clean my house

It’s organized. It smells good. It’s pretty (well, still not very much curb-appeal, but the goal was to CLEAN, not to REMODEL.Pretty inside is what counts…how profound)

At present moment, there is not ONE SINGLE piece of dirty laundry in my home.

Here’s what’s even better—it was very theraputic for me. I realized that I maintain my house in much the same way I maintain my life. As long as it looks put together on the surface, I’m doing okay.

This time, I decided to clean from the inside out. I wanted to bring everything dark and scary and clutterd out of the cupboard and into the light…

Which is kind of where I am with life right now. I don’t want to look good on the outside and be cluttered and dirty and sick on the inside. I want to be able to look at the guts of any aspect of my life and feel confident that the details are truly in order, that I CAN maintain myself, and that there’s nothing I’m hiding from anyone…including myself.

I joined flylady. Love it. LOOOOOVE it.

And the, I decided to declutter my kids’ closets in an attempt to prevent myself from ever again having to deal with Mt. Laundry piling up in my laundry room.

I was ruthless. If it had so much as the tiniest mark or stain, I got rid of it (with the exception of art smocks). If it didn’t fit perfectly, it got donated. When we’d sorted that much, it still occured to me that NO children need that many clothes. So I had the girls look through the remnants and pick out some clothes to give to “children who needed them.” They were surprisingly enthusiastic about helping, and actually put a lot of thought into making sure they picked things that the recipients would actually like. When we were done, it was so easy to put everything back in their closets in a way that makes sense…I’d even go so far as to call it “organized!”

I told the girls that we’ll start picking out ONE OUTFIT before bed each night to get us through the next day…the little fashionistas like to change outfits a billion times a day, so I wind up having a load of JUST THEIR LAUNDRY everyday. We’ll see if that works.

One way or the other, I’m pumped. It felt really good to be a little proactive.

I’m SOOOOO distractable when it comes to my home.

Part of it is that I’m a working mom with three children under the age of six. Cleaning one room comes at the expense of letting them mess up another. They’re just faster than me.

Part of it is that I HATE housework with the hatefullest hate that a woman could hate. Hate it. Only do it because I’m embarrassed when I don’t.

But I need to re-organize, and I need to simplify my life, and I want to enjoy my home. I want it to be a sanctuary.

Any tips on how to enter the world of the organized with children?