Category Archives: Housekeeping

Superwoman No More!

If you look at my profile on Facebook or my website online you will probably learn I am a professional organizer. If you read deeper into my posts online and my blog, you will learne I had owned a business before this one, I was a teacher, and I love to cook and entertain. I am a fanatic of Pinterest and all things streamlined to make my life easier so I can have time to do things I love, like sewing and painting. I homeschool my kids because I don’t believe public schools are meant for everybody and I really enjoy seeing my boys growing up every day.

 

I own a business, I have a blog, I run a support group on Facebook, I homeschool, and housekeep every day of the week. I take my kids to practices, I teach Russian at the homeschool co-op, I was promoted to an intermediate level at the dance class I am taking. I served chocolate cupcakes with buttercream frosting for dessert last night and have a Mississippi pot  roast in my crock pot as I am writing this.

 

If you are reading this and thinking, is this woman even real, I have to say Yes, I am real.

 

I am so real, that I have a load of laundry in the dryer and no desire to get onto it. I have the roast in the crockpot  thanks to my freezer meal club friend Mandy. If not for that, I would have been working my butt off in the kitchen instead of writing this.

 

My youngest has just climbed onto my lap as I am writing this and is refusing to go, so I am working on my laptop sitting in his lap. He wants his cuddles and he will get them no matter what.

 

I have a lot on my plate and becoming a professional organizer was a very logical step for me to take. How else can I help others to get the crap load of stuff done and enjoy their loved ones and their lives? I help by  coming to their homes and streamlining their kitchens and pantries and closets. I speak at events. I have a blog.

 

What I had recently realized, though, is that it’s not what I am really doing.

 

I am not Martha Stewart, the Flylady, or Marie Kondo.  And I don’t want to be like them. Don’t get me wrong, they all are doing unbelievably incredible work, but that is not what I am.

 

I am a real woman. Some may say I am mature, others may suggest there are areas in my life that need some work. There is always room for improvement, you know?

 

Well, so you know, he hasn’t left and this is how the majority of this blog post has been written.

blogging with a toddler

blogging with a toddler

 

I haven’t cropped that picture on purpose. Because crumbs on the floor happen a lot more often than the vacuum. And I had made peace with that. There will be dishes in my not so shiny sink and there will be wet laundry forgotten to be moved into the dryer. Because I am a real woman, there will be pizza for dinner. And I will get so tired and touched out that all I would want is to run off and sit in Target’s parking listening to my own thoughts.

 

I have lived a Superwoman lifestyle for seven years. My kitchen always sparkling, my laundry was done and my vacuum ran. I ran a daycare out of my home, working 70 hours a week. I was in high demand, business thriving and yet somehow I felt I was failing. I know now it happened because I was taking care of everything and everyone but myself.

 

You see, I failed to recognize that I was in the center of pretty much everything happening in my life, the lives of my family, my household, and my business. I took it all for granted not realizing I put so much strain on myself, I gave out. I quit the business. I focused on myself and my family.Thankfully, I was able to do that.

 

I failed to recognize that I was in the center of pretty much everything…  I took it all for granted not realizing I put so much strain on myself, I gave out.

 

I could say there won’t be a Superwoman anymore. I chose to be me instead of being her.

 

But, just as before, others would ask me how do you manage it all? How is your home clean, meals are prepped and laundry folded, you have time to run a business, homeschool, be a part of a freezer meal club, speak at events and love on your husband and kids.

 

There is only one answer. I am not a superwoman, not anymore anyway. I listen to my system and to my body. If it tells me I need to slow down, I do so. It won’t cause the world to end if my laundry piles don’t get done tonight. The world won’t collapse because my sink isn’t as shiny as a new diamond ring.

 

NO MORE!

 

On the other hand, my family might collapse if I am overtired and extra cranky. If they need my support and my attention and all I can think about is that the bed didn’t get made this morning.  I chose to be there for them and put them in as my priority.

 

I believe your life can be much easier and much more enjoyable if you have your things organized in a manner that works for your lifestyle. I do not believe the quality of your life can be influenced by owning a closet system from California Closets, or being able to afford the best baskets ever for your pantry. Those are merely things and they exist to make your life easier not to make you happy. What makes you happy is the relationships with your loved ones at the time saved with the help of those systems.

 

No, I am not a superwoman. Not anymore.

 

I have created systems in my life to support my lifestyle.

 

I have accepted the fact that I can not have it all at all times but at the certain time, I can truly have it AND enjoy it all.

 

Do you feel like that sometimes?

 

Do you feel the pressure of modern America have it all picture worthy and Pinterest-like?

 

Are you ready to step down, take off the cape, and just live your life?

 

If you said yes to the questions above, please, join us at the Superwoman Anonymous, a Facebook support group I created to support real life women like you and me who sometimes just want a minute of quiet in order to hear our own thoughts.

 

And yes, if you are wondering, I am for hire. I can and I will help you change your life. One closet at a time.  But that is something we can discuss in private, over here.

 

What is your perfect?

Perfectionism. Perfect. Perfecto. Can’t stop until it’s perfect. I will never get it to be perfect, so why even bother? Does this sound familiar?
I am a perfectionist. The things listed above are often the ones that prevent me from achieving my goals.It is so easy to let the perfect become the enemy of good. We get caught in the trap of perfect so often, we may not even realize it. Did you know that one of the reasons why we do not get things done is because we know we can not make it perfect?
But we don’t have to. Whatever it is you are working on, if your goal is perfection, I suggest you slow down and do this small exercise.
Get out a sheet of paper and a pen, and describe your “perfect” in detail. It can be written in a form of a short essay, a note to self, or just a bullet point list. Once you have a full picture, think what steps you need to take to achieve that.
For example, if your “perfect goal” is to have a house with no clutter in clear view, what would the steps be to achieve that? I normally start with my kitchen counters, and once they are clear I move on to other tasks. What is your point of beginning?
Next step would be to keep up and not mess up the area I worked on. This is where a rotating schedule comes in. I have a kitchen cleaning scheduled on Monday mornings. I have this luxury since we homeschool and while the kids are working on their school at the kitchen table I can supervise and help as needed as well as get some work done myself. Once you go through the same rotation several times, you will notice how your hands automatically clear the counters on the go even not on a scheduled day. It becomes a habit, something that is done on the regular basis and doesn’t take that much time anymore.
Now, here is a short disclaimer. Before I moved my kitchen into rotating schedule, I made it a point to declutter. So, for my perfect kitchen I needed:
Step 1 Declutter.
Step 2 Think really hard before bringing a new piece in, no matter if it’s a new coffee mug or another appliance.
Step 3 Deep clean.
Step 4 Add deep cleaning and clearing to my rotation.
Step 5 Stick to the rotation schedule and make it work.
Step 6 Enjoy my fabulous and perfect kitchen!