*knock*knock* Housekeeping!

The title is done in my best David Spade impression from the movie "Tommy Boy". You know the line right? He knocks and says "Housekeeping...housekeeping...you want pillows fluffed?..." OK, I won't keep going on, I'll get to the reason I posted this.

I have been really on board with keeping up with my house in amazing ways lately. Yep, there are still spots that need worked on, but little by little I'm getting to them. Why the change you might ask? I started using some ideas from FlyLady. I've adapted them to my life and home. The biggest this is I have little routines I do each day. It helps me get more done, because I go on a automatic kind of thing. I know that certain things get done, so I just do them. My bathroom is clean every day. My dishes are done at least twice a day. (That is a huge one for me. I have to wash all my dishes by hand, so I usually put it off. Not anymore. I'm starting to not mind doing them.) I do at least one load of laundry start to finish each day. I never did bad with that before, but it's even better now. I dust the house at least once a week. I now vacuum at least twice if not more. Before I vacuumed once a week regularly, then I would do it again if we were expecting company. I do a lot of other things now too. And you know...I'm proud of it. I like the way the house is looking. I feel like someone could pop in unexpectedly and I wouldn't be embarrassed. Now that does not mean my house is always spotless. It's not. In fact if I knew someone was coming, I would have it looking in tip-top shape. But the point is that it's OK now. I feel good about it all.

With the summer I tutor less and I do it in the early afternoons. So, I'm home before Matt. I can cook dinner every night now. Then when dinner is done, I clean everything up and do dishes. I almost never did this before. The dishes would sit in the sink until I got to them later the next day. Now, I just do it. I figure Matt can keep an eye on Zachariah for a few minutes while I get everything put away.

In the mornings I've been able to get a shower and dressed before Matt leaves for work. I didn't do this before. I would just wait until Zachariah took his first morning nap, then I would get my shower. But now I shower before Matt leaves while Zachariah is eating breakfast. So, Matt doesn't really even have to do much, just make sure Zachariah doesn't need anything. And when those morning naps come along, then I can get things done around the house. More time to take care of things. And in the afternoon naps, when all my housecleaning is done, I can do more things for me. I don't feel guilty blogging or reading blogs for an hour. I can work on crafts or watching movies or whatever. It's been great.

I'm determined not to go back to the craziness I had before. I like it this way. My house is not perfect, but it's getting there. Then I start to see other projects that I can take on. I see walls that need painted and other little things like that I can do. And now it's doable. Before I don't think I would have managed. It would have been more of a pain than enjoyment to me. I would have come out of a project like that I grouch. Now, I see that I can do things. I haven't tackled anything like that quite yet, but I'll be there soon.