At least one of which I know I will be able to keep...

1.06.2012
Just a few things that have been rattling around in my brain that I'd like to accomplish in 2012. I'm sure of success on at least one point (turning 30), so no fear of complete failure at least!

One of the things that has been most difficult for me in 2011 is finding a balance between motherhood, a full-time career, blogging, and maintaining a household. Generally the ball I end up dropping is the housework. I mean, the laundry is insane. I swear that if you only saw my bedroom, some days you'd think that I belong on an episode of Hoarders.

Problem is that having a messy home stresses me out. I'd like to have less stress, so I need to figure out a way to get things under control. I'm thinking a regular cleaning schedule, and a strict routine are the way to go. I've never been much of a schedule or routine person, but something has to change. If you have any suggestions for me I'm all ears!

Here's to 2012: The year of de-hoarding!

24 comments:

  1. whoa. I share every single thing on this list. Let's do it!

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  2. Yep. Looks like my list... except the long hair part. That was my resolution last year and since it has grown a good 6-7inches :0)

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  3. I have the same problem with balance, and I don't even have a babe in the mix! Google the FLYlady, she helps you build routines to make your house sparkling all the time!

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  4. I don't know if this will help with your laundry problem, but it surprised a couple friends of mine and it works very well for me, so I thought I'd offer it up. I do laundry on Sundays; start early in the morning and all your loads will be done by evening. I don't fold the loads as they come out of the dryer; I just separate them into different baskets, pull out any delicates that might wrinkle and drape them over the top and put all of the baskets in our master bedroom. On Sunday nights, my husband and I always sit down to watch a movie together. While watching the movie, I fold all the laundry and put it away. I never have laundry sitting in my room, waiting to be dealt with. My laundry is always done at the start of the week, and I also don't feel like I give up any of my personal time to accomplish it! It's not exactly revolutionary, but it's a ritual here and one we very much look forward to. A couple of my friends have tried my strange method, too, and love it. Maybe it will work for you.

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  5. happy to hear you want to write more about the babe...i love reading your motherhood posts, especially now that i'm due with my first in 3 weeks!!

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  6. Now, I am not saying that I am successful at sticking to this all the time, but when I do it works:

    Mornings: unload the dishwasher, wipe down the counters/tabletops if needed. This is the one chore that HAS to be done daily for me. It seems to set the tone for the rest of the house and my stress level. If the kitchen starts off clean, I feel better.

    Then I've made a list of 5 other chores that most need to be done weekly. For me it's laundry, vacuuming/mop kitchen (I do these together, since one needs to be done after the other), clean masterbarth, clean kid's bath, clean guest bath. Ok, that breaks down into 1 chore per week day and leaves my weekends chore free. I know that all I have to do is my chore for the day and then I'm done cleaning!

    works for me, but I'm at home. I'm sure it would need tweaking for your schedule.

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  7. Agree with many of these resolutions. Mine are to

    1. Take charge of answering the question "Whats for dinner?"
    2. Healthy lifestyle, portion control
    3. Have fun, worry less

    Random question though, I like how you laid out your resolutions too as well as your inspiration boards. What program do you use?

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  8. love the list and layout that is a cool and simple list.

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  9. My laundry solution is one that a lot of people won't like to hear, but ever since I did this 5 years ago I never have laundry piled up - get rid of a lot of your clothes. I keep 5 pairs of pants, 5 pairs of shorts, 7 tee shirts, 3 sweaters, 2 dresses, 4 night gowns and like 7 days worth of undergarments/socks. That's it. And I try to do the same for everyone but the baby. Then I do one load of laundry every single day. Once you start doing it every day you don't need any more clothing than that - because everything is always clean.

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  10. Housework always falls off for me too. We really haven't had any luck in trying to maintain a schedule so this year I'm thinking that wise thing to do is admit defeat and hire a service to come in once a week or so. Sometimes you just can't do it all. :)

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  11. Lauren @ with two catsJanuary 6, 2012 at 7:52 PM

    I so wish I could afford a once-a-week cleaning service! We're currently trying to save our pennies (thus, the 'spend less' resolution) Maybe once-a-month?

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  12. This is something I've honestly considered - some days I even feel like I'd like a uniform lol!

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  13. That question is a constant at our home as well, but since the Hubster usually does the cooking I figure that should be his resolution ;)

    As for your random question, for the resolutions I used Photoshop with some help from Pugly Pixel (I used her speech bubble brush). For the inspiration boards I generally use Pages (Apple's word processing/publishing program).

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  14. This sounds like a great schedule! I'd love to have my weekends chore-free.

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  15. Glad to hear someone else likes reading them besides Violet's grammy! :) Congrats on the new addition!

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  16. I love this idea! Two problems I have include a) no TV in the bedroom and b) the babe is a light sleeper and we have the oldest squeakiest closet and dresser drawers ever, so I feel like I can't put away laundry while she's sleeping :/ I guess I should just go for it and hope she gets used to the squeaks.

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  17. Awesome! We'll have to check in at the end of the year and see if either of us stuck to our resolutions lol

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  18. Have you ever checked out flylady.com? It has helped me feel less stressed about housework. And she is all about decluttering and baby steps toward a cleaning schedule. The first step is a clean kitchen sink and her laundry solution is a load a day keeps the chaos away and it is nice to have smaller loads = less to fold at one time :)

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  19. Lauren, I can SO relate :). Balance and routine--what are they?? I just recently wrote about this myself, after a stressful family situation caused me to have a whole new respect for my routines: http://www.revealingredesign.com/blog/2011/11/my-life-lately-anything-but-routine-2/

    I wish you lots of luck! Doing a little each day, and not beating up on myself when things aren't perfect has made a huge difference to me as a working mom.

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  20. hahahaha...ooh how I can relate to the laundry hoarder comment. we share that resolution. :)

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  21. Spend less and keep it simple are things I need to do this year.

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