I've really been searching for ways to find balance for myself, to not feel so pulled when it comes to running my home. After all, since I am the CEO/COO of the household it's something that I need for myself, my kids and my hubby. Stressed Momma=Stressed Family. So I've been trying to do some reading up on the subject (along with prayer) to get me going in the right direction.
Many days I've felt wound up. My patience level is low and frustration level is high. I need to get things lean and mean around here, in my head and in my heart. I just finished reading a really good book, while some of it wasn't particularly of use to me much of it was. "One Thing at a Time" by Cindy Glovinsky is an easy read, written in easily digestible tidbits of advice on decluttering, streamlining and organizing yourself and your life.
The book is written in short, two page "tips". I wrote many of them down, as they were really good for me to write and post to see. Reminders are helpful, and I need all the help I can get!
Here are some of the tips I found helpful for me, in no particular order:
1. Keep it moving on. Laundry, dishes and paperwork need to be in constant motion or they pile up faster than anything else.
2. One thing at a time. Don't look at the big picture, focus on one idea, task or job at a time.
3. BREATHE. When you start to feel overwhelmed and are amping up, breathe.
4. Declutter your body. Get dressed every day, take the time to care for yourself. Why care about investing time and energy in your home if you don't care enough to do it for yourself?
5. Develop daily, weekly, monthly and annual lists of "to do's" for your home.
6. STOP perfecting, START bettering. This is a big one for me, stop aiming for mastery at every little thing and look at the overall picture of bettering your environment. Don't set yourself up for failure.
7. Write it down! Don't keep all the daily schedule stuff in your brain, put it on paper to free up that area of memory and decrease your stress over tyring to remember it all.
8. It's just a problem. Whatever you are facing at home that is making your life more stressful, remember it's just a problem. Keep it in perspective.
9. Do it the EASY way. Make routines and tasks easy to accomplish. No one wants to maintain things that are hard and labor intensive.
10. Put a trash can in EVERY room. Don't make it harder than you need to in order to keep the trash where it needs to be.
When you are having a no good, horrible, very bad day...
and the bickering, fighting, whining and complaining is just too much...
and you think that you seriously are going to have a stroke....
and you can't run into your room and lock the door...
and you can't take the kids outside and let them run it off, because it's been raining for four days straight...
and the art projects, coloring, play-doh, snacks and tv shows they've watched before 10 am just aren't resetting the mood...
when all else fails...
get the camera, go in the bathroom, and take silly face pictures. It'll work, even if for only five minutes.
