Before & After - I have finished the bedroom!

The rest of my home looks great and now the bedroom does too!

I finished it today.  It was worth every minute.  It took me about an hour or hour and a half to completely get things put away properly and tossed, etc..  Now my entire house is company ready!

All I have to do now is maintain everything.  I've been doing really well with that the last few years so it shouldn't be a problem now.  I just have to keep a close eye on the bedroom because it's easy to get messy in there.  I don't want that.  I want to be able to be proud of the house without shutting the bedroom door!  LOL!

Here are the Before & After pics!

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!

Smiling big!

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So thrilled :)

I have gotten so much done today.

It feels great!!

If I could bottle up this feeling and sell it - I'd be rich!  lol

I've gotten so much done around the house and am still maintaining and it's getting so easy that I'm even having more free time.

Someone could knock at my door and I wouldn't even need to do a quick pick up.

I REALLY want to encourage you that if you are in a rut with your home or it's a mess or even if you are just not happy with where you're at in your cleaning your home - to just do your daily work and then work on other things when you are done.

Take your breaks, drink your water & ENJOY YOUR KIDS!

Get them in on it!  They will feel great accomplishment too and you'll be teaching them good work ethic and how to keep their homes one day.  My girls have been helping for about 8 months or so now and it's so much help and they do a great job!

When you are done with a project and need more excitement to keep going - just take a break, have a glass of tea or some water and then go back and look at what you accomplished and how nice it looks.  It will fuel you forward!  Also, look at your house like if you were selling it and wanted to be able to show it.  Look at it like a stranger.  You'll notice things that need to be done or put away that you've looked at so long you've forgotten it was there because you don't notice it anymore.

From Melissa's advice which I think is great -- ask your husband what are the things that matter most to him so you can have those done each time before he comes home!

I feel so blessed!

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Learning..

I am learning so much about how keeping a "company ready" home is not impossible.  Maintaining has been key!  THE KEY.

As I pass by things I straighten them but I'm not scrubbing at the moment, just putting away or tossing.

Then, throughout my day as I maintain, I work on another spot that has built up somewhere or on laundry or like scrubbing a toilet or a floor, etc..  

Melissa, my friend, has been very helpful with so many ideas that I've put into place.  I had not even thought of trying to tidy up before hubby comes home at lunch.  She suggested it and I'm so glad she did.  I had already been trying to make the house pleasing for when he got home at the end of the day.  Another great idea she gave me was to give each room a 10 minute "touch up" right before he gets home.  With the children helping, and they do help, we get it knocked out in no time.

My house has been clean but I was finding myself cleaning all the time and burning out and letting it get messy for a couple days before I got back at it.  I just didn't have a good "way" figured out to keep it all done.  The room in the house that I need to work on is my bedroom.  I think I can have it done in 30 minutes.  I was planning on setting my timer for 15 mins, twice today, and getting it done but I needed a slower paced day.  So, tomorrow that is the plan.

Nothing is ever perfect; no one is ever perfect.  Of course, right?

But you can keep things looking nice and tidy  :)

I'm really proud of how things are going and finding the ease of just maintaining instead of letting it get all messed up and cleaning it once a day.  Those little clean ups here and there throughout the day are simple, and take very little time but they keep the home looking nice and keep things from building up on you.

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Small things that make a Big Difference!

I wrote my friend, Melissa, as I was needing some advice.

She gave me that advice.  (about head coverings)

She had articles that helped so much she had saved!

Then, I had some organizing helps I needed.

One was our shoe pile.

We need easy access to them because when hubby is ready to go - he's ready to go.  (me too if it's somewhere fun, lol)  So, we need the girls to be able to put their shoes on hurriedly.

I didn't have the money to go out and buy a bench or anything so I asked Melissa what she suggested.  She suggested a basket OR to just line them up in order of age to make it look neat.

So, I did just that.  I lined up ONE pair of each child's shoes in age order and it made all the difference and didn't cost me a penny!

(THANKS MELISSA!)

Here are pictures to show before and after:

 See how messy?

 Much better!

.and. it looks even better now as I put the cat food in a home of it's own in a cabinet out of sight.

Sure makes a difference!

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