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| Thank goodness I took these pictures. It snowed the next day and now they've wilted and are gone! |
This is the last of week of March and as I reflect back on my attempt to simplify my home, I am suprised by a couple things.
For one, it's an ongoing battle. Because I work full-time out of town, my time is limited. While I may get some tasks accomplished, others may get left to the wayside. So yes my bedside table is looking great, but I've left the pile of magazines accumulate in the dining room. Sometimes that is just going to happen. I may want to have a picture perfect home but I know in reality it's not going to always be that way.
The second thing I have learned is that this season of my life is just not going to be as simple as I may want it to be. Unless I quit my job (which I would love to do!!), some days are just going to be crazier than others. My kids are not involved in lots of activities as we try to limit them to just one or two things at a time. Jeffrey Michael is starting baseball and Paige has a once a week gymnastics training and she will start softball in the next month or two. They both have to go to CCD (Catholic Sunday School) which for our church is on Wednesday evening. Add on the fact that my husband is a Cross Country Coach, and then you can see how it does become busy for us and so we have to limit what extra-curricular activities we let the kids do.
Another thing is that I need to stop comparing myself to other bloggers that I follow. Many of the ones I follow are stay at home moms or working bloggers. So they manage their time differently than I do. Maybe they are able to spend more time on their homes and blogging about it than I do and I need to stop thinking that I am failing in my own home if it's not living up to other bloggers.
This final week of March does not mean that my goal of simplifying is done or that I have met/failed my goal. What it has done for me is to really open my eyes to the fact that life does not stop for the living. My house is never going to be 100% clean every day every minute. There are going to be days where I am not going to have the motivation to work on cleaning and organizing and that's ok. I don't need to beat myself up about it. It is what it is. Hopefully, tomorrow will bring a new day with motivation and energy to complete what was not done and even more.
What I have done is to join Orgjunkie's 52 weeks of organizing. I printed out her list and began listing all the things I would like to work on. I'm up to 28. Most of them are small (like cleaning out drawers) and many are big -like cleaning out the attic. So although I am not going to end the month of March with a perfectly organized and simplified home (did I really think I could accomplish that?) I am going to work on this goal slowly over the rest of the year. Wish me luck!
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| I hope the daffodils survived the snow. |
5 comments:
i think you should be really proud of how much you have done, and just keep at it. i think as women we compare ourselves to other people, and it is great that you recognize it, and you can try and stop it.
Comparison is something I struggle with too...it's like an addiction! But sometimes it's a destructive attitude.
We do all have to consider our day to day lives and what is realistic for us to accomplish. While I'm not a mother yet, I often feel the way you do when I read other's blogs. I've come to the conclusion that while I know I need to improve upon somethings, if I am always working or cleaning, what kind of life would that be?
Do what you can, when you can, and I think the rest will fall into place. :)
Do you mean you are only home on weekends? That would be difficult. My sister did that for 2 years. Her husband did most of the housework I think.
allysgrandma- sorry for confusion. I commute out of town to my job and by the time I get home it's late and with dinner and volunteering/kids activities, I do not get much time to take care of household chores.
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