I've Got a New Good Habit

And I didn't even realize I had this new habit until I broke it.

I've mentioned several times that one thing I want to improve on in my life is how I take care of my house. I'm not striving for perfection in my house. I know that, at least for me, with my schedule, my personality, and my life with a toddler, newborn, and two dogs (not to mention me and my husband) a perfectly clean house just isn't going to happen. But, I do want a cleaner, more organized house than I currently have.

To help me in this journey, I've employed a lot of techniques I've found through the Flylady's website. The first step in her method is to shine your sink. I shined my sink, and it was a great step in the right direction for me. Since that time, I've been constantly encouraged by her daily emails to keep at it, and this weekend I finally realized something.

I consistently keep my dishes washed and my sink clear and clean now.

This is such a huge thing for me. I'm the queen of procrastinating as well as the queen of waiting till everything piles up so I can clean everything at once. And, at least in one area of my life, I broke my bad habit in both areas. I don't procrastinate on getting my dishes done anymore. I don't wait until I don't have any clean dishes in the house to wash my dishes. I do them when they need to be done. I now have countertops clear of dirty dishes (I'm still working on getting rid of other piles of junk on the countertops, but at least there aren't dirty dishes piled up on them!). My sink is clear and clean, and if, for instance, we have to give Troy an emergency bath because his diaper overflowed, I don't have to worry about washing the dishes before I can give him a bath, and that is a great feeling!

This weekend was the first time I realized how much of a habit keeping the dishes washed and the sink clean had become for  me . . . because my dishes weren't washed and the sink wasn't clean. In fact, when I caught up on my dishes this weekend, it took my three loads to get everything washed. That used to be a regular occurrence in our house, but until this weekend, I couldn't tell you the last time I had to wash more than one load of dishes at once. It feels so good to realize my good habit!

Now onto my next good habit . . . laundry. As the Flylady says, "A load a day keeps the CHOAS (can't have anyone over syndrome) away!"

Anti-Procrastination Week

I'm still very much a work in progress, but I've been trying hard (well, harder some weeks than others) to follow Flylady's method for keeping my house out of CHAOS (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome). I need a method like Flylady's to keep me on top of my game when it comes to keeping up with things around the house (and, no, I'm not aiming for a perfectly clean house all the time. I know that isn't realistic for our lifestyle, but I would like my house to be better kept than it is most of the time, and I know I can do that!). Flylady's method constantly encourages me (mostly through email reminders) to get up and get things done. Her method also reminds me that I can get things done even if I only have a little bit of time (a big part of her method involves spending only 15 minutes on a task).

I say all this to mention that this week is "Anti-Procrastination Week" on Flylady's website, and it is certainly a kick I need - I'm the queen of procrastinating! Procrastinating is one of the BIG reasons that things around my house aren't in the order I'd like them. I've been guilty on more than one occasion to simply "let things go" so that I can have a marathon cleaning session rather than taking the few minutes every day to keep things in order. Things would be so much less stressful if I'd spend a few minutes every day rather than letting things get backed up. One email encouragement from the Flylady this week issued this challenge: If a task is going to take 5 minutes or less to complete, do it right then! Don't put it off! Such a simple concept, but I'm guilty of putting off 5 minute tasks all the time. When you put off all your 5 minute tasks, 5 minutes turns into 30 minutes or an hour or 3 hours. I have been trying to make a conscious effort to do my 5 minute tasks the moment I realize they need to be done, rather than putting them off. I think it is a good start to getting rid of my procrastination habit!

Flylady's anti-procrastination week hasn't been just about keeping the house together, but also getting other things done that you might have been putting off, like running errands, making doctor's appointments, writing thank you notes, and even pampering yourself. She's been sending out "pampering missions" all week - one of which is to paint a fresh coat of polish on your toes. I'm SO bad at putting off painting my toenails. It is even worse now because painting your toenails when you are 8 months pregnant is an especially daunting task. But, I will paint them today! :)

Panic (or perhaps nesting?)

I think I've officially realized that I'm panicking just a bit about the baby coming.

Two nights ago I dreamed that I went into labor, and I hadn't packed my bag for the hospital. But, in my dream, I didn't care that I hadn't packed my bag for the hospital. I panicked because I hadn't packed a bag for Ella to take to whoever would be watching her. It is funny how priorities change after having the first child!

I'm also a bit panicked because I haven't cleaned Ella's old car seat for baby brother. It is out in the shed, and even though it is wrapped up, I need to wash the fabric part and wipe down all the plastic parts.

I also realized that I don't really have any clothes for the baby yet (other than a few little things here and there). I'm honestly not even sure if they are newborn size clothes or not. And, up until last night, we did not have any diapers for him either.

I'm also panicked a bit about their room not being ready.

I'm also panicked because the house is a mess (I've got to get back in my Flylady routine - I'll admit that while things have been better than they used to be regarding keeping my house in order, I've still been slacking some there). I don't want to come home from the hospital to a messy house, but I also don't want people coming (even my family) to visit to a messy house. Why do I care if my house is clean now if the baby still isn't due for more than a month? I don't know, but in my head my house should be clean now!

I'm not due until the end of September (approximately 6 1/2 weeks away) so I shouldn't be panicking too much . . . although Ella came a week and half early if that even means anything.  On top of my paranoia, everyone keeps asking me when I'm due. When I tell them the end of September, they respond with a shocked expression and say something along the lines of "oh, I thought you were due much sooner than that." Do I really look that big? Of course, if you ask my husband, he'll say I'm really due the first week of October (I've been measuring a week behind my entire pregnancy).

I've decided that all this panic is just a bizarre form of nesting. Hopefully I can use this "panic" to my advantage and check a bunch of things off my to-do list this weekend!

Getting Back in the Groove of Things

A little over two weeks ago, I vented about my frustrations with not being able to keep my house in the condition that I wanted. At that time, I also mentioned Flylady . . . and her methods have really changed my way of thinking! When I started with shining my sink, I instantly felt better - like I was starting something that was really going to change how I kept up with my house, as well as my attitude about cleaning in general. The next week I spent time clearing out some hot spots, and doing general cleaning around the house. Then we got really busy, and by really busy, I mean really, really busy! We were so busy that I felt like I barely had time to breathe after I took care of Ella, worked, ate, and went to the workshop. I complained to my husband that while I was so thankful for why we were so busy that week, that I felt like I had lost my groove and my energy that I had been so excited about the week before.

Ah, but now I have no more excuses. That busy week is past, and it is time to get back into the swing of things. It is time to get that great energy back and get busy with Flylady's suggestions. While I have yet to read anything specific about laundry on Flylady's site (although I'm sure it is there, I just haven't gotten to it yet), I did spend the day doing LOADS of laundry. It sure did feel good to get through that laundry - it is amazing how much laundry can pile up in a week. And even though I still have quite the pile of laundry, I did make a BIG dent in it today!

So, speaking of Flylady's suggestions, I'm going to attempt to do one tomorrow that I have resisted for a long time (the idea in general anyway): getting dressed to the shoes. The idea is to get up and get ready (all the way to the shoes) before you do anything else. I have been known (cough . . .cough) to hang out in my pjs all day. After all, I'm working from home, so no one sees me right? Well, first off, my husband sees me, and I'm sure he'd appreciate it if I wasn't always just lounging around. Secondly, I think it is really a general attitude change I need to make. With all that said, I know for a fact I won't have my shoes on tomorrow during the day. BUT I do plan to be ready otherwise! :)

Is my sink still shiny?

Why, as a matter of fact, it is!  (If you have no idea what I'm talking about, check out this post.) I will freely admit that my mother-in-law was in over the weekend (she wanted to see Ella walking!), and she helped out around the house (which was wonderful, especially consider how awful I felt from my morning sickness this weekend), but I have also kept up on my own for a few days. ALL the dishes are done in my house and I'm not usually great at keeping the dishes done, but it sure does feel good.

On top of my shiny sink, I've taken Flylady's advice and tackled some hot spots (areas where stuff gathers and becomes an endless mess) around my house, starting in the living room/kitchen area. We have WAY too many hot spots in our house, and I have needed to get these areas under control for a long time. In the past couple of days I've gotten rid of three major hot spots in our main living area. And, following Flylady's advice, it actually wasn't hard or too time-consuming to get the areas under control (and these were areas I was absolutely dreading cleaning). Here are pictures of the "after" of two of the hot spots. I should have taken "before" pictures, but I wasn't thinking about it at the time. If you've been to my house before, you might not even recognize the first one of the cabinet in my dining room. The main shelf and the very top were overtaken with clutter, but not anymore!

The ugly flash in those pictures leads me to a final thought . . . if you aren't using swagbucks yet you should be! 

Over a few months my husband and I have gathered enough swagbucks to redeem for a decent amount of Amazon giftcards. In fact, those Amazon giftcards helped in the purchase of my newest piece of photography equipment - a speedlite. I cannot wait for it to arrive!

A Company-Ready House

One of the things that stresses me out the most is the fact that I cannot keep my house in a state that I would deem as "company-ready." I'm not proud of this fact and it truly drives me crazy. There are many reasons for this issue.
I haven't properly unpacked/organized from when we moved in. I think the major reason for the lack of properly organizing/unpacking is that we did a ton of work on our house when we moved in and we were constantly shifting stuff from room to room depending on where we were working. Once we finished (well, we still aren't finished) I just never took the time I needed to take to put things away properly. Sad, I know.
Since things aren't organized properly, it really makes putting things away properly almost impossible because a lot of things don't have a real place to live.
Finally, I never feel like I have the time I need to truly clean/pick up like I should, and it just makes me frustrated . . . kind of like how I feel when I'm on a diet and I don't eat right one meal - it is hard to get into a good habit!

But, I'm determined to make a change for the good. I'm determined to have an organized house, and a house that is always (well, at least 90% of the time!) in company-ready condition. I've come across a few websites that have some great suggestions. The first one, I'm an Organizing Junkie, has some great organizational tips. The second one, Flylady, gives a method to do a little each day to keep things in order and clean.

The first day's activity on Flylady is to shine your sink. So I did. I only missed one step (due to the fact I just ran out of Comet), but my sink really does look nice now!

The sink before. I had to wash some dishes to get to the sink!

The sink after washing the dishes (at least the ones in the sink that would fit in the dishwasher!), but before the cleaning treatment.

The sink after the cleaning process! Now, to keep it shiny everyday!

Frustrated

Days like today make me realize the purpose behind this blog in the first place. Tonight we had a Christmas party at our home. I LOVE entertaining and having everyone over, but honestly sometimes (ok, most times), I just don't start preparing for everything early enough.

I've been slowly going through my living room/kitchen area throughout the week, trying to organize, clean out, and babyproof all at the same time (I've been wanting to do this regardless of having the party or not). I've been very happy with the progress I've made, but it has just taken me a lot longer than I thought it would. I was only halfway through the living room/kitchen area by this morning. There was no way I would actually be able to organize/clean out/babyproof the remaining half of the area the way I wanted before the party tonight. So, instead, as usual, things were cleaned and put away, but not the way I really wanted it done. As the day progressed, I became more and more frustrated with myself. Frustrated that I am not a very good housekeeper, and that my house was in such bad shape to begin with. Frustrated that I wasn't able to get the rest of my "project" done the way I wanted to get it done. Frustrated at how stressed I became about the whole situation.

Thankfully, I have a great husband who helped out today. I still didn't everything done the way I wanted it done, but the house looked pretty good, and the party turned out great. I had a wonderful time with my friends tonight! I really am blessed!