Who's Organized? ME????? How I keep it all together.

Not long ago a friend of mine looked at my house and my life and commented that they were impressed with how organized I was.

I had to do a double take.  Me? I looked around the room just to make sure she was talking to me.  No way could I be the recipient of that compliment.

My entire life I have been disorganized and something of a disaster.  When I was a kid my room was constantly covered with clothes on the floor, the dresser top covered with little things that I wanted to keep, but had no idea where to put, and more than a little trash that never made it into the garbage bin.  My bed was never made, and I think I was pretty typical of a sidetracked kid.  I hated doing dishes, scrubbing the toilet, and putting things away.

Fast forward to today.

My bed is made every day, even though sometimes it doesn't happen until five at night.
My dishes are done and the sink shined almost every day.
Mostly everything has a place in my house.
Meals are planned on the calendar every week and groceries are purchased accordingly, and we almost always follow the plan.

Yes, I still have clutter, and when Joshua is awake my home looks like a tornado has hit it, but it doesn't take that long to get cleaned up, even if it is a one step forward two steps back project.

How?

I have routines.  No, I don't religiously follow them.  I don't scrub the toilet every day.  I don't lay out my clothes the night before.  I don't look at the calendar to find out what to pull out for tomorrow night's dinner.  I have dust and it lives on my tv stand.  Sometimes I am looking at the clock ten minutes before Carlos comes home, in a stupor, wondering what I am going to feed him.  Some days it really is only Mac & Cheese with veggies and maybe a can of tuna.

But, my kids and I have set days that we do set chores.  Thank you grandparents.  You had the right idea.  I don't try to do everything every day.  That is pure madness.  The kids each get a day to do their laundry.  If they forget, they wait until the next week, or do it themselves.  The kids each have a day to cook dinner, clean the bathroom, vacuum and clean the kitchen.  This helps me so much, knowing that twice a week, I don't have to worry about these things.

Example of our weekly chore chart

Grocery shopping comes after menu planning.  Planning comes after budgeting, which comes after paydays.  Kind of like building blocks.  I can't do one without the other.

Running the house is pure chaos some days, and some days it really does just flow.  Yesterday we had a day of struggle because Josh refused to take his nap, so he was cranky all day.  Trying to get anything done with a one year old who only wants to be held is not productive.  Today we spent three hours registering Alex for High School.  I only planned on one.

My secret:  go with the flow, don't stress, and drink a lot of coffee.  Everything is better with coffee.  Pick up the toys and run the vacuum.  Empty the dishwasher and the sink.  Swap laundry, wipe down the kitchen table and light a scented candle.  Then... sit for a few minutes and just breath.  Everything is just fine.

Organized?  Me?  I don't feel like it, but I guess that to the untrained eye, we just might be.