This is the second post in a series about reducing stress at home.
Before I dive into all of these great ideas and “Time saving shortcuts to make your life awesome!” I want to focus this post on the reality of our world at home.
I know when I read articles and blogs about keeping life more organized, cleaning schedules, or general housekeeping tips, I am interested in the topic but I also cringe and think, “I bet their house looks amazing, tidy and nothing like ours.” Even though I love reading about these topics, I often feel mom shame, and I am SOOO anti-mom shame! I want to be sure to include MY reality into this series before I get into the tips.
My reality is that our house is not well organized much of the time. *gasp! clutches pearls* Our house typically has toys and clothes strewn around, and the kitchen is cluttered with dishes (some clean, some not). 50% of the time I’m ok with that.
I say I’m ok with it 50% of the time because I wish it wasn’t this way. If I let it stress me out and force our family to maintain this house as the perfect organized space I desire, our collective lives would be much less happy for it. I have my days when I want to pull my hair out with the mess (today, for example). Then there are days I just exhale and move on to a task that is more important to me than maintaining a perfectly kept home.
I really wanted anyone out there who reads my future posts, about reducing stress at home, to know that these posts are meant to REDUCE stress and not eliminate it. I do not have it all figured out, but I am pretty good at finding ways to work smarter instead of harder, and I love sharing those tips with others. I hope you find the coming tips useful.
Now, for those who do keep a well-maintained and organized home with kids, bravo! I do not mean to imply that you sacrifice other life joys to maintain your tidy home. As always, to each their own. Maybe one day I will be able to do both, but for now I live in a messy-ish house, and it’s a happy one.
Watch for my next blog post on tools to help reduce the stress of meal planning and grocery shopping. I’ll focus on minimizing chaos in the kitchen.
