Creating Home: Simple Improvements

So obviously y'all know that we have been working hard to get our little home all sweetly situated! We have put a LOT of work into painting, adding trim work, electrical wiring, raising the roof on the extra room off the house, turning the garage back into a garage, and that's before we fix the flooring, do any yard work, or put anything like furniture into the house. So while all of that has obviously had a major impact on our little fixer upper house there are also simple little things we've done that have completely altered the appearance of the home. I am taking a page out of the book from one of the blogs I follow (http://thefrugalhomemaker.com/) and decided to start sharing our little remodeling/redecorating adventure with you. I was originally going to do a series called creating home, however, I decided to rename that series and use the tagline to make it easier to find my décor and homemaking posts. On with post!! where was I oh yes...I am excited about sharing this with you, because seeing the before and after pictures really reminds me just how much work we have done. More importantly though I want to get into simple things that you can do on a tight budget that can vastly improve the functionality and appearance of your home! So while the major before and after pictures I will save till later, I want to share a few of our minor improvements with you now!

Fix the lighting

Okay long story short if you have crappy lighting your house is not gonna look to hot. Though it may seem that no one would really notice or care about what fan you put up or if you outside light fixtures are "pretty" people do! I know crazy right!!! I never thought it would make that big of an impact but it really does. It is one of the subtle things you can do that can completely alter the appearance of the home. Example....our original porch light verses our new porch light!

It is a simple thing but it made a BIG difference in the entrance of the home. Best part...it was only $10!!!

Of course that isn't the only lighting we changed out we did the fans and are working on doing the bathroom and hallway.

Paint

Oh painting is a wonderful thing. It can turn pretty much any room into a completely different environment. For us we picked grey. I have lived my whole life in a beige house so I was determined to under no circumstances have a beige house when I finally got one. I picked grey because frankly I still needed a semi-neutral color. IT LOOKS FABULOUS! originally I was going to have a general color for the main parts of the house and then do the bedroom different. buuut with it being a smaller space I thought that it would look to patchwork quilty if I did the bedroom and bathroom a different color. I instead decided to make an accent wall in the bedroom. Just a darker shade of grey. We also put that darker grey on the inside of the front and back door. It really tied the whole house together. Plus we did a fresh coat of white on the baseboards to freshen it up a little. (feel free to ignore the people in the room. It was the only picture I had that had that wall and door before we painted :p ) (I will be taking better pictures soon!)

Decorate

The way you decorate really determines the atmosphere of the home. Whether it feels cluttered, organized or sterile in some cases. Now I am NOT big into staying with the "trends" of the year. I like what I like and I won't decorate with something that is "in" if I don't like it. However, once in a while my likes link up with the trends of the year. I love it when this happens because I go all mainstream and say "I liked it before it was cool" lol. Anyway, I am a BIG picture taker. I take pictures of anything and everything. That also means I have a lot of picture frames and little sayings I like to hang places and oh my word I really don't have enough wall space for everything. If you have the same problem then try a rotation method. Pick the ones that flow together well and then change them out every few months. It keeps the place looking fresh and perky and your guests excited to see what you've done with the place. I am still in the decorating phase but here are a few pictures of what I've done so far.

Curtains can really be a key element in setting the mood of a room! The red gave a nice accent color as well as provides much needed insulation against the brutal Texas heat.

The bathroom

Okay seriously the bathroom can totally make a home. It is like the one room that could be just another boring bathroom or could completely be the best room in the house. I am currently working on ours. It is the one room in the house I have put on hold until later because it is perfectly functional as is and I want to wait till we have the money to do more with it. However, I have big plans for that room and I can't wait to share them with you!

Our biggest project.

So the little extra room off the house that has the utility room in it has easily been our biggest project. It had some water damage so a new roof was a must and are wonderful little framing guy was able to do about a half a dozen other things. I am not going to put up pictures for this just yet since we are talking about simple improvements however, I will be doing several before and after's of the house when it is completely finished and as we slowly get more stuff done! I am so excited about our little home!!!

I am so excited to share more details of our little home as we slowly pull it all together! Stay tuned for some more updates! Don't forget to subscribe for the newsletter and like our facebook page!!! You can also follow me on twitter and Instagram.

Working on a household project? Share it! leave a comment or email me at maryannapartlow@gmail.com! you just may be featured in my next Creating Home post!!

Finding Normal Week 2: Cleaning House

Nothing is ever quite as wonderful as waking up to a clean home. No dishes to be washed and the laundry all put away. Nothing says good morning better, well except maybe a good morning kiss from your love ;). Really though, we have all seen those commercials. The ones where the mom is up as the sun is rising and she has already worked out and her house is in perfect order and she just hits a button to brew the perfect cup of coffee. Don’t you want to be her. I know I always do lol. The sad reality is that it is so far from easy to have everything in perfect order. And I don’t know about you but my morning usually consists of me trying to find my other shoe and remember my lunch as a rush out the door to get to work on time. If you are like me and don’t function well in a mess, the only way to a calm and relaxing morning is cleanliness. But how do we get the house clean and keep it clean. There are so many good articles out on cleaning and organizing. I know I have taken a cue from many of them. But for me I might get my house clean…or at least half of it. But it doesn’t even take a week sometimes before it is exactly where it was to begin with. Even when we can finally get our homes clean and in order what is it that keeps it clean? Is it routine? Consistency? A schedule? Do you want to know the key to keeping your home clean? Mentality. Your mental desire to want to keep your home clean and put forth the effort to do it. The other things are vital to the survival of a clean home too don’t get me wrong, but your mentality makes the difference. Mentally determining that you are going to do what it takes to keep your home clean is the biggest battle. We all want a clean home, and we are all willing at some point to drag our lazy selves around to begrudgingly clean said home. But after the house is clean we often find ourselves saying, “Oh it’s not that messy, I’ll get to it later” or “Tomorrow I have more time I’ll just wait till then.” Mentally determining that we won’t put things off and that we will take care of our homes makes all the difference. It really is the difference in having cleaning your home be a chore verses a lifestyle. It’s like eating healthy! Having a positive attitude toward cleaning and organizing also makes the difference in a long drawn out miserable process and a joyful way to serve our family. So now that you have decided to make cleaning a positive event and not a mundane ugh moment let’s talk about some tips and tricks to making the process go faster and be less stressful!

There are many different ways to approach cleaning your home. Some people like to start by simply inputting a routine. This is great, but for me when I do something I like being able to start with a clean slate. So I like to deep clean everything and then implement a routine. No matter which you prefer the end result is the same so whatever works better for you. For this post though let’s look at a clean slate home and then implementing routine.

The easiest way for me to start clean slate is to pick a room. I typically pick the farthest room and work my way out but if you have a bigger house then pick the room you want cleaned first.

Get a laundry basket.

So the first big part of getting a room clean is getting everything that doesn’t belong in that room out. I used to simply go through stuff and put it in separate piles and then I’d have to go and find space in the room they were supposed to go in. Time consuming, double working, not a good idea. My preferred method is the laundry basket. Start in whatever room (for me it’s usually the bedroom). Bring an empty laundry basket and before anything else get all the items that don’t belong in that room (i.e. shoes, dirty clothes, kids toys or dogs toys, etc.) and put them in the basket. Don’t worry about putting it away or finding a home for it just acknowledge that it doesn’t belong in that room and put it in the basket. Once this is done (depending on how much you’ve let the place go) you will already see a drastic improvement in your area. Do this in every room but do one room at a time and finish cleaning that room before moving on to the next.

Find a place for it

Having a home for everything is vital to your sanity if you are trying to keep your home clean. You don’t have to live in a house that looks like a museum but being able to put things in their place when cleaning saves time and stress. After you’ve laundry basketed a room start cleaning that room and find a place for everything. You’re not done with the room until you are satisfied that everything has a home.

Keep important stuff somewhere special

I have two important places right now but when we move into the new house I will have three. I have my “keepsake” box that has all my special things from cards, to wedding memorabilia and general keepsake stuff. I have a box for all important papers and documentation. And when we get the house I want to get a file cabinet of some kind so I can keep taxes, bills, car titles, etc. more organized. Point is no matter how you do it find a place for important papers. This is helpful so that you aren’t having to worry about losing stuff and possibly throwing away something important. If you don’t like keep paper lying around you can always scan documents into your computer and save them there as well.

Deep clean

Deep clean every room means you’re going to vacuum, dust, clean the windows etc. Doing this before heading to another room means you can officially check it off your list and it will be a thousand times easier to keep clean once it is really clean.

Now that we have a clean slate let’s talk about keeping it that way.

Laundry

Try to commit to doing at LEAST one load of laundry every day. That means a complete load as in washed, dried and put away. My husband, being a mechanic and everything in between, goes through clothes like CRAZY. This means I always have laundry, even when I just finished it. For that reason I’ve always had a slight aversion to laundry just because it seems impossible to ever keep it all done. If you struggle with this as well then here is some help…understand now that laundry will never be done. Once you understand that then you feel a lot less like a failing housewife just because you have laundry in the baskets. That being said. Your life will be a lot easier if you dedicate the time to do at least one load of laundry every day. For me it isn’t so much the washing of the laundry as it is the putting away. I just hate folding and hanging up clothes. That is why making sure I do at least one load a day is so important. It prevents me from feeling like I will never be able to finishing putting the mountain of clothes away that I didn’t wash all week. Additionally, to stream line your laundry process have a separate basket for each thing. I have a basket for me, SugarBear, and towels. This makes it easier when washing and putting away because you don’t have fifty million things all mixed up together. Whether you do you laundry in the morning or evening is up to you as that all depends on your schedule and personal preference. I prefer to do my laundry at night since my mornings are so busy. For me the easiest thing to do is to put a load of laundry in the washer before bed and don’t start it. Then when I get home from work I run by the utility room and press start on my already waiting clothes. A wash cycle is usually between an hour and an hour and a half. This means I have plenty of time to make dinner, and relax a little while still knowing I am getting something done. After dinner I go switch it around and enjoy another 30min to an hour of knowing something is getting done while I relax or do something else.

The Dishes

Oh the kitchen! It’s like the laundry, every time you are done…someone just had to get something to drink and there is another dirty dish. The most important thing you can do to help yourself is to ALWAYS clean your kitchen before bed. I don’t care how tired you are. I don’t care if it is three in the morning. NEVER go to bed with a dirty kitchen (and no a glass or spoon in the sink doesn’t count as a dirty kitchen). I know how very very very tempting it is to just say, “I will take care of it tomorrow it isn’t that bad.” Trust me don’t fall for it. Your morning self will thank you. For me one of the most pleasant things I can wake up to is a clean kitchen. If you have a dishwasher load it up and start it before bed. Or if you were lucky enough to start it earlier that evening, empty it before bed. I don’t like waking up and having to put dishes away, but some people don’t mind. Again, find what works for you. Whether you chose to wake up in the  morning and put the dishes away or have an empty dishwasher in the morning, make use of it. Don’t leave your dishes in the sink. Make a habit of putting your dishes in the dishwasher when you are done with them. Or if you plan on reusing the same cup or mug for instance rinse it out and set it to the side. The goal is to have a few dishes cluttering up everything as possible.

The rest of the house.

Living room, bedroom, hallway, doesn’t matter where! Before bed every night get that laundry basket back out and go through each room removing what doesn’t belong and as you get to the room it goes in put it away. This is a quick tidy up trick that keeps your house more or less “mother-in-law” ready as I’ve heard some people call it. If you do this every evening then not only will you wake up to a clean house it won’t take that long to do it either.

Make your bed

Making the bed makes the whole room look clean even when it is a mess! Do yourself a huge favor and make your bed every morning. If nothing else it will give you a nice bed to crawl into at the end of a busy day!

Schedules

Now that we have a clean house and we are keeping it generally tidy lets focus on the actual “clean” aspect. The bathrooms, the sinks, the pantry, the vacuuming etc. I LOVE planners and schedules and to do lists and so on and so forth. And although I love making a schedule I am not a strict must keep to the schedule kind of person. This means that if things don’t go as planned I don’t spiral into a mini mental breakdown. However, when it comes to cleaning the house having a stricter cleaning schedule helps me keep everything under control. Now this will be discussed in a lot more depth next week when we talk about routines and making and keeping them but for now making a generalized schedule of weekly cleaning duties is so helpful! Here is an example of a cleaning schedule

Daily	Weekly
Laundry	Vacuum/dust/sweep house
Kitchen	Clean the windows and window sill
Basket tidy up	Deep clean the sink
Wipe down surfaces	Run the dishwasher through a self-clean cycle
Sweep the kitchen	Self-clean the oven
	Go through the fridge and wipe down the inside
	Wash the sheets

That’s a general example but when we talk about routines we will get more in depth on daily verses weekly verse monthly and scheduling for the best results.

The most important part of keeping a house in order is to embrace it as a positive part of your life instead of looking at it as another chore that you have to do. No one particularly likes cleaning but when you have a positive attitude then your day and your cleaning will be better.

Never forget that no matter what we do, when we are doing it for the glory of God even the most mundane chore can be a wonderful blessing. Keep your focus on the King and when you feel like you are overwhelmed and can't handle it. Give it to God. You are not a failure just because your house isn't picture perfect clean 24/7 or even 5/2. Step back. Breath. Pray. Then put on a smile and continue. We can't glorify God when we are grumpy and complaining. Remember that all things we do we should do for God. Even cleaning our house. 

I hope week two of the “Finding Normal Series” was helpful for you. As a busy wife I find it difficult to remember that I need to make sure my home is a pleasant place not just for me but for those I share it with. Your home is your sanctuary and when your home is clean and clutter free you will find that you have a more positive day! Though many times I simply don’t want to do it mentally determining that I will do this for me and my family is a great motivator when you really just want to not care anymore. What are some ways that you find make clean up easier to handle? Do you have a routine or schedule you try to stick to? Leave a comment below or email me at maryannapartlow@gmail.com I love hearing from each of you! Don’t forget to like my facebook page and follow me on Instagram and twitter!

Copyright The Good Wife's Blog 2017.  Unauthorized use and/or duplication of any material on “The Good Wife's Blog”, without express and written permission from this site’s author and owner is strictly prohibited.  Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to the author with appropriate and specific direction to the original content

New Year's Resolutions and Keeping Them!

Start an exercise routine. Wake up earlier. Spend more time with family. Finally get organized. Get better about spending time in God's Word. New Year's resolutions are just overflowing right now as we all vow that this year we will not only start but keep our new year resolutions. Try as we might and want as much as we may keeping those resolutions is never easy and usually all our great plans die within two weeks to the first month of the new year. So for some of you, you have finally resolved that new year resolutions are stupid and you don't do them. However, whether you are tired of failing your resolutions or you are determined to keep them this year here are a few tips that may help you actually succeed in your resolutions this year.

 

Treat each day like New Year's

Lets face it the real reason the resolutions flop is because we get tired of doing it. We think that skipping this one day won't matter. Or that well we can always start again next week. This causes us to just keep pushing that resolutions down until it's December 25th and we are making the same plans again for next year. Instead of looking at everything as a long drawn out year long process. Decided that you are going to take each day and look at it as the first. Over time your enthusiasm may dwindle from your original mindset but they key to keep a resolution is making a daily decision to do whatever it is you said you would.

 

Missing a day is okay

Missing a day or even a week or missing every other day is perfectly fine. The trick is to not let missing a few days or heck a few months (hopefully it won't go that long) keep you from waking up everyday and trying. If you miss a day then wake up and try again. Don't let a missed day or week discourage you from doing it all together.

 

Prioritize

If you're resolution is to spend more time with God then great! but no matter what your resolution is never let it take time away from God or family. You can always find ways to include family and God in your resolutions. If you plan on exercising more then take your hubby or kids with you or use it as reflections time with God. Resolutions are great but don't let them get in the way of what is important.

 

If at first you don't succeed try, try again. Yes "failure" is never fun but if you are trying then you are already not failing because you are trying! Keep your focus on God first, family second and everything else will fall into place.

I really hope some of these ideas have helped. what are some of your resolutions and how are you planning on keeping them? Feel free to comment below or emailing me at vintagegirl112212@gmail.com. Don't forget to subscribe and follow me to get updates sent straight to your email! and like our Face Book page!

The Wonderful World of Blogging

Let’s talk about blogging for a moment. I just recently started my blogging endeavors and I will be honest…it can be really hard. I figured when I started it surely couldn’t be that difficult. You just write about something and post it and people read it. Right? Wrong! First you have to find something worthwhile to post about. Then you have to actually get people to your blog to read the material and hope it is good enough that they will want to follow you and share your posts with their friends. This last part (unless you are super social media knowledgeable) is quite time consuming. I am still new to this whole world of blogging and despite being lumped into the age of millennials I am not very tech savvy (1994 to me shouldn’t be a millennial :P lol). That being said trying to get a facebook set up, pinterest, intagram, etc. is throwing me for a loop. This weekend I am going to try to really focus on building my social media standing and I wanted to go through this process with anyone else who may be struggling in creating their blogs and getting traffic. I will probably do an every other week post about the blogging process of building social media and getting traffic. This way I will get to implement stuff and have a week to see how well it works. So expect to be seeing blogging tips coming your way soon!

Don’t forget to subscribe and follow me to get these tips sent directly to your inbox! As always feel free to comment with any questions or suggestions or email me at Vintagegirl112212@gmail.com

Christmas on a Budget

Finals Week is here which means after Friday I am FREE of school stress until spring! Granted life stress still exists but one less thing to worry about right. I planned on having a fun little post about budget friendly Christmas shopping but I completely blew my Christmas budget out of the water this year. You see I LOVE getting gifts for people. Especially if I feel like it is a perfect fit gift or just something they would really like. Some people will either do a lot of little gifts or one BIG gift. I tried that...failed! I started doing the little gifts but then it just seemed like a bunch of "cheap" little gifts. So I decided how about one BIG gift...I hate just giving someone ONE item for Christmas. Now I understand Christmas isn't about the gifts but I can't help it I love giving gifts! Anyway, I came to the conclusion to do one big gift and two sub gifts for each family member. Sounds reasonable right? Well when you have a large family that idea flies out the window. SIX in-laws to buy for and that is before I by Sugar Bear anything. Needless to say I probably need help but I don't regret it. As long as everyone likes everything it is totally worth it to me! If you are like me however, and have a slight spending problem especially at Christmas then here are a few tips to help keep your budget down a little lower.

Important people first

Buy for your major important relatives first. In-laws, parents, and siblings, etc. Keep it to immediate family. I know you want to buy stuff for friends but unless they are like the super close friends that are basically relatives (I have one of those) don't buy them stuff...YET!

Pick a low ball number

Don't start your budget off at its max. Pick a number lower than your actual budget because then when you over spend you will still technically be within budget. For instance...if you can afford $50 per person then set  $25-45 limit. Then you will already be looking for lower priced items and when you find the perfect gift that is a little over your $45 limit you still won't max yourself out. DO NOT use your low ball number as an excuse to spend more. It is only for the perfect gift items.

Simple and Sweet

You don't need anything extravagant. Go for the sentimental angle. Even if it isn't expensive if it is something special it still carries the meaning behind the gift.

Buying for friends

Honestly keep it simple. Gift cards to their favorite restaurant, a little décor item for the house. If your friends are married they honestly just want to pay their bills for Christmas so give them money. They can either buy something or use it for bills. It doesn't have to be a lot depending on how close they are I'd say between $20-50. They are friends, you love them, but trust me they will understand if you are on a budget.

Don't stress

The holidays are supposed to be a time of joyfulness. How does that work if you're stressing over what to give people and how much money is going out and on and on and on. When all is said and done it is all about family and friends and focusing on the reason for the season!

Hope some of these ideas helped or at least made you feel less alone in the Christmas spending department. What are your major downfalls at Christmas time? are you a gift buyer or creator? Leave a comment below and don't forget to follow me or subscribe to get emails sent straight to your inbox!

Christmas is Coming!

One holiday down one more to go! It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas at my house. We've got the tree up and little decorations starting to pop up around the living room. Since our space is limited I am trying to keep it simple. However, that isn't going to prevent me from decking the halls. I am finding the easiest way to decorate when you have limited space is to us little things like tiny ornaments that you can stick between things to add a touch décor (see picture below). I am also trying to take advantage of wall space. If you are able to try hang stuff it makes it easy because you can use any blank space you have then put something festive but simple. Don't over crowd your space and make it look cluttered though. Ry-bear and I are hoping to finish our Christmas decorating this week so I will put up more pictures when we have it all done but here are a few of what we've accomplished so far. What are your Christmas decorating tricks for small spaces? Feel free to leave pictures in the comments with your holiday décor!

See the little Christmas balls? I am going to add some lights or garland to the bottom half as well since it is so vacant looking.

Tape looks kind of ugly but I used what I had on hand :P lol

You can do this over ANY window. I have a second curtain rod I put it on but you can do it without the curtain rod as well. Just tape it over the window sill where you can't see it.

 The Christmas tree and finished product (well on that half the room anyway). More pictures to come say tuned.

A Little Touch of Fall

So fun fact not only has Thanksgiving become such an under celebrated holiday that you can barely find a store with any thanksgiving stuff in it, now when you do find a store everything is already on sale! I am both happy and disturbed at this. Happy cause hello I just got stuff even cheaper but disturbed because how can it be such a glanced over holiday! I mean I get that it is football season but I should at least be able to find something other than paper plates with turkey on them. On to the fun stuff! So I have finally started redoing my living room. I stayed up a few nights ago to clean the room and move some stuff around so I can have room for the Christmas tree. In an effort to start a tradition I will be putting the Christmas tree up November 25th. Yes I am that person. But first lets focus on Thanksgiving! I am so excited for this holiday and I am hoping I can get the house in order so maybe I can start forming some form of holiday tradition. If you are wondering why I am behind in my decorating and house organizing it is because we were supposed to be in our house by early to mid November. Unfortunately, we have hit some snags in the property we bought, mainly the people who sold it to us didn't disclose that you couldn't put septic on it due to an easement for the water treatment plant across the street. So our housing endeavors have been put on hold which is why I am determined to make the space I have work and make it functional. Moving on! First things first I got new curtains. Not expensive because hello budget! but I have been wanting something different for a while so I finally spent the $20 to get curtains. I took the curtains I had in my bedroom and put them in the living area...it already looks so much better. I also moved the 5 gallon fish tank which really opened up the door way space...granted a tree is going there soon but hey we do what we have to do for Christmas right! Now as of right now I am still in the designing portion of the decorating phase. I am thinking of moving my recliner into the bedroom and putting the desk in the living room. However, as of right now I think I am keeping everything as is. So now I can start decorating for the holiday season. The easiest way to decorate for the holidays without breaking the budget is to keep it simple. I went to Hobby Lobby last night and purchased a Thanksgiving cross (it is so cute), a box of 13 glittery pumpkins (I like glitter), a bag of fabric leaves,, and a thing of ribbon. All of it WAY over priced of course because it is hobby lobby BUT EVERYTHING was half off so I got it all for just under $25...Still expensive but since I didn't have anything it was necessary. Now I can just start adding to what I already have each year.

So below are pictures of my simple yet still budget friendly purchases and some before and afters of the living room.

First up what I got!

 

 

                                        

 

Before (I will admit I did clean up before I took pictures)

After! Like I said SIMPLE but still decorative ^_^

Before (The 5 gallon fish tank used to sit on the other side of the TV)

After! (Love little glitter pumpkins, I want to get some foliage as well still)

 Before

After!

The ribbon I haven't used yet because I wanted to do a bow for the door but I forgot I don't know how to make a bow. Point is no this isn't the most over the top perfectly decorated home that just screams I love the holidays. However, for the space, time and budget I currently have it lets me have a little taste of fall décor. That's as far as I have gotten so far but there will be more décor and cleaning organizing tips to come so stay tuned and don't forget to subscribe and follow me to get these little things right in you inbox!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Make a Plan

I am a planner. I love planners and notebooks and schedules. Although I am not a “strict stick to the schedule” kind of planner I love having one. It helps me focus and not forget the million and one things I have on my plate. I often fall far short of my planning goals so as of late instead of trying to plan EVERYTHING, I am working on small areas. When I want to get stuff done I want it all done to perfection and within a certain time period. Living with a chronic illness though tends to leave me short on energy and motivation. Because of this instead of trying to accomplish everything at once I have started sectioning off my plans. This has really helped me get more stuff done without having to use up ALL my energy in one sitting. Since we live in tight quarters it is very difficult to find room for everything. I have been working on trying to condense stuff and put away the things I don’t use as often. Because when we moved in I just shoved stuff places this is proving to be more difficult than I thought it would be. This is where my routines and planning are coming in. If you are having difficulty accomplishing what you want to get done set up a routine. Wake up an hour to thirty min. earlier than you need to. This will help you not feel rushed and like you have time to breath before starting your day. Start small then expand. Start with something simple in the morning like making the bed and tidying up your bedroom and bathroom. This is nice because at the end of the day you have a nice clean sanctuary to retreat to. clean you kitchen before bed. If you are lucky enough to have a dishwasher (we are sadly lacking) then this shouldn't take very long. Just load it up and start it before bed. In the morning empty it as part of you morning routine so that you can more easily keep the kitchen tidy with less effort on your part. The key to success is that once you get an area clean to not let stuff pile up there again. This is where you routine comes in because you can set up a specific time to go throughout your house and tidy up instead of clean up. This saves time and energy. It is so easy to feel overwhelmed with an entire house to clean and organize even if it isn't that big. However, if you take your house room by room and your rooms section by section instead of trying to do it all it will be more efficient and less scary. If you have difficulty staying motivated I've got a whole post dedicated to just that, "Hair up means deep clean!" so you can hop on over to see if any of those tips help. Remember not having a "June Cleaver house" doesn't mean you are a failure or lazy or not a good wife. The quality of life inside the home is what matters so don't let the clutter strip you of your joy. Make a plan, take a step back, breath, and know that even if you fail at your plan it isn't a failure because it means you are trying.

Trusting through the Storm

²⁸ Peter said to Him, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” ²⁹ And He said, “Come!” And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. ³⁰ But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!”  ³¹ Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and *said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” (Matthew 14:28-31)

What's so interesting about this is that even when Peter let the fear of the storm overwhelm him, when he cried out to Jesus, Jesus still saved him. Often times when something is happening we see Jesus and completely trust Him. Unfortunately far to often once we get out on the water we look around us and see the storm coming. We get scared of what might happen and we stop if only for a moment believing that God will protect us. With my husband and I facing a great storm it is getting more and more difficult to not look at the storm and wonder what is going to happen. We trust God and His will but we are worried and anxious about the outcome. For some people if you waver even for a moment they suddenly consider you a faithless heathen who doesn't trust God. We are human, we are sinful, we are not perfect and because of this sometimes we do waver. That doesn't mean we don't trust God it just means that like Peter we have to call out to Him again and ask Him to help us. The biggest struggle we often face is that sometimes the outcome of our circumstances are not what we had planned. God answering prayer doesn't always mean He answered the way WE want Him to. In my current situation I have to brace myself for the fact that the answer may not be one I like, but I have to understand that as long as I am walking in the will of God and trying my best to follow Him he will turn every situation to His glory. Being a Christian doesn't mean an easy life. Our lives are to bring glory to God and sometimes that involves suffering to show others that God can work through all things.  ^28 "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." (Romans 8:28). If you are struggling and facing difficult roads and the storm is closing in on you. Remember that we need to keep our focus on God, we need to not let the fear of the storm overwhelm our faith in Him so that we don't sink. We also have to understand that just because we don't get the answer we want we have to accept the will of God and trust Him to see us through. Often times He will answer our prayers in ways we never realize until much later. So keep praying, keep trusting. I am keep my focus on God and praying that our situation will work itself out, however, I also know that in the end God's glory will reign supreme and His light will shine brighter than ever no matter the outcome.  

Creating a Sanctuary

Having a place in your home to relax and unwind is really a key factor in a calm household and a can be a major contributing factor in fostering a loving marriage. Some people may not be as bothered by messes and disorganization as others but regardless I think we can all agree that when everything is clean and you can see the floor there is just an unbelievable calm and satisfaction that rushes over you. You feel accomplished, you feel relaxed. Whether you have a big house or a small house even if it is nothing more than one little corner of a room with a chair that little corner makes you happy. Whether it is an entire room or just a part of a room find a space that you can call yours. A little area that you can step away from the world and the craziness of life and just be still. I love to read and I also love warm lighting (my husband is an led bright light kind of guy). Because of this my ideal relax and be still space would have a calming warm light, a comfy chair, a desk for my projects and a radio for music. I like spacious non-claustrophobic areas but I like that cozy comfy feel. To create this I would use the espresso brown hardwood floors and a warm neutral paint color. To keep it feeling spacious I would add sheer white curtains. Add some light colored frames for pictures a little flower vase, some floating expresso shelving and a cozy fluffy blanket and you have the perfect place to go relax and get away from it all. Not everyone has a separate bedroom that enables you to create your own personal space. If this is the case (like it is currently for us) take advantage of your master bedroom and section of one little corner for yourself. The master bedroom itself is already supposed to be a sanctuary space so if you want to use the whole room as your safe haven that is fine too. However, I still suggest that you have at least a tiny little corner to call your own in your master bedroom. I have a corner desk in our room that I am slowly creating as my "happy place." It's that area in the room that my husband's stuff doesn't go on and I have my warm lighting desk lamp. Since I am still in school and our room isn't big enough for a chair a desk seemed like a good place to have as my "this is my clean area that hypothetically doesn't have electronics on it." (My husband is a computer and car geek). Finding that quite place that you can relax at is really important because it gives you the ability to go there and just relax and take a minute to gather your thoughts. We as wives our minds work a mile a minute and it is difficult for us to slow down and recoup ourselves. I encourage you to create a little safe haven for yourself even if it is just a little corner of the room so that you can take time to rest your mind so you can better help those in your home.  

Not a Normal Guy

I am sure that most of you ladies have been taught since you were young that, "A guy is only after one thing." Then when you got older every guy and his grandpa proved that saying true. Then when you were looking into getting married a realization came that not all guys are only after one thing. However, even though he married you for so many other reasons that "thing" is something he still enjoys. I am sure your mother told you that, "Sometimes you are just gonna have to do it whether you want to or not...it's a way to show him you love him enough to do that even when you don't want to." This is more or less what I learned growing up. I was therefore prepared to "make the sacrifice" when I got married, anticipating his s*x drive would be vastly greater than mine. Well, let me tell you I couldn't have been more wrong. At first I thought it was me. Maybe I just wasn't attractive in that way to him. I mean he married me but clearly something is wrong. After a while I was like okay maybe it's him. Maybe he just isn't a "normal" guy and he just isn't as into it as other guys are. You see I'd grown up, and we've grown up in such a world where it is considered "not normal" when a guy or girl doesn't want to have s*x ever minute with ever human they meet. We've been taught that "guys only want one thing" so when we run into the rare gems that look at you for so much more than that we consider them "broken." For the first year and a half of our marriage it bothered me that he wasn't "normal." I didn't know how to handle that. No one ever told me that real men don't care about that 24/7. I lived a fairly sheltered life so it wasn't until I got married, got a job, and really started venturing into the world that I started to notice something. All the "normal" guys and the girls with these "normal" guys are miserable. divorced, remarried, three kids from this girl, two from that one. Visiting on weekends. Books and blogs on how to keep your man, how to tell if he is cheating, when you don't know if he still loves you. I hear about all these women whose love life sucks because they think that they can't find someone better or that, "well all guys are like that." Even the ones who are happily married still worry about their husbands eyes wandering because, "that's just what guys do." And we are supposed to be okay with that. We are supposed to be okay with having to keep our husbands, boyfriends, fiancé's attention off other women. If being married to me special of gem of a man has taught me anything is that there ARE men out there who you don't have to worry about wandering attentions. You see love and lust and desperation are three very different things. We all want to be loved and when we can't find someone we get desperate and are willing to accept lust over love. Don't get me wrong I understand that there are plenty of happily married loving relationships out there. I also understand that we as humans are flawed and are prone to making mistakes. I am not trying to say that if your guy struggles with lust he doesn't love you or that your man can't have made mistakes before meeting you. All I am trying to say is that we as women need to stop accepting "boys will be boys" as an okay for continuing in relationships that are harmful. A mentor of my husbands talked with him on this subject recently. He was curious if my husband had ever had relations with another woman besides me (no he hasn't). He then took the opportunity to point out how that special intimacy between a married couple is about the cross and Jesus' sacrifice. Seriously I didn't get it either till he explained it to me but we can get into that in another post. Point is when he was telling me about it I started to realize that I had been comparing my husband to what I know and have heard about other guys thinking that they were normal. It finally hit me then that my husband was actually the normal one and the others were flawed representations of what society has manufactured. I will be honest I have grown so accustom to the unconditional, unquestioning, love I receive from my husband I get honestly perplexed when my girlfriends or random people a meet tell me about their relationships. Not saying we are perfect. We fight, no couple doesn't or couldn't. Misunderstanding happen. There is one thing I know though, he doesn't know how to love someone else like he loves me. It is so far away from the farthest part of his mind that he looks at me confused when I mention something that every other "normal" guy in the room noticed. No matter your relationship statues currently, try to keep in mind that when someone really truly loves you, you don't have to keep or get their attention. Their attention never leaves you. You shouldn't have to worry about the woman walking by in practically nothing because you should know that he isn't noticing them because it shouldn't even cross his mind to look at someone else. If you have a husband, boyfriend, whatever like mine KEEP HIM they are rare gems that are like unforged diamonds. We need to stop allowing our guys to think it is "normal" to look at other women and we need to not teach our sons that it is okay to "be like the other guys." Allowance is acceptance of a behavior. Stop allowing disrespect. We shouldn't have to say, "well this one is better than that one so I'll marry him." Marriage is a sacred covenant. One that should not be broken. Don't look for a "normal" guy. Look for the one that stands out from the rest. Mine is the rarest gem and nothing holds a marriage together quite like not having to worry about what he is thinking or who he is looking at. I understand that this is a lot off the beaten track of what I usually post about. But I felt like even though this is a blog geared more towards wives there may be some unmarried women reading too. Also I really wanted to make a point to point out that "normal" guys aren't that great. I am terribly guilty of wandering why mine wasn't "normal" only to discover over time that I have been so wrong in thinking that "normal" was wanting all the things that most guys want. Never look down on a man that is different from the rest. He isn't a sissy, he isn't weird. He is respectful and willing to wait for the girl that sees him as the unforged diamond that he is.

Uniquely You

I like sports cars, I watch Korean dramas, I listen to one direction and I watch Disney movies. I love to read books, Beverly Lewis is a personal favorite. I am a high heels sparkle kind of girl who loves country rustic too. I love history and am fascinated by other cultures. Children and the elderly are my niche I want to help them and my heart aches when they are sad and lonely. My favorite color is sparkle and I like makeup and pretty hair but never have time to do mine. I love to write but never finish the books I start. I’ve always wanted to be an actress. I love video games. I want to live in the country with sprawling acreage, I want to live in a penthouse in the city, but I want to live on the lake too. I want to travel...everywhere! I love cruises, I want to learn how race professionally. I want to learn to play guitar and piano, I want to learn to draw. I want to learn at least two different languages. The law and forensics fascinate me. I want to change the way law enforcement works when I am a lawyer. These are some of the things that make me uniquely me. These are the things that I like and enjoy but often when faced with others I tend to hid about myself. There is no one out there who doesn't want to feel loved, accepted, appreciated, or included. Often that means when we are around others who like something different then us we rush to like what they do. We rationalize that we do really like those things because yeah they are cool. So rarely do we understand that it is okay to not like something as much as someone else. Or to mention that you don't like that but you like something else. I suffer with this problem a lot because of what I went through as a child. Always being left out, picked on, never "belonging" in a group of people I thought were my friends. When I got older and thought hey I won't have that problem anymore people have grown out of being childish...I find myself often in the same boat. I often find myself wanting to be included so badly that I forget to be what it is that makes me uniquely me. It is difficult when faced with a world that forces their opinions and their "right" to give their approval down your throat. Guess what though...they don't have that right. Although I won't say I don't still try to "fit in" I am finding that the more I focus on God and what He wants for my life the more I find I am not really caring what others think. Maybe you're the popular one in your group or maybe you're like me and can't find that "ride or die" group of friends. Whichever you are always remember to share with people what it is that makes you uniquely you. You don't have to justify your likes or dislikes to someone. As long as you are following God's will and plan for your life to the best you know how, He will put the people in your life that you need and that need you. Never forget to be uniquely you!

Meal Planning

Alright ladies! lets face it menu planning is a pain! Especially for those of us who may not be the most innovative in the kitchen. I have found a really awesome website that can either help you create a meal plan (complete with shopping list) or make on for you! I like using both options. The created for you menu is for seven meals with sides and one dessert. So far I have seen an average between $70-80 per menu for ingredients. (I picked the gluten free menu though and healthy is always more expensive). There is a way to condense spending using their menu though and I will touch on that in another post. For now though lets focus on "Build a Menu" ( http://www.buildamenu.com/ ) They have several different options for what works for your family. As well as a reasonable price! I happened to get mine during their super sale and I already LOVE it! Even without the sale though if you are like me and love organization but SUCK at meal planning then their normal price is still fair! I have only just recently started using it. I hear about it from Jami Balmet with "Home Making Ministries" (http://homemakingministries.com/ )   and "Young Wife's Guide" ( https://youngwifesguide.com/ ).  Just a side note, I am not getting paid or compensated for promoting anyone, I just happen to really like it. That being said, I have also just started using Home Making Ministries Academy. I signed up a few months ago and watched like one video so far but despite the fact that I haven't found time to sit myself down and do it more often or as much as I had anticipated I do not regret my purchase at all. Which for me is rare because I suffer buyers remorse BIG TIME. Anyway I have greatly digressed. I have always been a pen and paper kind of gal. I like tangibility and apps don't always cut it for me. Finding something that lets me print and create and have the tangibility without the excess time spent on writing and planning is HUGE. Especially in my very very busy life. I would definitely highly recommend taking a look at these great sights. BAM even has a trail version for you so you don't have to spend a ton of money without knowing what you're getting into. I will come back and post more on this as I myself delve deeper into it all but for now I wanted to throw it out there for those of you who really need help in the meal planning area of housewifing. 

You're Allowed "YOU" time

Do you ever feel like you just need a break. I little time and space to yourself. When you take that time and space for yourself though...do you start to feel guilty? Not all of you may have this issue but I and I am sure some others out there do. Whenever I just want to sit and watch TV or read a book or just lay in bed and not do anything for a little while...I feel guilty. Or worse I force myself to do it and then all my mind does the whole time I am "relaxing" is just think about everything else I have to do. I always have so much to do that if I am not doing something I feel like I should be. I hate having a messy house, it can be practically impossible sometimes to find real time to sit down and do my homework, cooking dinner...well lets just say fast food is more a part of our lives then I would like to admit. I can somehow get really motivated when I am at work. You know the, "when I get home I am going to get so much done." Some how it never seems to work. That's when I run into the problem of feeling guilty for not being productive and yet feeling like I can justify it because hey I worked all day. If this sounds anything like you then let me tell you something...you are not alone and there is hope. It is PERFECTLY fine to have "me time" and it is perfectly okay to just want to do nothing. As wives though we still need to balance out our me time with work time and house work time and husband time and if you have kids well may the Lord Bless you. It is a struggle for working wives to have it all together and not feel like they are falling apart. "You" time is so important because without it you can't handle everything else. So don't feel bad when you want to spend a few minutes gathering your thoughts and wanting to relax a little. Go take that bubble bath or sit down and watch the TV for a little while. Trust me the mess will still be there after you've taken time to do something relaxing for you.  

When We can't Fix It

What do you do when you can’t do anything? My husband and I are facing a VERY difficult point in our lives right now. Unfortunately, I can’t help him. It is something he has to deal with and work out and although I can be there for him, encourage him, and love him through it all. I can’t fix it. If you are anything like me “fixing” is your middle name. You see a problem you want to fix especially when it is a loved one. Especially when it is your husband. My heart breaks every time I see him struggling to cope, struggling to find answers and purpose in everything, struggling to not feel like a failure as a husband and a man. And although I repeatedly tell him he is not a failure, he is wonderful and smart and my dream come true, he just can’t see it. When you really love someone you already have a tendency to always feel like you could never be enough for them. Add with the rest of the world telling him that he is a failure and he screwed up his whole life because he made a mistake. Add parents that look at him differently because of it, add people that think they are better than him and put him down. Add him being temporally unable to be the primary provider and that falling on his wife and you have a very depressed man who is doing everything he can to be happy but can’t get out of this endless pit of feeling like a failure. It breaks my heart that I can’t relieve this burden from him. So what do we as wives do when we can’t fix it. When we look at our husbands and see the pain and struggle but can’t do anything about it? Every couple is different so not all of these may work and no none of these are some magic spell that we can use as wives to “fix” whatever the situations if overnight, but at the very least it might help him a little.

 

1: Pray- Pray for your husband every single day. Pray for healing, knowledge, help, and forgiveness. For tranquility and patience, and if you don’t know what he needs pray that God would look into his heart and help him in whatever way he needs.

 

2: Do his favorite thing- My husband loves all things cars (corvettes to be specific) and gadgets and gears. The easiest way for me to spend time with him is to go outside and sit in the shade while he works on the cars or boat or whatever project he is working on at the time. Unfortunately for me I have minor medical condition that doesn't allow me to be in the heat for long periods of time so I don't often get to do this. However, I have worked around it by being out there for brief periods of time going inside to cool down and then either coming back outside or making him a really yummy snack.


3. Couple's Bible Study- Pick a book in the Bible and go through it together. Do a whole chapter or even just a few verses a day. Just getting in the Word with him and talking about it is always a good way to connect and to help him stay positive about circumstances.


4. TV/Book time- Okay some of you may hate me for saying this because a lot of people are trying to vear away from electronics and tv when spending time with each other and that is a perfectly fine thing to do. However, my family has always been big movie watchers. It always brought the family together when we all gather in the living room and watched old tv shows and movies. I happened to marry someone whose primary love language is quality time and this falls perfectly in line with snuggling up with a snack and watching our favorite shows together. If you aren't big tv watchers though you can trade out this idea for book time. I love reading and I love reading a book with my husband we both get so excited about what will happen next and it takes us into a different world away from all the stress of daily life.


5. Go on an adventure- we are BIG road trippers. We love late night drives, and sitting out by the lake soaking in all the beauty God created. Whenever I can tell that my husband is really struggling I often suggest we go somewhere. Whether it is a weekend trip or a few hour drive somewhere and back it gets him in a new environment and for him driving is his therapy so it just works.


6. Let him be- this one is the hardest for me because I WANT him right up next to me when I am upset. For him though...he needs space sometimes. He needs time to think and process. I have learned that letting him be doesn't necessarily mean completely leaving him alone. A lot of times it means sitting on the couch (non cuddly version) next to him. letting him do his thing, or just doing my own thing while waiting for him to be ready for attention. Leaving them alone is hard for us wives because how can we "make it better" if we aren't psychoanalyzing him every to seconds. Trust me if you can learn his queue of when he needs to just be left alone, you will prevent a lot of silly little fights over nothing. If we need our "me time" so do they.

Making it Feel like Fall

Oh my gosh y'all it is FALL! I can't believe it the Texas weather finally caught up with the seasons. Granted this is Texas so fall may not last more than a few days but it is exciting none the less. With fall finally here I am so excited to start decorating and filling my home with the smell of pumpkin spice and everything nice. If you are like me and working with very limited space (two mirrored bed/bathrooms connected by a hallway {one bedroom/bath combo is the living room/kitchen}) anyway, if you are working with limited space then it can be difficult to go all out and decorate. So here are a few little things you can do that will give your home that fall feeling without to much work or clutter.

Candle Warmers

Step one get yourself those little warmers. The ones you put the wax cubes in and they melt and make your house smell like happiness. Get two if you can afford them. Step two get some fall smelling wax cubes, melt 'em and wait for your home to smell like a pumpkin leaf exploded ^_^ (I REALLY love fall).

A wreath

Get yourself a simple pretty fall colored wreath and hang it on your door. It's like fall welcoming you home every time you enter.

Throw blanket

Get a fall colored throw blanket. Neutral browns and subtle oranges. Drape it over a chair or across the couch. All fall and snuggly.

Pumpkins

get some tiny little decorative pumpkins and a little touch of fall greenery from a craft store. Place them around the house wherever you feel needs a little fall sprucing. 

If you are lucky enough to have one of those fireplace you can turn the heat on or off of then light it up (still to hot down here for the heat) and enjoy!

Happy Fall!! ^_^ 

Finding Calm Moments in a Busy Life

Life is busy! We all can agree on that. There are so many things to stay on top of especially when you’re a wife. Work (if you’re a working wife), school (if you’re a student), spending time with your spouse, cooking, cleaning, kids if you have them. It seems so impossible to find a free minute to just relax. If I didn’t slow myself down every now and then I could probably go a whole day and see my husband for maybe 30min. before bed. If you are a working wife then you know how hard it is to find the spare time to do fun, spontaneous things. You also know how much it sucks that your whole day is eaten up by an 8+ hour work day. This goes for you to busy moms! contrary to popular opinion mothers have 24/7 job that you can’t “leave at the office.” It is really important for us busy wives to make sure that we are not only seeking out individual time for ourselves to recharge, but also that we are making a point to find time to spend with our husbands. Spending time with our husbands can be as simple as just “touching base” with them even if only for five minutes. Obviously the more time you can spend the better, however, this little tips may help you rekindle the possible diming flame due to lack of effort on both of y’alls part.

 

15secs.

Seriously whether it is first thing in the morning, or when one or both of y’all are walking out the door to work. Spend 15 seconds at least kissing him goodbye. I am not saying make out with him…although that isn’t a problem…but just a simple sweet lingering kiss. I get it this seems stupid to some of you but seriously as much as I love the quick little “love ya” pecks if you spend 15 seconds genuinely invested in a kiss you will be AMAZED at the result. It will make both of your days better and make you excited to get home and see your love. I suggest a minimum of two 15 second kisses a day, morning and bedtime.

 

Take a walk

Got a dog? Use it! Doggie needs his walk and you need time with your spouse. Morning, night or both, agree to a consistent time and try to stick to it best you can every day. Even if it is only a 15minutes walk and you both say more or less nothing to each other and just walk, that connection time every day will be a huge marriage recharge. For those of you with kids…put them in the stroller and take ‘em with you, or if you have an older child ask her to watch them for 10min. and just walk down to the mail box and back. Point is you need to find time to spend with him without focusing on something else even if only for 10min.

 

Bible Study

As Godly couples we should be trying to not only have our own personal time with God, but also time to come together as a single unit and spend time in the Word. It could be a whole chapter or even just a few verses. The point is not how much you read but that you are spending time together in the Word of God.     

 

Date night

Once a month minimum. More as you can, however, I am well aware that date nights equal money and not all of us have a lot of it. Once a month though try to set aside a day to go on a date. It doesn’t have to be to a fancy restaurant (although it can be). My ideal date nights include going to McDonalds, getting a larger root beer, and then driving around a little with the top off of the car just embracing the quiet moments with him. Pick up a pizza, turn on Netflix and watch your favorite show! Point is it doesn’t have to be fancy or expensive it just needs to be dedicated time together.

Sail away

Okay this is a total once a year thing and an as you can afford it suggestion. However, I highly suggest you go on a cruise once a year as possible. We went on a four day cruise to Cozumel for our honeymoon and it was the most relaxing, reconnecting experience ever (We didn't go on our honeymoon as soon as we were married). Under no circumstances are you to get the internet connection or cell data service thing though. The reason it was so relaxing was because we could do nothing else other than spend time with each other, explore the ship, eat, sleep, and RELAX!

Hair up means deep clean!

     We all pick up here and there do some cleaning throughout the week but we all know that when the hair goes up some serious cleaning is about to go down. For me the hardest part of cleaning, or anything for that matter, is starting. Once I start I can keep the momentum going but it takes me FOREVER to work up to that start moment. Some people are the opposite. They get super motivated and can start a project really easy but lose that motivation really quickly. Some of you ladies are really lucky and can just do and get done (Bless each and every one of you). For those of you who aren’t quite that good at either getting going or staying on track though here are some simple tips that might help you!

 

For the easily motivated but easily distracted…

Play to your strength you can get things going super easy! You are a good self-starter. Use that to your advantage. The best cleaning technique for you would be the 5 to 15 min clean. What this does is play to your strength. You go full throttle for 5 to 15 min. and right when you start to get distracted you stop. Take a break, watch a show, read a book and in 30min. Dive back into that project for another 5 to 15min.

 

For the completed focused but totally unmotivated (guilty as charged)…

It is not that you aren’t motivated you get pumped and ready you just can’t get yourself to do! And the answer is no you aren’t lazy because once you get going you get the job done! I have to convince myself to take a shower, not because I don’t like taking showers or because I don’t want to be clean but seriously who has time for that! The goal for you is to NOT TAKE A BREAK! I am not saying work till you pass out but don’t ever completely stop until the job is done. The easiest way to do this is to get your water bottle full when you start the project so you don’t have to get up to get something to drink. If possible depending on what you are cleaning, switch between projects. Balance out a more rigorous cleaning with a more calm cleaning like folding towels and putting them away. What this does is give your body and mind a “break” from what you are doing while still not letting you get out of that cycle of cleaning. Cause we all know once people like us take that break…we have to start the motivation process all over again.

For the easily motivated and completely focused…

Y’all pretty much have it together you can motivate yourself to get something done and you do it till it’s done. You can take breaks because your motivation will still be there when you get back. For y’all the only thing I can think of is if you aren’t really organized in your cleaning, get into a regular routine. It will make keeping the house clean so much more simple and it will draw on that raw talent of motivation and focus.