go to bed in a clean house every night

Well, I’ve managed to do this many more nights than not, and I do think it’s now habit. I really love waking up in a clean house. It makes such a difference.

—since the chief mess-maker will be at a youth retreat for the rest of the week. Hard to imagine but true nonetheless: my 16-yr-old son makes as much mess as the other seven children combined. He’s cute, though.

I’m doing REALLY well with this goal. I’m not retiring it until the end of summer, though—if I can do this more or less consistently all summer, I’ll believe that I have really created a new habit.

...one giant step for mankind.

Jim took all the kids off this weekend and let me stay home and organize. I was able to come up with a place for almost every item in the house—an Official Place, not a bin labeled “Misc.” I think this is a huge advancement.

This has been going really well! I am much happier in the mornings now and I don’t feel so paralyzed.

I assigned the children each to a room semi-permanently—Ethan is only to worry about the kitchen, Simon only the bathroom, Jase only the living room, etc. I think this is going to work out really well. The house is very clean at the moment and I am not dreading the morning.

The chief problem seems to be that by evening, I am tired of cleaning and tired of making other people clean, and I just want a little peace and quiet. So I exchange a good start on the next day for some laziness in the evening—not a good trade, but one that I make anyhow again and again.

I made sure the house was clean last night before going to bed—mostly clean anyhow. Had to listen to an awful lot of complaining from my 15-year-old son, who was my galley slave, but oh well. My nerves do feel better han usual this morning, because even with the children rioting in the living room, how bad could it possibly be?!

This is the one thing I could do that would make the biggest difference in my life. I just hate waking up in a dirty house. I dread getting out of bed. I feel like I’m “behind” before I even get up.