Making My Home a Haven Monday

Welll, even though Biblicalwomanhood isn't hosting their usual MHHM challenge, I wanted to do a post on it because today I have been extra motivated to de-clutter and work on my trouble zones.

The day started with our normal routines of breakfast/devotions/straightening the living room/Ali's movie time while Jer naps and Mommy paid bills and mailed letters. It felt so good to get rid of lots of "emotional debt" today. You know the kind of obligations that are hanging over your head to mail this or that thank-you note or get this or that bill paid or your Walgreens' rebate forms in, etc? It felt so good to get my April rebate form mailed, our new health insurance forms done and sent off, and all of our missionary support checks and correspondence done this morning!

Next, I deep cleaned the bathroom and took some laundry down to the laundry room to start a load. The bathroom had been needing a good cleaning so I felt great when that was done.

I then tackled the dishes. It would be nice if they were done completely every night before bed, but that doesn't always happen, which is fine since I have more energy for them in the morning.

I vacuumed the living room as well as the kid's room, and swept the kitchen floor a couple of times (once after breakfast, once after lunch). I cleaned countertops down, cleaned up the kids and got them down for naps so I could take a bit of a "Mommy break" to blog. After blogging, I plan to switch the laundry, quickly mop our sticky kitchen floor, and tackle 3 major clutter zones in our home. My little sewing corner, which needs straightened, our computer desk, which always invites paper clutter, and our table, which also invites the paper piles and miscellaneous odds and ends. I also need to pop a chicken in the oven to slow roast all afternoon. After these chores are accomplished I can feel like today was a VERY productive cleaning day for us and then I hope to take my kids for an afternoon walk as it should be around 70 today.

I don't always have the motivation or energy to tackle so many cleaning projects in a day but today I am feeling great, got good sleep last night and have taken my enormous prenatal vitamins that are supposed to be packed with energy-boosters! It feels good to de-clutter and make the house orderly. I have to admit that our house will never be perfect and that's just life when you have 3 little ones and live in small quarters!

I have been embarrassed more times than I want to admit by unexpected visitors dropping by when there is too much clutter or disorganization and remembering those times serves as excellent motivation for me to get my rear in gear and at least keep things presentable, if not perfect. I agree with whoever said that keeping on top of laundry, dishes, and paper piles will go a long way toward an orderly home! I also agree that less is more and the more you own, the more you have to take care of. So, there will be a lot of purging in preparation for the church yard sale this weekend!