Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Sweating the Small Stuff

You're not going to believe this... really, you're not. When I'm away from blogging it's usually been because I'm too ashamed to post pictures. Kind of like why an addict stops going to their classes, right?

Well, you want to know why I've been absent these past few days?

The entire downstairs of my house is clean! The kitchen is clean, the play room is clean, the bathroom is clean, the laundry room is clean, and the living room is clean. There is no junk stuffed in corners or baskets of toys waiting to g osomewhere. The Christmas decorations are put away, and the island in the kitchen has nothing but a candle and the soap dispensers.

I'm going to update this later with pictures once I find the camera cord :)

So, to the title of the post. Yes, I know that most people tell you not to sweat the small stuff. Well, today I'm telling you that you absolutely MUST sweat the small stuff! That is, if you're anything like me.

Do you want to know why my house becomes such an incredible mess? It's because I don't sweat the small stuff.

Oh, there's a load of laundry that needs folded... no big deal, I'll do it at some point.

NO! Do it NOW!

Man, I'm tired... I don't feel like washing up after dinner.

NO! You have a stinkin DVR, set your tv show to record and clean up NOW!

Ugh... there are toys everywhere and I just want to play on Farmville... I'll wake up early tomorrow and straighten up before work.

ABSOLUTELY NOT, AMBER! Get your butt off the computer and take 15 minutes to straighten up your home, the one you paid thousands of dollars for and loved the moment you stepped inside. Why have a nice home if you're not going to CLEAN IT?!

Those are some of the conversations I've been having with myself of late. This is how I'm teaching myself to sweat the small stuff, to make the small stuff matter. These "small" things are what build up into huge things for me, and by making them important, I'm keeping my house clean.

A defining moment recently for me was when I had a group of friends over (this was what we cleaned for), and everyone was talking about how they just can't let things be messy and love cleaning. Whaaatt??? Where do these women come from? When I admitted that I'm a lazy slob, they all looked at me like I was insane. I don't want to be that lazy slob anymore, so I'm going to fake it til I make it. I purposefully used real plates and real cups instead of paper (I hate disposable products... why throw something away and fill up a landfill when you can just wash it? Well, in the past, I wait forever to wash it so my husband insists on paper when he doesn't have time to clean! No more!). And after everyone left, I cleaned. I cleaned up everything and boy did it feel good!

The next day I had a cake order and made this cake without having to clean like crazy first. Then, when the woman picked it up the next day, it took my husband and I a total of ten minutes to straighten the toys and such to make the house neat. Ten minutes! It usually takes at least an hour or two to "straighten" if anyone is stopping by.

I like this new clean that I have, and I hope that it stays. Honestly, it's cleaner right now downstairs than it has been since I started this blog, and it's a great feeling!

So for now, I'm sweating the small stuff and going with the motto of DO IT NOW!

What do you do that helps you to stay on task?

9 comments:

  1. Fantastic! I can't wit to see pics!

    Mom23-Sybermoms

    ReplyDelete
  2. That seems to be the main thing with me too--just the DO IT NOW mentality. Hard!!!

    Great job on everything!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. That's awesome!! You sound like you're on Cloud 9!

    ReplyDelete
  4. "I don't want to be that lazy slob anymore, so I'm going to fake it til I make it."

    You're so right on with this! I'm a recovering lazy slob, too, haha. It is not easy to admit that, but I know my level of clutter is way beyond normal. Tackling it is difficult, but taking the few minutes each day to maintain it is easy. It takes 2 minutes to sweep the floor after dinner, but if I don't do it for a week, it takes a lot longer to sort through the random junk that seems to accumulate.

    Ten minutes to straighten the whole house seems like a wonderful achievement to me!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm still in lazy slob mode, but I'm getting better :) What I've done is made a list of morning and evening chores that Must. Be. Done. No bed until the sink is empty, the kitchen table is clear and the counters are wiped down, for example. I've realized that starting the day with a clean kitchen makes my day so much better.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi Amber! I've got GREAT news-- you've won the Yoplait Greek and Giant GIVEAWAY! See here: http://gotsteals.blogspot.com/2010/04/giveaway-winner-announcement.html

    Get back to me with your mailing address. I'll send it over to MyBlogSpark and they'll forward your winnings!

    Thanks for entering,
    Jessica

    ReplyDelete
  7. I just read your comment on Zsuzsanna's blog in response to her rant about taxes. I wanted to let you know that your post was beautifully written and reflected a true Christian attitude. I hope we all can follow Christ's example in helping (not judging) our fellow humans.

    ReplyDelete
  8. 破解視訊聊天室-福利聊天室你懂的
    uthome視訊聊天室-真人色情表演視頻網站
    showlive聊天網-9158聊天室你懂的
    視訊聊天戀愛ing-同城視頻聊天室
    國外視訊 show 免費看-同城裸聊直播視頻
    live173 視訊美女-奇摩女孩免費視訊聊天室
    173免費視訊聊天-免費的裸聊qq
    173免費視訊美女-免費交友裸聊室
    live 173免費視訊-免費同城裸聊平台
    173免費視訊秀-視頻交友真人秀
    藍天語音視頻聊天室傾城聊語音視頻聊天室AV天堂影院亞洲黃色網3級愛情片666貼圖區列表
    免費午夜秀視頻聊天室你懂的真人美女主播無碼a片好看的三級小說推薦0204貼圖區
    真人裸聊室成人午夜色情視頻床友約炮網快播成人電影網站綠色激情網百分百貼圖
    真愛旅舍聊天室真愛旅舍聊天室破解真愛旅舍刷點性愛三級片免費三級小說性愛貼圖
    真愛旅舍聊天室官網真愛旅舍視頻破解清純美女影院快播黃色網站成人性愛我就是要貼圖

    ReplyDelete