October 2018 – The Self Cleaning House

camping, cleaning, Coeur d' Alene River, happiness, motivation, organizing

Minimal Stuff Makes Minimal Mess

Posted on October 23, 2018October 25, 2018 by theselfcleaninghouse

My husband and daughter took a couple of weeks off for hunting. After a week of “camping in the fall” and not seeing anything, they came home. They are still hoping to get some day-hunts in before the end of the season!

My hubby, bless his heart, decided to be productive the last week of his vacation time and clean the garage! We clean the garage really well a couple of times of year. Isn’t it crazy how fast it can get disorganized again???

Photo Credit: memes.com

This time we decided to really clean it out. Not just organize the “stuff ” but take a good hard look at what we have and decide if we really need it, if someone else could better benefit from it, is it replaceable, or is it trash?! We were brutally honest with ourselves. We made a “Trash” pile, a “Donate” pile and a very small “Sell” pile (that is a dangerous pile and you don’t want many things in that one or they will just be re-assimilated!) We also had a pile of “Things to return to others”.

We opened boxes, took things off shelves, pulled things out. We ended up with a truckload of things to go to the dump, a truckload to take to donate and a few things to sell. It felt AMAZING!!!

I honestly thought I would not come up with a lot to get rid of. I hate clutter. I don’t like a lot of “stuff”. Come to find out, I had a lot of crap I didn’t realize was crap!

Truly taking an honest look at what I had, was so freeing! I realized that a lot of things that I had been keeping, I was keeping out of fear. Fear that I would need it and not have it. Fear that if I did need it, I wouldn’t be able to afford to replace it. Fear that someone would be offended if I got rid of it. Well, kicking fear to the curb and thinking “If my house burned down, would I miss it? Would I be able to replace it? Would I buy another one? ” helped me to get rid of soooooo much!!

Getting rid of “stuff” is the only way to really have a self-cleaning house. Minimal stuff makes minimal mess.

I have started on a new “Crap crusade” in my closet and I am excited! I will keep you posted on that venture!

When you let go of stuff you unclog the positive flow and new and wonderful things can come into your life in many ways, not only just in your garage. When you hang on to too much stuff and things it clutters your mind and life, not just your home. Your life isn’t meant to be stagnant. By hanging on to old things, too many things and unnecessary things you are blocking the stream of abundance that belongs to you!

Remember when you were a kid or when you told your kids that they couldn’t have a new toy unless they got rid of one (or five!)? Yes! Just like that! Our life is supposed to be rewarded and blessed, but first…. you have to get rid of some stuff.

you can't reach for anything new

I encourage you to kick the fear, tell yourself that it’s ok to let go. Enjoy the amazing feeling of a clean uncluttered home, and the positive things that will come your way!

Go get rid of some stuff!!

cleaning, family, happiness, memories, routines

Wanna know a secret??

Posted on October 12, 2018 by theselfcleaninghouse

Psssst…… Wanna know a secret??! My house isn’t ALL that clean. You can’t eat off my floors, and my fridge is crowded and a lot of the baseboards are dirty. My desk has kids workbooks and coloring pages on it and there are clothes to be mended on top of my sewing table. We won’t talk about the garage.

We live here. I have a daycare here. There is a lot going on in this house at all times. If you are looking for how to keep your house looking like Martha Stewart’s house, this is the wrong place.

If you want a seemingly effortless tidy home without stress, I am so glad you are here!!

It took me a long time to start this blog because I was afraid of being judged and afraid people would expect me to have a perfect home if I talked about ways to clean your home and keep it clean. I finally went for it, but I want you to know… my house isn’t perfect! In fact, there may be a lot of people reading this that have a cleaner home than I do!

The point of this blog is to help you not have house cleaning rule your life. To do house KEEPING, not house CLEANING.

I will welcome you to my home at any time of the day. My house may have toys in the living room and kids everywhere but the dishes will be done and the bathrooms will be clean. It IS possible to have a clean and tidy home with kids!!

The kitchen is clean after breakfast!

All the toys are picked up before we head outside to play!

The blinds are probably dusty….. I will get there. That’s ok. My routines keep my house clean. When I have a moment, if all six kids are asleep at the same time, I may or may not clean the blinds. The important things are taken care of.

My house will always be moments away from company ready and I welcome you all but don’t expect it to pass a white glove test! It will be tidy and mostly clutter free and I won’t mind at all if you want to use my bathroom. The oven may need to be cleaned and crumbs in the silverware drawer. I have routines for that too and will get to it. I am not going to knock myself out to have everything done all the time and all at once and I don’t want you to either!

So, if you are looking for ways to have your blinds clean and the slider track look brand new, there are lots of blogs for that. I am just here to help you have a tidy home you don’t have to stress about and to teach you habits that make that happen so that you can enjoy the truly important things in life! I promise you, it IS possible!

Check out my routine page and set your Self Cleaning House in motion! Once those basic routines are in cement then we will move on to things like slider tracks and oven cleaning!

Right now, go do your daily routines and then go play with your kids and make some memories.

cleaning, happiness, motivation, spiritual

“I’m Sorry”

Posted on October 9, 2018 by theselfcleaninghouse

Warning: This post has zero to do with house cleaning…. and I am not going to apologize for that! (I almost did!) It is very personal and deep. It’s been on my mind and I just felt it needed to come out. I hope that someone can benefit from it. I am no therapist and I may be all kinds of off base, but these are just my thoughts.

“Stop saying you’re sorry.” “Stop apologizing.” I’ve been hearing a lot of that and reading it on social media and the like. Apparently, women are notoriously bad about saying “I’m sorry” for every little thing, whether they have any responsibility for it or not. I don’t know if it’s necessarily a gender thing or if women are just more vocal about things in general.

I one hundred percent believe you should apologize for things that you did wrong. Absolutely!

Saying “I’m sorry” for things you had no control over implies guilt. It’s false guilt but guilt just the same. Your mind can’t tell the difference.

Those of us who over apologize are very aware that what we are “sorry” for is not really our fault. We are seeking to “fix things”.

The more you accept guilt the more your mind believes it. Your self-worth suffers. Your confidence diminishes. You might be the nicest kindest person in the world, and you probably are! But you start to believe you aren’t. There is a lot of conflict that goes on inside. You want to be a good person but good people don’t do all these things that we are constantly apologizing for.

Just as good affirmations work, so do bad ones. You can’t be “sorry” for everything without your consciousness believing that you are at fault.

It is a double-edged sword. You say “I’m sorry” because you really are a good person but it makes you feel as if you are not.

So how do we change? For many, probably most of us, it’s not just a habit. Changing this “habit” is about as easy as changing your eye color! I believe you need to know the why behind the behavior to change it.

I did some serious soul searching. I am sure there are many reasons that people over-apologize. We are all different. We’ve all had different upbringings. The basic reason behind it is about the same though.

When you say you are sorry, you are taking responsibility for the action, situation, etc. meaning you now own it. Only when you own it can you take any control over it.

The fear of others being angry, unhappy or upset is what drives over apologetic people to say “I’m sorry” all over the place.

If something goes wrong, and I say “I’m so sorry” (even though I had nothing to do with it) I am accepting blame so that you don’t have to. That way you don’t need to be angry at yourself or someone else. Now I own it and can try to fix or smooth out the situation so that all will be well. None of this is really truly valid but it is the subconscious, if not the conscious thought process.

It boils down to fear of other people’s anger or perceived anger and the desire for control of a situation to avoid anxiety.

Ultimately, it is a very self-destructive, which is ironic considering that it is a defense mechanism.

I am going to work on positive affirmations to repair what I’ve done with the destructive behavior. I am going to let others be responsible for their own feelings and situations.

Thank you for allowing me to share and I hope that it helps you to stop next time you start to say “I am sorry” and think, “am I responsible for this?”.

Here is a great article from thelawofattraction.com on overcoming being an over-apologizer!