31 Days to a Cleaner Home-Day 4: Overwhelmed.

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Every dish is dirty, husband has no clean work clothes, there are a million toys everywhere, and...is that a table under there?

Can you relate?

Have you ever felt like that?

Maybe you just moved and you're still unpacking.

Maybe you just had a new baby.

Maybe you just had the sickies go through your house.

Regardless of the situation you're feeling buried and overwhelmed.

Oh friend I have been there and done all of that!

When I'm overwhelmed I have a really hard time starting.

The biggest challenge to cleaning tends to be getting started.

If I'm overwhelmed I can find anything and everything else to do and work on possible just to avoid starting the task that is overwhelming me.

But once you actually start it tends to not be as difficult as you thought it would be!

Start your day off right.

Make your bed.

Tidy up your bedroom.

Take out trash, dirty clothes, and anything that doesn't belong.

Do any and all dishes and wipe down the sink.

Clean off the table and wash it.

Sweep around the table.

Doesn't that already feel so much better?

Starting the day off right sets you up for success.

Try getting in the habit of these things.

I've found these things make a huge difference as to how I feel about my home.

These fairly simple tasks change the whole course of my day.

If I've gotten these things done I feel ready to take on those bigger projects as well.

So try that today. Start there. See where it takes you.

Do it again tomorrow.

Do it again the day after that.

You never know what the day may bring and what all you can accomplish.

31 Days to a Cleaner Home-Day 3: Less is Less.

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Less is less. Genius concept isn't it?

But think about it.

Less clothing means less to wash, dry, fold, and put away.
And we all know how much I hate laundry.

Less trinkets means less to dust around.

Less toys the kids have the more they play with what they do have.

Less stuff means less time spent cleaning.
Less objects to shuffle around.
Less things to put away.

Less means more.

Less time cleaning means more time for family.

More time for hobbies.

More time for friends.

More time doing something kind for someone else.

More time to read good books.

More time for the things that are important to you.

When Melissa came over and helped me clean and organize my home

I discovered I had a lot of stuff weighing me down.

Bags of beads I will never use.

Old Church bulletins.

Books I will never read.

Collections of things like china dolls or places visited.

Trinkets I felt obligated to keep.

Let's talk about that last one for a minute.

Why is it we feel if someone gives us a gift we are obligated to keep it?

I think back to before I got married.

My grandmother had given my mom this beautiful Christmas themed candelabra.

It was large. Beautiful but large.

My parent's house is very small.

I watched as the candelabra moved from place to place.

It never found a home in her house.

It got shuffled around.

The cat knocked it over.

It was pretty but it brought my mom no joy.

If the item is not bringing joy to your life, 

which by the way is what the person who gave it to you intended it for, 

then why not let it go and allow someone else enjoy it.

I honestly had a collection of china dolls that were sitting in boxes.

I donated them all.

The bags of beads when to a camp for troubled kids for crafts.
The books made their way to the salvation army.

I sold several bigger items.

Oh and I also had a collection of bells from places I've been to.

I went through them all and realized I had 7 from the same state...SEVEN!

Family and friends knew I had a bell collection and gave me some that were not me at all.

I saved my favorites and said goodbye to the others.

Yes, I will still add to my bell collection but it will be intentional. Not just to collect.

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Here's your challenge today!

Aim For Less.

Grab two bags.

Start at the room farthest from your donation station.

Take a minute to look around.

Now grab ten things.

Five go in the trash bag.

Five go into the donation station bag.

Do this in every room in your house. 

Ten things doesn't sound so bad or too hard right? 

But think about it. For me I have 9 rooms in my house.

2 bedrooms, playroom, living room, dining room, bathroom, kitchen, office, and laundry room. That's NINETY things I just got rid of! 

I know you can do this. It might be difficult at first.

For me I know there isn't any garbage in my bedroom.

However, I know I could come up with ten articles of clothing I don't wear anymore to donate. 

Is it really difficult for you to get rid of items?

It's ok I understand this.

But we want to give our homes life right?

More life, Less stuff.

Take a deep breath.

Now ask yourself these ten questions.

1. Is this something I use regularly?
2. Is it something I love?
3. Am I keeping this out of obligation or for fear of hurting someone's feelings?
4. Am I saving this just in case?
5. Do I have multiples of the same thing?
6. Could something else I own do the same job just as well if not better?
7. Am I really going to fix, mend, glue this broke item someday? 
8. How long has it been broken for?
9. Is it worth the time and energy to clean or store this item?
10. Could this space be better used for something else?

31 Days to a Cleaner Home-Day 2: A place of life.

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Yesterday we talked about why we want clean homes.

You spent time writing out why it is important to you.

You spent time thinking and dreaming of a life freer, simpler, and relaxed.

Isn't the thought of the place you want to be so exciting?!

I find it encourages me to push through the hard days.

Let me ask you something.

How do you feel about your home right now?

When you get up in the morning how do you feel?

What is your first thought?

Do you wake up feeling rested and ready to take on the day?

Our homes give life.

We give life to our homes.

We were created to give life to those around us.

We, as wives and mothers, set the tone for our homes.

When our homes are over full, over run, disorganized, and dirty they make us feel  

run down, overwhelmed, and empty. They leave our families feeling frustrated.

Our kids and our spouses feed off the energy and the mood we exude.

What area of your home sucks the life out of you?

What space makes you feel overwhelmed?

I have to tell you all something, I've been there.

My entire house was out of control.

I was in a place of being so overwhelmed with how disorganized

my house was that I didn't have a clue where to begin. 

I had a conversation about this with my sweet friend Melissa.

After talking for a while we put some plans to action.

I almost wish I had some before and after pictures for you all.

And I say almost because my friends, it was bad. It was so bad.

My husband's and my bedroom was far from being a place of rest.

It was insanity. And I don't ever want to see it that way again.

Without judgement and without condemning my friend lovingly helped me begin.

In less than 24 hours I could feel life coming into my home.

Our bedroom became a place of rest.

My kids bedroom became more restful.

Our house began to be more of a home.

As embarrassing and humbling as it was I am so thankful for the grace she showed me.

I'm not where I want to be, but I'm not where I use to be.

I don't run to close my bedroom door now when someone comes over to visit.
I don't wake up in the morning, look at my room, and start the day feeling defeated.

What area of your home has you feeling defeated today? 

What spot in your home do you look at and immediately

your shoulders drop leaving you feeling like a deflated balloon?

That's your task today!

Take it on. Don't let it defeat you any longer! 

.:You Can Do It!:.

Go turn on some uplifting music. 

Light a candle. and start.

Grab a bag to throw trash into.

Make a pile of things you don't need, want, use, or don't love anymore

to go to the donation station you set up yesterday.
Make piles of things that need to be put away in other places.
When that spot is looking pretty good and starting to bring life back into you,
go take care of the piles. Put those items completely away.

This is the last time you should touch them today.

(Well unless you need to use them of course.)

Don't continue to shuffle them around.

Find those useful things a home.

Take a before and after picture and share it with me!

I'm cheering you on!

If this looks and feels overwhelming to you its ok!

Grab your garbage bag first and fill it.

Get all of the trash out first.

Then start sorting from there.

It gets easier from there!

Just keep going.

31 Days to a Cleaner Home-Day 1: Why Clean?

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Every time she finds a minute, that's the time when they begin it!

Cinderelly, Cinderelly

Night and day it's Cinderelly

"Make the fire, fix-a breakfast, wash the dishes, do the mopping..."

"And the sweeping and the dusting!" They always keep her hopping!

She go around in circles, till she's very, very dizzy

Still, they holler! Keep a-busy Cinderelly!

Do you ever feel like that? 

I know I do! 

Let's be honest here being a wife, mother, homemaker can be exhausting.

Little loves who have needs and cannot do for themselves yet.

The day in and day out of the mundane.

Daily tasks that often go unnoticed yet must be done or 

our homes become a place of disorder and chaos.

I'll be completely honest with you. I struggle with this.

I struggle with putting my heart into cleaning my home.

But God has been teaching me a few things.

Disorder and chaos are not His thing my friend. (1 Cor. 14:33)

He doesn't like it when we feel like we've lost complete control of our domains.

It brings so much stress and frustration to our lives that then affect everyone else in our homes. Ick. Ick. Ick. You know the feeling I'm talking about right?

We are also commanded to do EVERYTHING as if we were doing it to directly serve God without whining or complaining. {OUCH} 

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This house that I live in is not my forever home. I will someday go to live in a mansion in heaven but for now this is my home and I must do all I can to care for it. But no matter what house I live in it all belongs to God and I need to care for it as if I were caring for someone else's house. And while I don't always feel like doing it with my whole heart I am serving God and my family so I need to do it as unto the Lord (Col. 3:23)

So let's do it! Let's do this together. Let's encourage each other and spur one another on to peace filled homes with order and gladness!

Here are the things I want us to do today:

1. Take some time to write out why you want a clean house.
   You need to have a purpose. A goal. A real defined reason for cleaning to help you keep going even when you don't feel like it.  So take some time to write out a mission statement. Write it out. Be specific. Make it you. Got it? Good.
   
2. Now make it pretty! 
   Take that mission statement and dress it up a little. I have mine framed in my kitchen to remind me why I take the time and energy to clean. It doesn't have to take you long. Use some scrap papers or doodle, find a back ground design on the internet and in paint type out your mission statement over top. I don't want this to be something that you feel like it has to be perfect or take you a lot of time. Make it you. Make it something that is going to encourage you to keep going.
   
3. Set up a donation station.
   Get a bag or a box. Set it in a spot in your home where any time you come across something you don't use, don't need, don't love, or just doesn't bring life to you and your home it can go straight into the donation station. I recommend it being somewhere that if you have kids they won't see it much or at all.
   
4. 5 minutes!
   I want you to set a timer for 5 minutes. Don't look at it as overwhelming. Just beat the clock. Get as much done as you can in those 5 minutes. When the timer beeps move to the next room. For me I can quickly grab all of the garbage, dishes, and other STUFF that doesn't belong in that room out in 5 minutes and the room already looks much better. Put on some great uplifting-get-you-moving music and Ready Set GO!

31 Days to a Cleaner Home: Intro

Don't you love the new year?
There is just something about the feeling of a fresh start.
A chance to do better. To be better. To start over.

A quick search listed the following as the top 5 new years resolutions for 2014:

1. Lose Weight
2. Get Organized
3. Spend less, save more
4. Enjoy life to the fullest
5. Stay fit and healthy.

I also read that only about eight percent reach their goals.
We tend to put so much pressure on ourselves without remembering the reason for the goals. This year lets do it together! I am doing a 31 day body challenge that I want to have become part of my lifestyle and 31 days to a cleaner home.

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I'm going to be completely honest with you all here. 

I am not an expert.

I don't have a degree in home management.

My house is far from perfect.

I am doing the challenge right along with you all.

But I have learned a lot over the past few years that I think could help others.

I'm not where I would like to be but I'm far from where I use to be.

Some of this is going to be difficult.

Some of this is not going to be fun.

But I hope that all of this is helpful and liberating.

That after these 31 days are over you feel lighter.

That your home feels fresher.

That you feel renewed and in a better place than when you started this journey with me.

Egg-less cookie dough! Perfect for eating!!!

I love homemade chocolate chip cookies.
My mom's are my favorite.
And while I have tried countless times over the years of being married, my chocolate chip cookies always come out looking ugly.

But really, who am I kidding?!? We all know that the cookie dough is the best part.
As much as I love the dough, raw eggs always make me nervous.
Now I just say forget the cookies! I'll just make some cookie dough for eating!

Stuff you need:

- a large bowl, measuring cup,      measuring spoon, and a fork
- 2 cups of flour
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 ½ cup packed brown sugar
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ cup milk
- 1 cup of the secret ingredient as  my son would say 

(aka chocolate chips.)

It's so easy, its dangerous.
Just cream together the butter and sugar.
Add in the salt and vanilla.
Add your flour in a little at a time. 

Don't worry. It looks dry and crumbly but the milk will fix it.
Slowly stir in the milk and watch it turn into cookie dough!!!
Add your chocolate chips and a spoon to eat it with!
AND DIG IN!

My favorite way to eat them is by scooping small balls of dough onto freezer or wax paper, pop them in the freezer for a few hours. Then just pop in your mouth as desired!  If there is any left over you can store this up to 3 months but I doubt it'll last that long. This makes about 4 cups of tasty egg-less batter that the whole family can enjoy, if you're feeling generous that is.

30 Day Plank Challenge.

I'm challenging you all to join me in the 30 Day Plank Challenge!

Last January I set several goals for myself.
I don't do new years resolutions because well it's just setting myself up to fail.
So as silly as it may be to just call it something different, it works better for me.

My 2013 goals:

• Read All #SheReadsTruthPlans 
• Etsy Shop Up and Running
• Get Fit
• De-clutter
• Finish Projects

Well it's December and I do not feel like I have gotten fit at all.
I had originally planned to do this challenge last month and I hurt my back.
After visiting my WONDERFUL physical therapists, got my back fixed up, and chatted with her for a bit I knew something had to change. She highly recommended I strengthen my core. Having had two babies 26 months apart has taken its toll on my body and I have little to no core strength. I also live with PSD (a pelvic disorder) which causes pain and the joints can shift causing more pain but if I were to have some good core strength it would help keep things from shifting.

So I am doing several things for the next 30 days to get fit and change my body for the better.

1. Drink more water!
   I am terrible when it comes to drinking enough water. As part of this challenge I am going to attempt to drink half of my body weight in ounces of water.
   Meaning if I weighed 100lbs (HA!) I would drink 50 oz of water. Meaning I would need to drink a little over two of this water bottle full. I love this thermos. Hubby and I each got one before we went camping back in the summer.
2. Plank Challenge
   I've only just started this and I'm already sore. Help me now! 
3. Pelvic Tilts
   This is to help keep my pelvis aligned properly as well as working on some core strength. 
4. Superman
   Now this is one of the several exercises my PT gave me to do. However, she told me not to lift my arms or legs high. It's not the height that matters, its the length of the hold and the reps that matter more. So I only lift my one arm and opposite leg a little bit off the ground and then switch. (So the first one shown in the video.)
5. Bridges

Dare to join me? Simply do the daily plank challenge or join in with more of the things I'm going to attempt to do every day for 30 days.
Oh and my one recommendation...Don't attempt to do this while your children are up.
I attempted to do this on day two with my littles up and both Bug (approx 22 lbs) and Monkey (Almost 40lbs) were climbing on me. Let me just state for the record after 5 seconds I start to shake like a leaf!

Leave a comment on here and let me know if you're taking part of this challenge and then follow along in my journey. Let's encourage each other to keep going! I might even give you a before and after shot of myself.