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Having a messy home can be overwhelming. The habits required not only to get it cleaned but keep it cleaned seem hard to tackle.  Sometimes having our homes be in such disarray can make us feel crazy.  It doesn’t have to be this way.

Most women I have talked with are tired of the clutter.  They are tired of feeling overwhelmed and their homes being chaotic.  They want to make time for things in their life but they feel like they need to get their homes in order before they begin.  Unfortunately their homes are a much bigger mess and those new projects just get pushed aside as there is no room for them.

The problem is that we have bad habits.  Bad habits of just dropping things as we walk in the door.  Bad habits of just throwing our laundry in the corner of the room.  Bad habits of letting the dishes sit until you really need them.  Bad habits need to be broken.

As with everything in life, it is best to start in small steps to getting a habit imbedded in our lives.  Try some of these habits by implementing them for a week  or two at a time before starting on the next one.

• Keep ALL flat surfaces clear of clutter (tables, desk, counter tops etc.)
• Keep the kitchen sink empty.  Wash dishes as soon as you are finished with meals.
• When you walk in the house, put ALL of your items away where they belong.
• Have a place for everything and everything in it’s place.
• Clean your shower and sink after you use it.  It takes a few minutes to wipe down your tub and sink everyday instead of scrubbing it once per week.
• Put all your paperwork in one place and put it away at the end of the day. Don’t leave paperwork to pile up.  As soon as mail comes in, go through it and throw out any junk mail.
• Hang your clothing up or put it in the laundry hamper right away.
• Pick up before you go to bed each night—- a freeing feeling in the morning.
• Empty the trash each day.
• Work on 20 minutes each day of decluttering your home.
• Make your bed every morning–even if you are going to sleep in it that night–make it!!

This may seem like a big list to tackle–it isn’t meant to do it ALL overnight.  Take ONE task and implement it into your daily habits.  After a week or two add another one.  In a few month’s time your home will be in a much cleaner state then when you began.

 

For most of us, we set new goals, plans, and resolutions that we would like to complete over the next year to make ourselves feel healthier, more secure, or happier.  But what I am telling you is do something different this year…………………..Don’t set a single goal!!!!

What??!?!?! Have you lost your mind, Amy???

We have somewhere along the way, been led to believe that if we set goals and achieve them, then life turns out happier.  Well if we look at statistics, it shows that most people give up on their resolutions and most don’t ever achieve the goals that they set for the year.  I was a firm believer that if I set a resolution or a goal for my life and  achieved it, then my life would be great.  After all, I had a plan, one that appeared to look good and it somehow solidified my happiness in life. So what does that leave us with?

It leaves us as housewives with a cluttered home, a little more weight on our hips, and possibly a little more sadness behind our eyes.  We start to view ourselves as failures because we can’t keep our homes clean, we don’t feel as attractive anymore, and we feel like we can never “measure” up to the mom who appears to have it all together.

So what I am telling you is to not set a single goal this year.  Avoid the trap that makes you believe that if you accomplish your goals then life will be better.

Being a Mom, I know that plans get changed everyday.  You start out strong doing something and then life happens.  You get busy doing other things, chaos enters the picture and you revert back to your old ways and thus your goals die.

So what do you suggest Amy that I leave my home all cluttered and chaotic?? Or pack on those pounds so I can be more appealing to my husband??  NO WAY, I didn’t just write a book about helping you declutter your home and run a series about losing weight if I didn’t think  it was important to happiness.

So what do I do if I am not supposed to make goals?

You change what you do have control over……..your daily habits.

If we start out by changing what we CAN change…..what we do each day, then when we start changing the way our year will turn out.

Weight loss problems

If I want to lose weight, instead of setting a goal to lose 40 lbs I start by changing a habit that I do daily.  I decide that everyday I wake up and begin my day with a 30 minute elliptical time.  I force myself to do it, because forming a habit is hard and does not stick right away.  Eventually I enjoy waking early, having some alone time and seeing some pounds come off my hips.  But if I did the opposite and set a goal to lose 40 lbs.  I might work hard for a few days, see some weight shed, have a relapse and eat a bag of my favorite potato chips and then feel totally guilty for having them. I will begin to mope around that I will NEVER lose the pounds and just accept that I will be overweight for the rest of my life.

Or if I change my habits and begin exercising each day, then at the end of the year, I can look back and notice how much STRONGER I feel, how much BETTER I feel, and how many pounds I did lose that year.

A cluttered home

My home is in need of decluttering.  So I grab a couple of garbage bags and start tossing items into it, to begin ridding myself of items I don’t need.  I start filling them, and then set them in a corner when I grow tired of doing this task that has taken my entire Saturday up.  I come home from church on Sunday and stare at the bags in the corner of my living room.  I feel exhausted and don’t want to even THINK about what a HUGE job I have ahead of me in making my home more manageable.  A few months go by, and I just forget the idea of decluttering my home and just laugh it off to people that I am a hoarder.

We could also try a different approach.  I focus on ONE room in my home.  I designate a set time each day or week that I KNOW I don’t have anything else planned.  I designate that as decluttering time.  I work for the amount of time that I have, either 20 minutes each day or 1-2 hours one day per week, and then I clean up what I did do and be excited that I got my ONE room half way or all the way decluttered.  I continue doing this task each week on the day I set aside until I finish. When I look back at my life at the end of the year, I can see how much LESS stuff I have in my home then when I started.

Time spent with God

I want to increase my relationship with the Lord so I set a goal to read the entire bible in one year.  A good goal to have.  BUT, guess what, I start out in January, February, March, then April keeping ahead of reading schedule, but then warmer weather comes along and I start to spend more time outdoors.  My goal of reading the bible in a year, starts to get lapsed.  Oh well, maybe next year.

Or I can begin a habit of waking up before others in the home to enjoy some quiet time.  Even though I DETEST waking up early, I KNOW that I want to spend time alone with the Lord each and everyday.  I set my alarm and force myself to physically get out of bed when it sounds.  I take my bible and read a part of it.  Maybe I won’t get through it in one years time, but after a year, I sure have strengthened my relationship with the Lord.

You can fill in the blanks with any new habits that you want to make part of your own life.  Go through my simple living challenge.  Take one thing you want to change each week and start implementing it.  Eventually you will become a person of habit and in one year’s time, you will accomplish more than you expected.