It is a beautiful Sunday afternoon, my husband decided to work today to take care of the pile of papers stacked on his desk, and me?  I was excited to put my toddler down to take care of the piles of crumbs and laundry that are stacked on my floor!  I suggested to my five year old that we watch a movie (of which I would sneak away from to vacuum etc..) but then it happened…I looked down at her sweet face and saw a teenager.  Not a little girl asking me to do a treasure hunt with her, but one that was asking to go to a friends house instead of hanging with me! 

     I like my house clean…no, I love my house clean and I am ashamed to admit that it gets my attention at the expense of spending quality time with my kids.  This is hard for me to admit!!!  I love my kids, about 10 kabilillion kazilllion times more than I even like my house but something draws me to want it spotless.  I wish it weren’t so, but it is.  But today, I chose to use the toys, food, socks and balls as part of the maze that she had drawn for us to follow to the treasure, and attempt to ignore the fact that it really is a mess!  Oh and those that can relate will love this…our treasure hunt ended in the pantry with an “x” over a scarf filled with…gulp…my nice jewelry!  Handfuls of it.  Once again though, I made the decision to be excited pirates and count our bounty!  (I have to admit I did think about the time it will take me to untangle it all..)   It ended with her wanting to watch that movie, and since I promised her only 15 minutes on the computer and I would watch it with her, this is a short post today..

     So today the one thing I want to work on is not forgetting all of the mothers of teenagers that say“it goes sooooo fast” and actually enjoy my kids without worrying sooo much about my house.  I really want my kids to remember how much I was dedicated to them and not how much I was dedicated to my house.       Man do I love my “babies”!  More than life itself!!!!!

1/3 bar Fels Naptha or other type of soap, as listed above

½ cup washing soda

½ cup borax powder 

~You will also need a small bucket, about 2 gallon size~

Grate the soap and put it in a sauce pan. 

Add 6 cups water and heat it until the soap melts. 

Add the washing soda and the borax and stir until it is dissolved. 

Remove from heat. 

Pour 4 cups hot water into the bucket.  

Now add your soap mixture and stir. 

Now add 1 gallon plus 6 cups of water and stir. 

Let the soap sit for about 24 hours and it will gel. 

You use ½ cup per load.

I have a favorite day of the week…It’s a day that always starts out just like the other 6…the difference is, its great no matter the weather, no matter what is for breakfast, or even whether or not I’ve had my coffee…no matter what, it’s just great.  It fills me with a sense of renewal and relief and it is complete to moment I hear the rumble of that huge truck streaming down my road.   When it stops in front of my house, I can feel my pulse quicken and my mind race…No it’s not the cute construction workers next door, (clean it up ladies)…It’s the garbage truck!  I love; no love, love garbage day.  For us is comes every Monday, and frankly with all of the gloom that Mondays usually bring, for me it’s filled with pure joy!  In the same way that many love to shop and horde; I love to throw stuff away (and of course recycle and donate)for real.  My husband worries that if he sits still for more than 5 minutes, he may be the next victim, and my children hang on to their toys as if their lives depend on it…Nothing or no one is safe from my purging! (ok so maybe my children are but my husband should continue to worry!) It thrills me to go through drawers and just randomly grab stuff and throw it out. Of course this does occasionally come back to bite me in the butt, like when I need that special part to that expensive pampered chef gadget (what is up with that stuff??) and I realized that I had thrown it out the week before.  The other day this actually did happen but luckily I realized it just before pick up and found myself scrounging through the trashcan on the street in my pajamas…I did find it, and I entertained the neighbors at the same time.   Lesson learned?? I doubt it!

What I do know is that there has to be a happy medium.  Getting rid (or wanting to at least) of tons of stuff may not be the best answer, but keeping it all, is not either.  I believe that having cramped drawers, piles of paper, stuffed cabinets and packed closets leads to a feeling of being overwhelmed. A cramped, messy environment, I think is added stress to most people…of course for some more than others.  It is easy to feel like there is no way out when you look around, and every corner seams to have a permanent pile of random messes…something to take up brain space.   

Before we get our challenge, I have to preface it by saying that my house is not spotless and I would usually hate for any guest to venture past my living room… So here it is…

Go through one drawer every day and purge it.  Have an area for keep, move, trash, or donate and put every item into one of these categories, then put it back together with every item going where it belongs.  Don’t hesitate to get rid of those little things you never use, or put them in a box in the attic and see how soon you miss them.  I bet you don’t.   You will find that this takes very little time and will create a sense of accomplishment (I bet you show your husband when he gets home, or better yet brag to your bff!) 

Also I have been recently trying to not set anything down where it does not belong.  I don’t know about you, but between my kids, my husband and myself, all I do all day long is pick stuff up!  I find that if I at least put whatever is in my hands where is belongs, I have a lot less mess to pick up. Try it…see if it “lightens your load”

I encourage you to go through your mail the moment you bring it in.  If you do this daily, it takes only moments.  If you wait until the pile on your counter is the size of Mt. Everest, you will be discouraged.  I put all mail into a shred, husband, or me category and put them in the appropriate place right away.  I even let my 5 year old “help” by letting her open up the important envelopes (ie: junk mail) This takes no time and alleviates the stress of that huge pile taking up precious real estate on my counter. 

One last thing (I know I’ll get letters for this one) not every project brought home from school needs to be attached to your fridge.  They are only special if you can see them…This goes for pictures too…(I know you hate me now) but really, I suggest picking an art wall in your house and make it a certain size; ours is in my kid’s room and it is covered in so many special treasures I can’t even describe.  The rule is that once it is full, one has to be taken down before a new one goes up.  So when a piece of art becomes the “most specialist of all mommy”, we take one down, date it, put it away in the treasure box then the new treasure can go up.  This makes their projects much more special!  You can do the same thing with pictures; they have a lot more meaning when displayed well.  A clear fridge may not thrill you the way it does me, but try it.  Just see if the clean space brings you as much joy as garbage day does for me!

I have a ton more ideas but these are just a few simple ways to start making your environment more relaxing and enjoyable.  So I challenge you to pick one or all and try it out… Let me know how it goes, or share your own great ideas for attempting bring order to our crazy lives!