Make my home a beautiful, tranquil haven

I’ve been away for a few days and had a big birthday in between, so my flat it chaotic to say the least; it’s Sunday evening and there are clothes and presents strewn everywhere, together with dirty dishes. Bleurgh.

Okay, I am going to do the following:
i). Clean fifteen minutes/break fifteen minutes for the next two hours until it’s all sorted nicely
ii). Do some work for my annual appraisal tomorrow
iii). Pack bag and lay out clothes for tomorrow
iv). Work on forthcoming week
v). Order a takeaway this evening.

Marks, get set, GO!

Just to say that I did all this, and I feel fantastic!

My home has so far been just a place to live. I want to fully enjoy every aspect of living here, however. So I will get started making it immaculate from every corner as well as perhaps investing in some more beautiful, tranquil furniture.

I’ve been sort of following the FlyLady philosophy, which is to start off by shining your sink twice a day. It’s about keeping things regularly cleaned and under control, rather than having blitzes all the time. So each morning, after my shower, I quickly wipe down everything in the bathroom – shower, loo, wash basin. It takes about a minute, and it means that everything is gleaming all the time. And the more I do, the more I feel like doing, so now my flat is just gorgeous.

Everything has been put away, and it’s all clean and calm. The floors are clear and clean, all dishes are done and put away, I’m up to date on my laundry, and it feels really good. Of course, one of the reasons for this tranquillity might be because I have been off work – but the first few weeks I was off work, it was a bit of a mess here. Since I have been consciously trying to make my home beautiful all the time, it’s been bliss.

I’m equivocal about making ‘cleaning’ such an important goal – but the thing is, when I wake up in the morning and my home is relaxed, clean and organised, I feel great. It makes a great start to the day to have nothing left over from the day before, so instead of groaning at dirty dishes and washing, I do things that are good for me (dry body brushing, drinking hot water and lemon, pampering!), and in turn that makes me feel better for the day ahead, so everything goes better.

I hope that I can keep this up when I go back to work tomorrow – that’s usually when things fall apart, because I just fall behind with daily chores, and leave it to the weekend. But it’s great that with minimal effort I feel like my home is a haven, and it’s really important to my emotional well-being.