Accepting My Imperfections

    I know, this is a common thing over here. I get these grand ideas for how I’m going to have my house organized and cleaned and just OMG awesome when I read through blogs like OrganizedMadeFun or ABowlFullofLemons. I tell myself, “This is it! Now I’m doing it!”

    I really do want to do it. I would love to have a house that is organized, has a place for everything, and is instantly company ready. I’ve read the books and started over a bajillion programs, yet they all seem to come down to one thing.

    I don’t have enough time in a day.

   And while I normally tell myself to stop making excuses, I recently took a step back to view my life.

   You see, this is also my excuse for why I’m not as in shape as I would like to be as well. “There just isn’t enough time” and I know that this is going to bring scoffs from people but…sometimes…it’s true!

Just like you need to cut out some things in a financial budget, sometimes you need to cut out things in your time budget as well. Would I love to work out for an hour a day and see some pretty fab results? Well sure. Would I love to have a sparkling clean house where everything is in it's place all the time? Of course! BUT I’m not willing to give up that one hour of playtime with my daughter to get it.

   I also have realized that I actually do a lot more than I think. When my daughter is happily playing independently with her toys, I will pick up the adjacent room, clean the chinchilla cage, or fold the laundry. I will do a ten minute work-out or a yoga routine.

   But then there are some nights like last night, when I got home from work at 6:30 p.m. After dinner and bath-time and story-time and then bed-time…there was no time left for anything else. I took 5 minutes of me-time to finish a chapter in a book I was reading and the day was over.

   I look at a lot of these cleaning programs and think “it’s just fifteen minutes! Why can’t I just seem to find fifteen minutes?” But the simple fact is that sometimes fifteen minutes is just fifteen minutes more than I have. When you add fifteen minutes on top of all the other things that “just” take a minute it really does add up in the end.

   That being said, there are still things that I am working on that ARE giving me some great improvements. 

   Every week I try to donate items and de-clutter my house. 

   I finally have our living room to a point where Bug’s toys can be quickly and efficiently put away (and she’s started helping me!).

   I have enlisted the help of my husband and he has the kitchen clean every (okay, most, maybe some) nights so that’s one less thing to do.

   I tell myself that it’s okay that my house is not perfect. I’m never going to be an organizing blog or have an always-photo-ready house, but that’s okay. The house is sanitary and clean enough for daily life and I’m enjoying living it.