Hey MOMS, how do you eat an elephant? ONE BITE AT A TIME! (not yelling, just want to make sure you see that)
For you MOMS in trouble, here is a good place to start:
I have used a method like this when we have been sick or after having a baby, although I just put everything in garbage bags...I like the box idea better...less messy!
And this has some really good ideas on it too!
Here is the Household Planner I like:
I can't function or homeschool if my house is a mess. It makes me feel bad, and overwhelmed, and I can relate to the "yelling" MOMS! I have been on FlyLady since 2000. My problem with FlyLady is that as a MOM of many, I can't wait to clean my bathroom for 30 days (flybaby thing) or sweep and mop my kitchen once a week or do just 1 load of laundry a day (!!! LOL), and to ME, the flylady stuff seems so...disorganized! LOL I am not sure that flylady is a perfect fit for large, homeschool families. However, that said, while using chore charts for the kids, the motivated mom planner for myself, and a "honey do" list for my husband, I can implement things I have learned off flylady, SHE, messies anonymous, and other cleaning sites.
We clean around here 3 times a day...after each meal. It doesn't take more than 30 minutes at each time...you may be thinking "30 minutes...whew!!" But, it usually takes alot less...that is because once you get into the habit, you become faster at it. ONE BITE AT A TIME! My 4 oldest children, ages 12, 10, 9, and 6, all have chore charts. It lists everything from eating breakfast and brushing teeth, to bedtime. My children have plenty of playtime/freetime (not listed on the chore chart). We can have people in our home! I print off a new chart each week and hang it in easily accessed place. I am posting them on the blog for everyone to see!
Ok, we use the chore charts for the children...and they do the majority of the housework. I do the laundry, seasonal chores, zone cleaning, homeschool planning/teaching, handle pest control/repairmen (if DH can't handle it...which he usually can), and then the kids and I try to handle most of the yardwork (mowing/yard pick-up/raking/flower planting), so that my husband can just weed-eat. We try to be a blessing to him, as he works harder than any man I know, and we want him to have free-time with us. But, this is also a man that will change a diaper, wash babies, cook dinner, etc. Sean has a "honey do" list of things I can't do, like getting the leaves out of the gutters. I add things to my motivated mom planner, like seasonal decorating (amazing what you can do with colored Christmas balls, pinecones and spray paint!)...which I am really loving now that my house has been so clean. I also add seasonal jobs to it, like cleaning the outside part of the windows.
Now, here is the part I love. I have a 3 month old (almost 4 months), and I can't always get to all my chores, so I have a part of the kids chore charts called "mom's sticky notes." The sticky notes are little slips of cut up construction paper that are taped to my bedroom door. Each little piece of paper has a chore listed (such as "clean under bed", "fold and put away towels", or "read a book to the little kids") and an amount I am willing to pay for that chore to be done. This takes some of the chores off of me, and this is the way the kids can earn some money. I pay 10 cents for a clean fridge door, 25 cents for cleaning behind the couches, 1 dollar for polishing the kitchen cabinets, and 25 cents for cleaning under, behind, and beside a bed. I have a set amount of money that I can give out each week in pay (right now it is only $5-7 a week), and then I look at my planner and write out "mom's sticky notes." I keep "bank" pages in my planner and everyone gets paid on Saturday afternoon.
We live in less than 1000 sq. ft. and so we HAVE to keep things tidy, because it can look like a huge mess in no time! We get rid of things that are broken, unused, etc. No pack rats in this house! It is just stuff ladies...just stuff...your worth is not bound up in that stuff! For most of us, clutter and messiness is just a bad habit. I know a woman though that had the city come in and condemn her house over her "pack rat" problem. She had rooms (including one bedroom) so full of stuff that you couldn't enter the room, and it was stacked chest high, and with that came a rodent problem. She grew up poor, and she started hoarding things, which made her feel less "poor." Hoarding is an OCD problem.
For you messy MOMS, don't feel guilty! Please don't feel guilty! I don't feel guilty if I can't do it all and be "superMOM"...at some point I will get to a chore...if not this week...next, and I don't stress out over it anymore! FlyLady taught me that. Just pick something and start there for a few weeks, and then add something else...habits take 3 weeks to form.
Ok, this is long enough and I got little "sickies" to tend to, but I really wanted to post to you MOMS that are "messies" and let you know there is hope! Merry CHRISTmas!
