decluttering, organizing and cleaning and - oh my!

DOC- Decluttering, Organizing and Cleaning- Tales from an (almost) reformed clutterbug and general slob

Homemaking is a topic that includes so many different things- cooking, housekeeping- that everyone will have natural strengths and weaknesses. Cooking has always been easy for me- my whole family cooked, and my mom is great at everything food related. Unfortunately, I didn't inherit her talent for housekeeping.

I'm a packrat by nature- saving everything I can stuff into every crevice things can be stuffed into. What's more, I always hated the basic housekeeping tasks of cleaning, like vacuuming, laudry, and dishes. Even after moving in with Mr. Shelley and having the baby, I could not muster up a desire to take care of the houe. Not until after I became pregnant the second time did I realize that I could keep house without being a neat freak, and that I could actually learn to enjoy having a clean house for me.

Deciding to teach myself how to keep up our home was for the best thing I could have done for my whole family. Over the next few weeks, I'll share how I got started, and how to make your own systems. A system is just a set way of doing things- and it's all about whatever works best for you and your family. Systems are there to make your life easier.

One of my first steps, and a good place to start, is to identify one or two main goals, and then figure out how housekeeping will work towards those goals. It can be that you just want a cleaned house, a simplified life, or (like for me) that you're family would be better off with a housekeeping system in place. (Especially if you're significant other is frustrated by your lack of cleaning!) Write down the goals and how they factor into housekeeping- this will keep you going in the days and weeks ahead when you feel like giving in.

Keep checking in next week for more in the DOC series. First up, decluttering...not as scary or hard as it sounds, I promise.