small load every couple of days and that's about it. We bring the essentials, plus a small box of toys for the kids, and we make do with the sparse pots and pans that furnish our condo. When I tell the kids to pick up their toys, it takes less than a minute. When I "straighten up" it takes a minute or two. When I open the cupboard under the kitchen sink I see trash bags, dishwashing soap, cleaning spray, and paper towels.

Honestly, how much more than that do I really need?

Of course, in a rented condo you don't have to wash your own sheets (that would take a little additional laundry time) or worry about home maintenance or entertaining or holidays, but even all that would require maybe one additional closet's worth of stuff. It was just nice to be able to have free time- really free time- that I could just be, and know that I could read a book, play with the kids, or do whatever I wanted. That is the blessing of living more simply.

Another aspect of this dream of mine is to get back to being human. In the scriptures we are taught that "the natural man is an enemy to God", but I think that we have gotten so far away from the "natural man" what with technology and supermarkets and the internet- we're more in the phase of the "unnatural man" at this point (he's an enemy to God too, by the way).

This was another train of thought that got fueled while on vacation when I took a class called, "Healing Plants and Wildflowers." I was truly astonished at the incredible healing properties of the stuff that usually gets taken out by a weed whacker by the side of the road! Apparently the abundant dandelion crop in my backyard could really do me a lot of good. Our teacher quoted someone who said, "Healing herbs help the body to remember what it was like to be well." I LOVED that! As she was telling us about the various abilities of the different plants, I was just struck by how much God loves us, that He gave us these incredibly efficient and wonderful gifts, just sprouting up out of the ground all over the place. But we're so busy watching tv ads for the next great medicine that can heal us that we don't bother to learn about the ones God put right in our backyards.

This back-to-nature kick of mine got even more reinforced with the apple fest that's been going on around our house. I couldn't believe that for almost 10 years I've had that tree in the backyard and this is the first time I've bothered to do anything with it. And the sheer pleasure from the foods I was able to make with those apples was so satisfying, especially knowing that they came from a tree in my backyard. They weren't marketed to me, weren't packaged- they grew as a result of the hand of God, they were joyfully picked by the sweet little helping hands of my children and purposefully (if not joyfully) prepared into delicious foods by my own two hands. That's about as pure and simple as it gets.

I apologize if this post is kind of rambling; I just hope that you kind of get the general idea of my mindset lately. Less people junk. More God beauty and simplicity. More time spent in worthwhile pursuits. More joy in the gifts of the Lord- the bounty of nature, quiet meditation, my wonderful family. More education about being a real human- learning to live off the land and rely on only God and myself, not Wal-mart. It's all a process, but I'm hoping to get there, a little bit at a time.

If you'd like to get into this mindset with me, be sure to check out The Small Notebook, a blog by a true minimalist who shares her beautiful thoughts on living simply, especially this post on organizing (ha!) and this post on paring down. I am also currently reading a very thought-provoking book called, Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping and am about to read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life (P.S.). All in all, I'm thinking more about what I allow into my home and what I truly value. I am also trying to be more conscious and more grateful for what my Heavenly Father has given me (you know, the stuff with no price tag). :-)

DIY Disinfecting Cleaning Wipes

I have an inner brat who finds every reason possible to avoid cleaning. She's truly obnoxious. Lately, she's been whining that sure she'd clean the bathroom, if only she had some of those handy dandy cleaning wipes that she could just whip out and swipe across the counters. But since she doesn't have them, well...

So I decided I was tired of her whining, and rather than spend a bunch of money on expensive wipes, I decided it might be fun to try to make my own!

Because I didn't feel like trying to figure out a recipe for these on my own (that would be that inner brat again) I just found some instructions online here at Organized Home. I wasn't too into the idea of hacking a roll of paper towels in half and drilling through plastic containers, so I just used the paper towels individually (cut in half) and folded them such that they would conveniently pull through the opening in an old baby wipes container:

First, make an accordion fold like this:

Then, fit two half-sheets together like this:

Fit all the sheets together like that, then stack them in the container and add the solution (1/4 cup Pine-Sol + 2 1/2 cups water).

Pull the first one through and you're done!

Some hints:

- If you use an old baby wipes container, be SURE to use a permanent marker and clearly identify the box! (we don't want baby's bottom THAT clean!)

- I used Kleenex Viva paper towels because they are soft and strong, but I would probably try something different next time. While they're strong, they're kind of thin, so it makes it awkward when wiping because it kind of sticks to the surface you're trying to clean. They don't break apart, they're just hard to handle.

- I used just a small amount of the "X-tra Pine" cleaner and less than half the roll of paper towels to fill my wipes container, so I have plenty of supplies to make a refill once these run out.

I have found these wipes to be quite convenient and even my inner brat seems satisfied (for now). Have you found any cleaning alternatives to silence your inner brat (or maybe just your inner frugalista)?

My New Clean House

I have always said that the thriftiest and simplest thing you can do to improve the look and feel of your home is to CLEAN IT! I also wrote earlier about how I kind of caught the cleaning bug after coming back from my mom's house, and I just wanted to share with you what's been working for me these last few weeks with getting and keeping my house clean.

The first thing I did was to make a list of all the regular chores that needed to be done to have a clean house, things like vacuuming, dusting, dishes, laundry, etc. Then I took my list and broke it down into things that needed to be done daily, weekly, and monthly. I kept it pretty basic, focusing only on those things that would really bug me if they weren't clean. My list looked like this:

Daily:

- dishes

- empty dishwasher

- kitchen surfaces wiped down

- vacuum downstairs

- 1 load of laundry

- make bed

- 15-minute pick-up

- 15-minute declutter

Weekly:

- clean master bathroom

- clean kids' bathroom

- clean hall bathroom

- dust downstairs

- dust upstairs

- vacuum upstairs

- mop kitchen

- take out trash

Monthly:

- wash bath mats

- dust moldings and baseboards

- clean windows

Again, I kept it simple and just tried to include those things that I really noticed when they weren't clean. I'm sure it's not a complete list, and there will probably be more things that I will want to include, but for now it seems to be doing the trick.

The next step was to lay out some routines for getting these things done. All of the things to be done daily, I worked into my daily routine. For example, when I get up, I get ready for the day, and before I go downstairs to get breakfast for the kids, I gather up a load of laundry to take down to the washer. If I do this early enough, then I can switch it to the dryer before we leave the house. After I brush my teeth after breakfast, I make my bed. After dinner, I make sure that the dishes get done and the table cleaned off. 

The most surprising thing I've learned is that I can time myself on a lot of these things and they take so little time. Last night after our dinner of spaghetti, I timed how long it took me from start to finish, including clearing the table, putting away leftovers, rinsing dishes and loading the dishwasher, washing a big pot by hand, and wiping down the table, and it all took less than 10 minutes. We all have at least 10 minutes! Especially on those evenings when I just feel dog-tired, I just tell myself, I can do this for 10 minutes, then I'm done, and I envision myself waking up in the morning to a clean, shiny empty sink and a tidy kitchen. That always motivates me to give that extra little bit.

The same holds true for the vacuuming- my downstairs is around 1000 square feet and it takes me just over 10 minutes to vacuum it, which I do either while the kids are playing outside after lunch or sometime in the morning while my son is at school. Knowing that these things only take a few minutes motivates me to get them done, because I know how much better I'll feel once I can look down and see a clean, crumb-free floor.

The last thing I've worked into my routine- rather cleverly, I'd say- is folding the laundry. This used to be my big hang-up (excuse the pun) just because I find it SOO boring! So what I've done is to make it fun for myself. When I put the kids down for quiet time in the afternoon I give myself about 30 minutes to eat my lunch and watch HGTV (I love HGTV!). When my lunch is done, I clean up and go grab the clean laundry from the dryer, and sit on the couch and continue watching HGTV while I fold. It's become my little treat time- because why else would I be sitting on the couch in the middle of the day watching HGTV? Now I make sure I do at least one load of laundry a day, because if I don't then I don't get my tv time! ;-)

So my next step after setting up my daily routines (which, if I did them all at once would take less than an hour and a half) was to set up a weekly routine for my weekly cleaning chores. To do this, I took a look at my life and tried to figure out which days made the most sense for these areas to be clean. I decided on Monday as a good day for cleaning my master bathroom, because I usually make a little bit more of a mess on Sundays getting ready for church. While I'm up there, I might as well dust the master bedroom as well, because that only takes about 5 minutes. Wednesdays are a good day for dusting downstairs and cleaning the hall bathroom, because the book club I'm a member of meets on Wednesdays, and my playgroup meets on Thursdays, so that would be the day I'd clean them on weeks when I'd host. Fridays are a good day for mopping the kitchen, because it takes a little more time, which I have on Fridays because my son doesn't have school on Fridays.

 I talked with my husband and asked him if he would be willing to take on a couple extra chores to ease my burdens during the week, and he agreed. I gave him 3 chores, each of which takes less than 10 minutes: taking out the trash (his job before anyway), cleaning the kids' bathroom (he gives them their bath every evening, so he's in there anyway), and vacuuming the upstairs (it's no fun to lug a heavy vacuum upstairs when you're pregnant!). His willingness to help has been a huge relief for me.

So, as you can see that gives me Tuesdays and Thursdays that are free of weekly chores. I can use my few extra moments on those days to get some of the monthly chores done or to catch up if I miss a weekly chore on a scheduled day.

The benefits I've gained from these routines are:

1. When I look at something that needs to be cleaned, I can put it out of my mind because I know it will get its turn sometime soon, and I don't beat myself up over it.

2. The house is in such a state that when I get up in the morning, if I really don't feel like doing anything on one day then I can skip most of it (with the exception of dishes!) and not fall behind.

3. When I give myself time to relax now I actually feel relaxed because there aren't a million things around me nagging for my attention.

4. My home feels much more peaceful and so does my brain! Not to mention that it's company-ready. We had some surprise guests last night and there was nothing to feel embarrassed about. Actually, I felt quite proud!

This is my own little system, and I must give a lot of credit to FlyLady for giving me the basic mental tools that I needed to establish it. 15 minutes at a time, housework done incorrectly still blesses your family, don't try to catch up- just jump right in where you are! I won't try to say that my house will always be perfect, because I'm sure I'll have those times where I fall off the wagon, but for now this is working and I feel good about it. I'll just keep plugging away and taking advantage of my convenient nesting instincts!

Do you have a system for housecleaning that works for you? Leave a comment and share!

Eat That Frog, Baby!

I just popped over to Money Saving Mom's other blog, Biblical Womanhood, and read a post that has inspired me to get my toosh in gear (translation- do something I've been meaning to do).  I am going to join her "Getting Back on Track Challenge" and start by setting a goal right now to get back into my morning routine. When I don't get my day started off on the right foot, nothing else seems to go quite right. Here goes:

1. Get up, dressed to the shoes, hair and makeup done. (30 min)

2. Read scriptures and pray. (15 minutes)

3. Check e-mails and other computer "stuff". (15 min)

4. Start a load of laundry (5 min)

4. Get breakfast for me and the kids, pack Monkey's lunch (15 min)

5. Clean up from breakfast (10 min)

6. Have morning devotional with the kids (10 min)

7. Round up socks, shoes, and anything else we need for the day; do a general house pick-up (20 min)

8. GO!

So that will be the first two hours of my day. I will begin tomorrow. I will rock. I will be awesome. I will keep it up, and I will be accountable- one week from today I will post how I'm doing so I can stay on track. I can do this!! You can too!!!

Do you have a morning routine that gets you off on the right foot? How good are you about sticking to it? Leave a comment and share!

Makeover Monday: Cleaning in the New Year!

Okay, so we're approaching a new year, and in my house, instead of spring cleaning we do New Years cleaning! My hubby usually takes a week of vacation between Christmas and New Years, and we typically use part of that time together to get our house in shape. I am pretty good with keeping up with the day-to-day tidying in our high-traffic living spaces- kitchen, living room, bedrooms- but the clutter seems to collect in the corners, and especially here- try not to scream- THE OFFICE! (insert screeching violins here)

Yeah, this is the not-so-beautiful part of the beautiful thrifty life. But I have heard a rumor that the "home office" and/or "guest room" in many people's homes has a tendency to end up this way. It is not a place that really belongs to anyone, and it's not a place that's usually seen by the public. Therefore, it becomes the dumping ground for all the paper clutter, wrapping supplies, craft stuff, and pretty much all that stuff that you just don't know what to do with.

Well, our office is also my craft room, and doubles (triples?) as a guest room (there's a futon couch along one wall- not that you could tell...sigh...) when we have company (which, by the way, is usually the only time it's clean). Last year around this time we had guests, so I frantically worked to get this room clean, and I remember how following Christmas after our guests had left, I realized that I enjoyed having a clean office far more than any other gift I had received for Christmas. Over the year it collected clutter again, and got sporadically cleaned again when the arrival of company was pending, but as of this week it looked, yet again, like a bomb had gone off. 

One of my goals for this post was to demonstrate how something that seems overwhelming can actually be quite surmountable, if you start small. This is what I accomplished in this room in less than an hour:

It may not seem like much, and much of the cluttered look is due to my craft supply organization (or uh, lack thereof), but I now have floor space, desk space, and the couch is completely clear as well. 

I'd like to continue working on this room as my pet project over the next few months, and I will be sure to keep you updated. Honestly, I want it to be my gift to myself. My vision for this space is to have it be someplace truly beautiful, relaxing, and inspiring, where I can come to blog, create, and unwind. Already after I took this photo I had my husband help me hang some things that had been sitting under the desk for I-don't-know-how-many years! Included in those things were some awards I've received for musical performance, horseback riding, and academics. I wanted to have them displayed, because as a stay-at-home mom, sometimes it's nice to have a reminder of the "grownup things" you are capable of achieving!

Here are a few other "corners" that got decluttered this week:

My linen closet, aka, "Alternate CVS Stockroom". If you look closely, you can see the labels I put on the shelves. Yep, labels. :-) (By the way, that stack you see in the upper right-hand corner goes up another foot or so. It's mostly composed of toothpaste and feminine products!)

And my laundry room- it may not seem like much, but this is the first time in months that I've been able to see the floor and the top of my washer and dryer. My husband also installed more shelves (you can barely see them in the upper left corner) to hold all the extra cleaning supplies I've accrued from my deals shopping.

So again, it's not much, but it's feeling really good every time we take another load of garbage out to the trash cans, and pack another box full of stuff to take to Goodwill. I have really found that it's so much easier to keep your stuff organized when you have less stuff. As more corners get decluttered, I will be sure to share my successes.

Oh, and for all you guys out there who are wondering why I get my own space, you should know that my husband has his own man-cave down in the garage, with laminate flooring, walls covered in sports memorabilia, big screen tv, recliner, etc. So he's not missing out on anything. ANYTHING.

Have you started any New Years cleaning? Now is the time! Go for it and then leave a comment to share your success!

Makeover Monday (A Day Late): Wrap it Up!

I apologize that this Makeover Monday turned into a "Makeover Tuesday", but my sweet husband needed the camera yesterday so I was unable to snap these beautiful photos. :-) And since it's Tuesday, I thought I'd add this to the Talk About Tuesday blog carnival from the Lazy Organizer. Welcome!

I am pleased to say that all of my Christmas shopping is done, with the exception of a few stocking stuffers. Thanks to amazon.com, all of the gifts I have purchased have been arriving with regularity in boxes on my doorstep, and I have not had to set one foot inside a mall or crazy department store. (By the way, you can still get Free Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25 at amazon.com, and if you order by tomorrow you can still get your items in time for Christmas!)

So now I am facing quite a few gifts in need of wrapping- luckily, not as many as last year since I did such a good job sticking to my Declaration of Independence and carefully selecting only a few quality gifts for each of my children. :-) However, the presents do add up, and they must be wrapped. Upon assembling all of my various wrapping supplies, minus ribbons and bows, this is what I had to face:

Well, rather than going out and spending $10 or more on a fancy wrapping organizer, I decided that a garment bag would do the trick:

It holds all the rolls of wrapping and some folded-up gift boxes, and with a hanger in the top it hangs neatly in the closet. Just add on a plastic shopping bag with all of the tools and accssories- scissors, tape, tissue paper, tags, etc.- and I have a portable wrapping center that cost about $1.50. :-)

Here is the bag hanging up:

No more running around searching for tape and scissors; no more wondering where that one roll of Santa paper went- it's all nice and neat and can be hung up and tucked away in a closet until I need it. 

Okay, I gotta go now. I have gifts to wrap, people!

Check back later this week for some nifty gift wrapping ideas...

Makeover Monday: A Welcome Closet!

Messy stuffed closet before...

Clean empty closet after!

This Makeover Monday post will be a little bit different, and I'm hoping over the next few weeks that I have more Makeover Monday posts like this- because I need to! Since the weather has gotten colder and we've had to wear our coats more, I have realized that stuffing them into the closet and yanking them out with stuff falling on you the whole time is NO FUN! So it was time to crack down and do something about it.

My hubby and my kids got in on the action, and as a family we managed to get it all cleared out. We used 2 bags- one for trash, one for giveaways- and one box for items to be put away. The rest of the items were things that actually belonged in the closet (the smallest group by far!) and so they got put back. 

All in all, it took us less than an hour to do, and it is so nice to have a little breathing room in there now! We assigned one shelf of the shoe organizer for each family member, and we discovered a plethora of empty hangers for guest coats- that's right, guest coats! When we have guests over, we can actually open the closet without shame and hang their coat! Just in time for the holidays.

Okay, so here's your challenge- find a part of your house that needs a decluttering makeover, and get to it! Give yourself an hour, or if you don't have an hour then do it 15 minutes at a time. I'm just going to keep plugging away over the next few weeks and you'll get to see all of my hidden messes...and all of my clean accomplishments! 

For more on decluttering, check out Flylady.net. Are you going to send your clutter packing this holiday season? Leave a comment and share your game plan!

Spiritual Sundays: Making Home a Sanctuary

This may sound familiar if you read my Spiritual Sundays post a few weeks ago, entitled "Preparing and Protecting Our Children." I would like to go back to part of that topic and focus on making our homes sanctuaries, simply because I think it is such an important part of our everyday lives, and it can provide a firm foundation for our families as we struggle to live in a world where our values are constantly tested.

Why do I believe this is so important? There are two main reasons.

First, the public world we go to every day (whether school, work, shopping, socializing, etc.) is often a test for our moral standards. We are constantly faced with things that tempt us to make choices that go against what we know to be true in our hearts. Standing up to those "spiritual attacks" requires spiritual strength. Each day as we go back to our homes, we should be able to have an opportunity to fortify those spiritual reserves- not only to replace what strength might have been lost, but to increase and build our own testimonies that we may be a light unto others.

Secondly, when our homes are sanctuaries of peace and love where the Spirit of God can dwell, then they will be places where our families will want to be. So many of the struggles we face today are because we are drawn outside the home- husbands that work overtime or spend too much time socializing with those other than their spouse and children, leading to damaging affairs and alienation from their families; teenagers who sneak out to be with peers who take part in questionable activities; even mothers who indulge in inordinate amounts of "me time", leaving their homes and families to fend for themselves. When we make our homes islands of warmth, acceptance, love, and beauty, then they will draw our family members back, strengthening the family unit as a whole.

I believe that in order to accomplish these two goals, we need to "begin with the end in mind" as Stephen Covey would say. Every family is different, so each family's idea of their home sanctuary will be different. It might even be helpful to sit down with your family, or even just your spouse, and ask them what they believe a happy home should be. The question I like to ask myself when I feel something is missing is: When you open the door after a long day, what do you want to see/hear/feel when you walk in the door? The physical home atmosphere is just as important as the spiritual one. I have found in my own life that it is difficult to feel the Spirit in my home when it is messy, there is loud music or a tv blaring, or when I am stressed with housework, losing things I need, etc. 

So here are a few of my suggestions that are also my own personal goals for making my home a place of peace, comfort, and love:

- Begin each day with a prayer, both alone and with the family/children.

- Prepare for the day the night before, by laying out clothes and shoes, doing the dishes, and doing a general pick-up around the house.

- Plan dinner ahead of time (I like to have a full week of menus set at the beginning of the week so I don't even have to think about it).

- Play some soft instrumental music- this will bring peace into my home faster than anything else I've found. I highly recommend the music of Paul Cardall or Mindy Gledhill.

- Light a nicely scented candle. This brings warmth, light, and a pleasant aroma into the home.

- Open shades and blinds to let sunlight in. This is an easy thing to forget, especially when you have little ones that nap- I always forget to open the shades when they get up!

- Keep smiling. You are the heart of your home, and your attitude can make or break the spirit in your home.

- Speak softly (without the big stick!). It is amazing how the tone and volume of your voice can affect the outcome of a confrontation. Next time you feel like you want to yell, whisper instead. Everyone else will have to get quiet to hear you. :-)

- Give abundant praise and express heartfelt gratitude. Each person in the family has an expected role, but when that role goes overlooked and unacknowledged, threads start to unravel from the fabric of the family. Even if a task is something that is expected, give appreciation for doing it. Thank your husband for going to work, thank your children for putting their dishes in the sink, and above all, give praise for anyone who displays a positive and loving attitude. 

- Leave extra time. One of the biggest stresses in daily life is the rush to get somewhere on time. If you find yourself doing that often, then plan ahead the next time to wake up earlier, start preparing to leave sooner, or whatever you need to do. If an extra 5 minutes isn't enough, then plan 10; if that's not enough then 15, and so on. The kids will be happier and so will you.

- Display reminders of what you believe in. Hang images of Christ, favorite scripture quotations, or anything else that inspires you and helps you to feel peace.

- End the day with a prayer of thanksgiving and a blessing upon your home, that our Heavenly Father may help you to invite His presence into your home, that your family may have a safe refuge from the cares of the world where they might feel His love surround them always.

It is my hope and my prayer that I can incorporate these things into my home, and that you may find inspiration in these ideas as well. May our homes be sanctuaries where we can feel God's presence in our lives and our families can grow in spiritual strength and love.

What are some ways that you have found to make your home a haven from the world? Please share a comment!

Makoever Monday- Bookshelf Beautiful

Bookshelf before...

Bookshelf after!

Do any of you have a bookshelf that's starting to look a little junky? I know, we all love our books but they can become an eyesore if we're not careful. Well, in a matter of minutes you can easily make your shelves look like a page in a home decorating magazine- even with kids' books (no, it won't stay that way, but it looks nice for a little while)! I am an amateur decorator, but here are a few things that work for me:

- Start by clearing the bookshelf, then arrange the books in piles by the height of the spine

- Arrange books with the largest on the bottom for horizontal piles, or the largest in the middle for vertical arrangements

- For horizontal piles, try lining up the books so that one side is straight (like the inside edges of my horizontal piles above)

- Make all the books' spines flush (like a flat wall, not steps) and bring them to the forward edge of the bookshelf to neaten and unify the look (they do this at libraries and bookstores)

- Use horizontal piles as bookends to support books standing vertically

- Consider adding other decorative objects (such as a vase, pretty box, or small figurine) to add interest and showcase favorite items along with your books

It's yet another simple and free makeover that can really make a big difference! I love books, and I love them even more when they can look so beautiful and really add to the overall decor of my home!

Any other tips for bookshelves? Leave a comment and share!

New Feature! Makeover Mondays

I am so excited to introduce a new feature to my blog: Makeover Mondays! Every Monday I will post with a new makeover that focuses on home decorating. These will include fun and frugal (even free!) ways to makeover spaces in your home, or even makeover objects in your home (see Playing Dress-Up). 

Over the years I have found a lot of different ways to really appreciate what I have by just changing things around and making them new again, and I am so excited to share some of these ideas with my readers. I am also eager to use this opportunity to explore new ways for me to be creative in my own home and celebrate my beautiful thrifty life!

And as always, I look forward to your comments and ideas, so keep 'em comin'! Stop by on Monday to check out the first big makeover...I can't wait! ;-)

Timer Day

If your home is like mine, by the time Monday morning comes, the house is in some serious disarray! And when it's been a long weekend, like this past one, the aftermath is even worse. A messy home can drag you down and make you feel bad about yourself. It can also cause the atmosphere in your home to feel chaotic and disorganized. I firmly believe that the cheapest and best home decorating out there is simply to keep a clean and organized home. But as you'll read, it's often easier said than done!

Let me tell you what I faced this morning: a Mt. Washmore of at least 4 loads rivaled only by the peak of dishes in the sink (oh, and did I mention that the dishwasher is broken?), a floor that would be a dream come true for someone on the edge of starvation, and bedrooms that looked like a toy store exploded inside them.

I knew it all had to get done, and I knew I couldn't lock up my children in a closet while I did it, so I turned to my greatest inspiration, FlyLady, for guidance and direction in this my time of need. I implemented one of her favorite sayings- "You can do anything for 15 minutes!"- and planned a Timer Day.

Timer Day has 3 Rules:

1. Alternate between 15 minutes of family playtime and 15 minutes of Mommy work time- set the timer, and when it beeps- SWITCH! (and reset the timer for another 15 mintues)

2. Children must stay downstairs during Mommy's work time. If they don't, Mommy might not hear the timer on the stove and we'll miss out on playtime! When the timer goes off, it's the kids' job to tell Mommy, and it's Mommy's job to drop what she's doing and go PLAY! (this would also work to keep kids in a playroom or a bedroom)

3. There is a 1-warning system in place. If Mommy hears fighting during her work time, she will give a warning. If the fighting continues, she will send both children to their rooms to play alone until the next family playtime.

These rules actually proved to be quite effective today! I conquered both Mt. Washmore and Dishes Peak, the smorgasboard on the kitchen floor got devoured by the vacuum cleaner and licked clean by the mop, and the toy store shrapnel was safely put back into toy boxes and on shelves where it was rendered harmless to bedrooms everywhere. 

But the best part?

My kids and I built a magnificent castle out of blocks, had a roaring round of pass-the-ball-and-pretend-to-be-an-animal, played a highly competitive game of CandyLand, and read 6 books together. 

It was a win-win situation. My home was clean, my kids felt happy and loved, and I felt at peace knowing I could strike a balance between the two and fulfill my responsibilities as both a homemaker and a mother. And after naptime, my 4-year-old said, "Mommy, can we do another timer day again PLEASE?" 

I think I may just have to do that. :-)

Have you found any effective strategies for cleaning and corralling children at the same time? If so, please share in the comments section!

Home Blessing

I just finished my Home Blessing Hour a little while ago and I decided it would be a good topic for my blog. My goal is to share ways that I have found to have a beautiful life while not spending tons of money. I believe that one of the simplest (and completely free) ways to achieve beauty in your life is by keeping a clean home. But I know firsthand that it's not that simple for everyone. Let me tell you a story...

As a child and a teenager, I had never been one to keep my room clean. It wasn't that I didn't care- I did! I just couldn't seem to keep it clean. So when I got married, that translated into my home. I wanted it to be clean, and I could spend all day on a Saturday scrubbing it down from top to bottom and it would sparkle! But by the end of the next day, it would be a complete disaster again. When my husband and I first moved into our house, I wasn't working because we were planning on starting a family. So it was just me at home all day, no kids, you'd think the house would be clean, but no such luck. And it would frustrate me to no end. I grew up in a clean house, and I could see my friends' houses all clean. Why was it so darn hard for me?? I felt like there was some kind of switch in my brain that needed to be flicked. Sometimes I felt like someone had forgotten to install the switch altogether! Then my husband would get home, see that the house was still gross, and he would start cleaning it. Then I would feel REALLY guilty, because it should have been MY job, not his. He had just been at work all day, and what had I done? I felt beat down, worthless, angry at myself.

And then I found FlyLady.

FlyLady taught me to FLY. FLY stands for "Finally Loving Yourself". I hadn't realized how much I didn't love myself until I started to change my attitude. FlyLady is a FREE website and Yahoo group that changed everything for me. I could go on and on about the FlyLady system, but instead let me just share a few of the things that I learned from her.

1. My perfectionism was my downfall. First, I had no idea I was a perfectionist. I mean, if I was then my house would be perfect, right? Turns out, no. The reason my house was a mess was because I had an "all-or-nothing" attitude. I thought that I couldn't just take my dirty dish and put it in the dishwasher if there was already a sink full of dishes. I would have to do the whole sink of dishes before I could put something in the dishwasher. What was the use of putting my shoes in the closet if there were already 3 more pairs of shoes all over the floor in the hallway? I didn't see that I didn't have to do it all at once. The mess blinded me, and I felt like my only two choices were to clean it all, which was completely overwhelming, or to just let it go. Well, most of the time I chose the latter, which left me with CHAOS (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome). 

2. Housework done incorrectly still blesses your family. FlyLady showed me that it's okay to just do one thing at a time. It's okay if it's not perfect. It's even okay if you're the only one who notices what you did. I can make the choice to put one dish in the dishwasher. That's one less dish filling my sink. But the interesting part is this- once I put one dish away, it wasn't hard to put another one away. I also learned that mopping the floor doesn't require a bucket full of hot soapy water and mop that needed to be wrung out. If nothing else, I could just take a damp towel and scoot it around the floor with my feet. Would the floor be perfect? No. But would it be better than it would have been had I done nothing? YES! Knowing that I didn't have to be perfect was the most freeing feeling.

3. You can do anything for 15 minutes. I would look at that sink full of dishes and just know it would take me at least an hour to get through it all. So I never wanted to start. But FlyLady said all I had to do was fifteen minutes. I knew I could do it for 15 minutes. So I set my timer, rolled up my sleeves, and dug in. Well, as the number of dishes in the sink dwindled, I kept glancing at the timer, convinced that it must have stopped or something. But much to my surprise, I put the last dish away and still had 2 minutes left, so I wiped down the counters and started the dishwasher. I was amazed! 15 little minutes! I had been putting off the job for days for 15 little minutes worth of work! I have found this to hold true with most dreaded tasks. Even if it does take longer than 15 minutes, that first 15 minutes gets the ball rolling and it is no big deal to finish up, but sometimes I stop myself anyway, just to make sure my perfectionism isn't creeping in again. I don't want a 15-minute job to turn into an hour because I get carried away!

4. Babysteps are the key. Sticking with my dish example, it's amazing how fewer dishes you have at the end of the day if you just put them right in the dishwasher as soon as you're done using them. And then that 15-minute job gets broken up into just a few 30-second (if that!) jobs. Through my daily routines that FlyLady has taught me, I have been able to gain control and babystep my way through my days. If I am in a hurry and just toss the dishes in the sink, I don't allow myself to just give up. The next time I go to put my dishes away I take the extra minute or two and put the other ones in too. I may falter, but I just get right back up and try again.

I knew I had turned the corner when a friend was at my house with her children and one of them dropped a cracker on the floor. My friend told him he could pick it up and eat it because "Kasey's floor is always clean." I just had to pause for a moment and think about what she said. Then I looked around- my floor was clean. My whole home looked really nice. What a long way I had come!

So today I did my Home Blessing Hour, which has really become a pleasure for me. For one thing, I know I'm only cleaning for an hour. But my favorite thing about it is how peaceful my home seems afterward. Every Monday morning I turn on some music and take one hour and spend 15 minutes on each of the following: vacuuming, mopping, dusting, and taking out the trash/general pick-up. I don't spend long on any one thing, I just move from task to task, and when I am finished, it feels like a clean breeze has blown through the house, freshening up everything. My kids have really gotten into it to- I give them rags and squirt bottles and they help "clean". They also use their toy vacuums, and then they run all over the house with me helping me gather the trash. Gone are the days of gunky floors, inch-thick dust and overflowing trash cans. 

Let me post a disclaimer: My house is NOT perfect! Far from it, in fact! But I don't beat myself up anymore. I just keep plugging away, taking my babysteps and doing the best I can each day. And I know that's good enough. I can Finally Love (My)self!