How to Keep a House Clean, Without Becoming OCD

Successfully managing a house, in addition to having a job, taking care of your kids, cooking and also taking care of yourself, at least couple minutes the day, is a stressful and almost impossoble mission. The easiest answer is to hire a cleaning lady or a house assistant which will do most of the job instead of you. This is also a solution. However, I think that before you are using external help, you need to know first how everything is going on and know for sure what to request and expect from the people working for you.

My problem was that actually, almost all my life I used to have people doing things for me, starting with my nanny and ending up with the people that used to take care of my house when I was too busy working and building a career. From many points of view, it was a good feeling to be back home and relax, play with the big kid and just enjoy my life. I was sure I wasn't missing that much from life by not being aware of what actually does it mean to properly take care of a house. 

A couple of years ago though, I decided that I need to know more directly about real life house management. I was so frustrated for not being able to deal with daily home chores properly that I was even ready to try getting a temporary job doing what other people used to do for me for years hoping to learn more on the job. Fortunately, I've decided instead to face my own limitations and move forward creating my own experiences. It was the hard way and it took me around 3 years to fully get into the mindset of a woman able to be in charge with her own home. Things went so fast that the last year I was able to successfully accomplish my first house renovation project, with all the painting and fixing stuff. 

After so many lows and few highs, I am finally able to share a couple of tips for a successful management of a clean house. I am aware that for many of my readers, my 'inspiration' is more than basic knowledge, but for someone who started a life project different of the one she grew up with, it is a great accomplishment and I hope at least to be able to inspire other women to test their limits, at least for a while. 

Clean House Management for Very Beginners

1. Plan!

Like in the case of everything you want to succeed in life, make a plan. For instance, at the beginning of every month - or week, for a busy full house - make a schedule of your cleaning plans. Start with the easiest one, which can be achieved very fast and end up with the complicated tasks, that may require a lot of time and dedication. I personally start the week on a Sunday and focus most of the complicated chores in this day. I do have one day the week for vacuuming - usually Friday morning, serious bathroom cleaning on Thursday evening, laundry on Sunday, kitchen fixing and pantry checking every two weeks.

2. Fix it on the spot!

I never been that kind of person obsessed with cleanliness but in some cases, you need to fix a problem when it occurs, unless it will be too late and more effort and energy will be requested. Did some hot wax from the candles at your party fell on the floor? Don't wait until tomorrow or the week after tomorrow when the spot will be hard as a stone to remove it. Do it when it happen, and in less than 5 minutes it will be completely clean out. 

3. Spare Your Energies!

I know how tempted you might be to clean the dishes every five minutes, before the mountain created by them is about to overflow all over the kitchen. But there will be more and more to come after you finish your meal therefore, what about taking your time, enjoying the food and freshly refuelled with energy, starting the terrific task of washing them? 

4. Delegate!

Doing all the house chores all by yourself it is a tremendous task, and sooner or later it will worn out. What about delegating some of the tasks? For instance, the big girl is in charge with taking the garbage out, someone is only washing the dishes, the other one is watering the flowers...It not only saves time but can also be an enjoyable family fun plan.

5. Keep the order!

The best happens when things do have a certain routine and order. It saves time and energy to have some specific benchmarks in your life and house too. Create specific places for things and request everyone to respect them. For instance, the shelf for baby t-shirts will always stay this way, and so it will be with the toys' corner. Upon arrival in the house, everyone is taking the shoes out and carrying them in the shoe rack. The computer is always in the same place and so are the chargers for my tablet and phone. As long as most things are in their place all the time, I avoid the situations when minutes or even hours are lost while looking for one thing or another. 

As my deep knowledge and insights about house management are advancing, I will keep sharing my impressions and experiences. Hopefully, it will help many other people like I used to be only less than 3 years ago. Let 2018 be a year of successes and better house management skills for everyone!

Do you have some smart house management skills to share? Can't wait to hear from you!

How I Spent My August

Sometimes, you need to feel that only sky is the limit!

I am rarely - if ever - doing round up monthly posts, sharing my latest events, unless is there something special going on. Like the birth of a new baby, or a new job or some important blogging and writing milestone. This time, there is nothing that important I want to talk about, but just how, with a healthy mindset, a lot of motivation and discipline, I succeeded to have one of the most productive month of the year.

As a single mother with a busy life and a lot of interests, it is hardly a day where I am not doing or planning to do something new. Very often, my plans are rewarded and I am left with the feeling of the good job done, but also the obligation and motivation to continue. 

Why then this month was different of any other month? What made it so special for writing a full blog post about it? 

The difference was that compared to any other month of my life, at the very beginning of it, I said to myself and to my friend: 'This month, I want to take the full advantage of every day'. This is what I have in mind every single day, but I rarely made it public or keep repeating it often. I am just taking for granted every day but without openly expressing the gratitude or explaining how I will be grateful for. 

Once I made the statement, I observed more actively my eveyday schedule, with a specific focus on my achievements. Indeed, things looked much different and extremely refreshing. Every day I achieved and even overpassed my daily plan of steps; I started to walk barefoot in the garden; I started my days early in the morning, with a busy schedule ahead and planning to keep this schedule for at least 6 days the week; I concluded some interesting collaborations for my blogs; I covered a lot of topics and features on my blogs; I had some important meetings for my future professional plans; I was able to have at least two interesting trips, one of them abroad; I did some valuable and well paid freelance working; I've spent some quality time with my friends; I tried at least two new recipes; I tried to better organise my finances and manage my savings; I improved my social media coverage, by spending some targeted time networking on the right channels; I did an extensive blogging planning for the topics I want to cover in the next weeks. And there were for sure many more achievements, such as the interesting books I've read and reviewed, and the time shared helping people in need and also the unique time playing and learning together with my son. I also succeeded to worry less and avoid stresssful situations and individuals. 

Of course my life is far from being perfect and I am happy with that. But I cannot deny the positive effects of just a single sentence: 'This month, I want to take the full advantage of every day'. It gave me so much energy and motivation that I can go much easier over the tensed and unhappy moments. 

This is how I want to spend from now on, every month, finding the right motivation and strength to succeed, whatever the circumstances. Indeed, when you think that only sky is the limit, you end up feeling just like that!