Cleaning the Clutter

I find that anytime I am trying to improve myself, if I go full force into a challenge, I fail.  Examples would be dieting, if I restrict myself too much, I get fed up and just stop.  Or cleaning, if I try to get everything done all at once, I get burnt out and get overwhelmed.

This leads me into my next step to bettering myself.  It all started when my mom called to say that her and my dad are coming into town for a day this weekend (they live 2.5 hours away). As a result of that phone call, this week has been a mad rush to clean the house.  Our house has always been cluttered (complete opposite of my parents), we have a small house, minimal closets and too many things.  I always try to do an extra good job cleaning it up when I know they are going to be in town.  Most people would say that guests don't care, but my parents do.  I definitely hear about it if it is not up to their standards.

Now, yes, this sucks that they have high standards for my house, but it is also a good thing, because K and I take care of the things that we have been putting off.  Like the wrapping paper and bows on the spare bed.  M's extra toys closed off in the spare room (taking up what feels like the entire floor).  The kitchen table that is full of mail and M's daycare crafts.

One goal for myself is to get better at keeping down the clutter.  I want to try and straighten up a little bit each day.  This may be that I take 5 minutes or 30 minutes, but I want to try and do something everyday.  I find so many times that I say, "Oh, it can wait until tomorrow", or "I'm too tired", or "It isn't that bad".  Well it might not be that bad right now, but it is going to get that way if I keep letting it happen.  As much as I would love to have a house keeper to take care of cleaning and straightening up for me, it is not in the cards right now.

I must learn how to incorporate this into my life.  Once I made a calendar with all the household cleaning chores on it.  That worked for a while, but it was kind of a pain to setup each month.  Unfortunately we do not a have a typical life schedule like M-F work & weekends off, so I have to plan around when we are home.  If anyone out there has any tips, that would be great.

I hope you have a safe and happy 4th of July.

God Bless,
-L