Climbing Out of CHAOS!

Today I’m starting on my journey out of CHAOS ~Can’t Have Anyone Over Syndrome~. I hope I’m not the only one that suffers from this. I love my family and I enjoy a clean, organized home, but I just wish someone else would do it for me. Someday I hope to have it as a budget item, but right now, it’s not possible. My husband and I have been married for 20 years and I’ve struggled with it for all that time. We started out in a tiny, two bedroom house with central heating ~the furnace was in the middle of the house~. My hubby was in Seminary and since we had no kids, the tiny “extra” bedroom was piled high with wedding presents, books, clothes and a variety of items that neither my hubby nor I could part with. After Seminary, my husband went on staff at a church in a small Delta town and we rented a wonderful, 3 bedroom home with a sunroom, dining room, huge kitchen with a double oven, and an awesome utility/laundry room. Since, we still didn’t have kids; we could really spread our stuff out. I loved that house. Since then, we’ve lived in a series of smaller houses, ~I won’t bore you with the details~ and now have 3 daughters. Our present house is larger. We have 4 bedrooms with dining room and living room. We still have our “extra” bedroom filled with clothes, Tupperware, BeautiControl and a variety of other items that we can’t seem to part with. Our closets are full of stuff that we haven’t seen in years, and our daughters’ rooms have toys that need to be shared with other kids. Unfortunately, our daughters have same gene that my hubby and I have; hoarding. We don’t want to get rid of anything in case we might need it again.
Top it off with the needs of a busy family with never-ending laundry, dishes, homeschooling and church activities and I get very overwhelmed. Anybody relate to that? I have friends who have special needs children and children with major medical issues and their houses seem to be organized. What is wrong with me? Why can’t I get it together?
Today, instead of beating myself up over the past, I’m starting my journey out of CHAOS. It’s not going to happen overnight, ~I wish I could wave a magic wand~ but it is going to happen. I’m starting in my kitchen. Today’s goals:

• Shine my sink ~Thanks Flylady~
• Make a dent in laundry.
• Clean off kitchen counters. I’m going to shred, pitch and file.

I’ve read FlyLady and MotivatedMoms.com.
I’m going to do a little of both. Start in my kitchen, use small steps, depend on God for strength and focus. I don’t have to wait for January 1st to make a change. I can do it September 29. God has blessed us with a new day; we can use it to make a new start.

Have a Great Day!