Am I the only one that is running on caffeine and Jesus? My days start before daylight and end long after sunset. On any given day I am burning through the midnight oil and into the next day’s allotment! As I scroll through Pinterest I am bombarded with pins and posts with lengthy/complicated cleaning schedules, tips for cleaning tile grout, and fancy new techniques to fold my socks. I can help but think to myself, “Is this real life?” I don’t know about you, but right now I am lucky if I can find a pair of matching socks (I swear my dryer eats them), and the shower grout is the last thing on my mind when my head hits the pillow each night! I don’t need another thing to add to the to-do list and I CERTAINLY do not need another thing to feel overwhelmed or insecure about.
I have to get rid of my perfection infection at the front door. I live with a two year old. My husband and I work…a lot. We love to travel and escape on adventures whenever we get a free second. My faith, my family, and our amazing memory-filed adventures are what matters most to me. While I often have to put these things into perspective for myself and realize that is truly important, I also know that our lives function more smoothly when we are in a doing life in a tidy home. Things just seem to flow, and we are able to truly relax in our space. While my husband and I work outside of the home, and we both do our fair share of the work, I feel a certain responsibility to my family to make sure that our home is one that we can truly take pride in.
So…I did what I always do when I feel overwhelmed. I made a list. I gave myself 30 minutes each day and divided the tasks over a week. I set a few ground rules for myself: #1 Set a timer for 30 minutes max, and stop whenever that buzzer dings, no exceptions! #2 Only touch the clutter once, this means no piles and no pushing stuff around from room to room. #3 Put away perfection! I made this chart to help me visualize everything and added these tasks into my planner each week.
I have found that often even the most well-intentioned plans cannot run on willpower alone. If I have a system in place I can in turn build a habit, and that consistency over time allows me to build momentum and find success (with a little help from that caffeine and Jesus, of course)!
Check-Out The Schedule I Use:
Daily Drops in the Bucket 