Loving Your Home

Hello Everyone! I am back while the sweet ones are sleeping to share something with you that I felt my heart being prompted to do last week. I have always wanted to do something like this, but didnt really know how to put my words or thoughts into a post, but last week while my kiddos were scooting around outside I had a spurt of inspiration. SO, I went and grabbed a pen and paper and wrote my thoughts and boom this idea bloomed :)

We have moved three times in four years and most likely approaching a 4th move this next year. Because of the nature of my husbands job and all this moving :) we rent. I feel extremely blessed to live in the homes we have been able to live in, but if you rent  you know there are restrictions that come with living in a home that you do not own. More than once I have had to work with paint colors that weren't me, obstacles in layout, and so much more.

But God has taught me A LOT the past four years about embracing your home and being content with what you have. He has gifted me with creativity and a love for work. I love being a stay at home mom mostly because I love my kids with all my heart, but second because I love my home. I love being here and pouring into what I feel is very important each day.

Over the course of the next week I am going to share with you what I have learned. My hope and prayer is that it blesses you in some way and through me sharing my heart you learn to love your home and embrace it for what it is.

The First Step:

Clean it

Bummer, I know. This one is not very exciting, but it is crucial. I cannot tell you how many times I have been discouraged with the my home and after giving it a good scrub down things looked a lot better.

There are a lot of different ways to clean your house and I encourage you to look in the rooms or areas that are causing you stress and figure out what you need to do to make more use of it or to keep it from blowing up every time you turn around.

When I first had Ally EVERY TIME I sat down to feed her this would happen:

I am not kidding.

My little human tornado :)

 It was so frustrating that any break that I had I would clean up messes he made and then they would be awake again to make more.

So one day I decided to change a few things that seemed to be a problem.

First thing,

I moved "his table" out of the kitchen. It was constantly catching a mess and he never utilized it and used it.

It completely stopped messes in that area from happening.

The next thing I did was I went through his toys. I got rid of a few, stored a few and stored all of the tiny little pieces that he would scatter EVERYWHERE until he is a little older to actually use them.

This is just an example of ONE TIME that I have done a major clean up to help things run smoother in our home, and I am still doing this when problems arise.

Is your daughter dragging out your shoes 24 times a day, buy an organizer and get them of the floor and gift her a pair that you dont wear anymore to be her very own. 

Drawers wont close, clean them out.

You wont believe how deep cleaning will totally change the harmony in your home and how much you and your family will enjoy it.

I have FINALLY found a harmony that works for us and our current stage of life. 

We are what seems to be in the messiest stage of life right now with Ally wanting to feed herself and Weston potty training.

In my head and heart I have come up with this little motto: "Perfection doesn't live here, LOVE does"

I am finally at peace with how are home looks on a daily basis. And I bet you would be surprised if you walked in unannounced at how clean it is. It isnt perfect, or spotless and there is ALWAYS something that needs to be put away, but for the most part it looks pretty good.

Your house doesn't have to be perfect, but if you are not taking care of it out of laziness then that is when there is a problem.

If you are doing your absolute best, it will show.

If you get rid of the problem areas then there is less cleaning on a day to day basis.

This morning I cleaned things up a little bit and got them in order before we went outside and spent the rest of the day swimming :)

Another thing I do is I make myself pick up before I sit down to write. I load the dishwasher, put away toys, rotate the laundry before I sit down while the kids nap.

Those are just a few things I have done.

The point is not to be cleaning all the time and never have time with your kids, quite the opposite. Find a clean that works for you. And if there is and area that is always causing strife come up with a plan to help it function better. :)

A week or so ago I was frustrated with my desk always being a mess. I decided to clean out the drawers and figure out why it always looked like a bomb went off.

This picture doesn't even really do it justice, sometimes it would get way worse! I would clean it and it would be back to this in no time.

SO, like I said I spent an afternoon going through papers and cleaning out drawers.

And when my kids woke up it looked like this:

All I did was clean

I gathered a few things from around the house including a canvas and made an inspiration board. And now that area is no longer a problem :)

I'll be back tomorrow with what I have learned about "using what you have", but first we have to start with clean :) Speaking of, I better get to it! My little ones are going to be calling my name soon and I have a few things I need to get done!

Hope this encourages ya'all to tackle a room or area that is always a mess and make it work for you and your family!