Housekeeping

The same methods never work forever.

This principle is underlined for me every time the girls learn something new and what worked before no longer works.

It's also true of things like how I clean house.

Back when Hannah was a baby, I discovered Flylady.net. I had no idea how to systematically keep a house clean, so this was a revelation. I did it for a while, and had a sparkling clean house. It works, it really does.

However, I am a closet perfectionist, and I began to beat myself up for not fulfilling what I was "supposed to." Life was not easy after Audrey was born, since I had a newborn and a 16 month old. I didn't cut myself enough slack. So I burnt out, big time.

When we moved to this house I cleaned the whole thing from top to bottom because it had not been cleaned well after the former renter. Gross. It was Naaasty. But, as any of you who live in old houses will agree, old houses don't clean all that well. You can clean them and clean them and they still look dirty. So, that provided further discouragement for me. Over the past couple of months, I have to admit that I gave up.

Now, I'm a perfectionist, as I said, so I don't think we were living in filth, but I did as little as I could stand. Thus the talk on Monday of a housekeeper. However, after some soul-searching, I figured out that what I need is not a housekeeper or a new house, but a new attitude. We are living here so we can get out of debt, because we believe that's what God wants us to do.

So, I need to figure out how to keep my house pleasant to live in, AND help us get out of debt.

I'm going back to flylady. The difference is, I'm learning to give myself, and others, grace. Flylady has some great systems that WORK. But, if I don't get them all done everyday, I have not failed my family, and I understand that now.

So, here are some new habits I'm starting:
Start the dishwasher before I go to bed each night
Put dirty dishes directly into the dishwasher during the day
Wipe down the bathroom counter and mirror, and brush out the toilet after I get ready

This is a good start. If I keep the kitchen counters clean, I might actually get to other things like, oh, sweeping the floor.

What works for you guys?