Rules

I do not love to clean my house. I do not get joy out of dusting or vacuuming. Dishes and laundry are just necessary chores if my family wants to eat and wear clean clothes. My problem becomes if the laundry has piled up all over my room in clean and dirty piles and if I can't find the counter then I can't get to other things. I can't clean my bathroom if I have to put all the laundry away. I can't clean my kitchen floor if I have all the dishes and other stuff that has accumulated on my counter to worry about.

In the 2 years I've been a full time SAHM I have finally realized that I have to give myself rules. With 4 kids, a husband, a house and life I can't afford time drains unless my responsibilities are done. So my first rule is I can't read, do the computer or Blog unless I've read my Bible. If I'm reading up on diets, child rearing and whatever else it all doesn't matter unless I've spent time with God. If I'm not spiritually fed then the rest really doesn't matter. I will get to bed at night and realize I didn't even think to crack open my Bible yet I read parts of 3 other books during my day. I think if this is a rule then when I sit down to read something I have to ask myself did I read my Bible first?

Unfortunately, my spiritual "feedings" will be chaotic. I don't have a quiet corner to go hide in while I do my devotionals. I don't have a wake up time where I could go have 20 minutes to be with God because I never know when my kids will be up and with the way my nights go I don't have the mental capacity (yet) to drag myself out of bed earlier than when my first kid decides to wake up. I wouldn't be very spiritually challenged if I'm exhausted and cranky. But a year from now that SHOULD change. I SHOULD have more of a schedule with all of my kids and have an ability to count on more sleep but I'm not holding my breath.

My second rule is I can't be on the computer or Blog unless the laundry is folded and put away and the kitchen is cleaned up. If these things are all ready done for some reason then I have to find 2 other things that need to be done, i.e. vacuuming, dusting, cleaning a bathroom, etc. That way I'm getting household stuff done. If I'm not getting it done it means I have a baby who is crying every time I put him down.

Some of my friends are amazing at keeping their house up and I think either they like it or it's just so ingrained that they just get it done. I think my problem is I find it boring. I love putting together budgets and figuring out the weekly meal plan but when it comes to keeping up the house, I'd rather be snoozing. I just have to force myself into a routine and hopefully it won't be too time consuming in the end because I'll have 1 or 2 loads of laundry to fold instead of 6. I'll have clean kitchen counters which will lead to dusted shelves, vacuumed and mopped floors and clean bathrooms. We'll see how it goes.