Trying to get order out of the chaos

With my ever-growing belly, not only do I get the typical “when are you due?” but the next question is often “Do you plan to still homeschool the boys? How will you possibly manage a newborn AND educating the boys?”

Honestly, I have had days where I have questioned that myself. But, prayer and reflection as well as discussions with my husband have us convinced that this is the path

God has asked us to walk and that we won’t be left to flounder on our own. That being said, it doesn’t me I can just kick back and assume everything will work out.

Instead, I have started to tackle some of the chaos that reigns in the house. Specifically, we are cleaning up and organizing both our space and our schedules.

Now, true confession time…. First, I am completely addicted to shows like Clean Sweep and How Clean is Your House. I’ve always had a soft spot for decorating shows and real estate related ones like House Hunters.

But, there is something about seeing people who have bigger disasters than my own get help to purge the excess, clean up what’s left, and put it into a more attractive package that has me watching on a semi-regular basis.

The boys enjoy saying how our house isn’t as messy as the ‘before’, but they can also see that it is far from the ‘after.’ Having a team of people come whip us into shape seems like a wonderful idea, but it isn’t likely to happen.

So, this weekend, while Stephen and the boys have been visiting his family in western New York, I have been doing what I can to tackle things here.

My sister came up for the past two afternoons to help me. This has been fantastic as moving furniture is a struggle in my ‘current condition’ AND it seems a bit easier to part with things when someone who is not attached to the items can say “really, you really NEED this?”

I picked up one of the industrial-strength chrome shelving units at BJs (getting an employee to do all the lifting for me) and tried to find bookshelves that would work with little success.

It took 3 1/2 hours to completely do the boys’ room yesterday and then we spent another 3 or so hours between yesterday and today tackling what will be the baby’s room and the school room.

While we did not quite finish, the progress is amazing. I am still in desperate need of bookshelves (as there are a LOT of books in the house) and am hoping Stephen can pick those up for me this week so we can finish our work this coming weekend.

I also have ‘homework’ that includes getting chore schedules together for the boys and making lists of any other supplies I need to make things run smoother.

I recently bought Managers of Their Homes and have also begun working on a schedule. I doubt our first schedule will be as detailed as the examples and things will most likely need adjusting when the baby arrives.

I will concede that the boys and I could very well benefit from being a bit more scheduled in our work than we have been. Plus, finding homes for everything so there is no question of where it ‘lives’ should help with containing the mess.

My sister’s willing to come back for another afternoon or two this month to get things done so long as I promise to continue purging more things.

Rather than run the risk the boys would go rifling through the garbage in search of ‘treasured’ possessions, she took the HUGE garbage bag of trash with her.

We also filled up the back of her vehicle with several boxes and a few bags of donations for Goodwill. A few of them were already culled and ready to pass along.

The boys had hoped to sell some of the items at the weekly flea market the Knights of Columbus hosts. Yet, I agreed that it just isn’t worth ‘holding’ it all here for someday down the road that might not come. So, off they went.

And, if I can keep the ‘bug’ of decluttering, then I might see more possessions make there way to new homes. To think I purged a TON during our move to Maryland and still there is a LOT of stuff.

Some things are temporarily in our guest room and will need to be dealt with as well. And, the beds need to be bunked in the boys room to open up floor space.

But, I really am pleased with the transformation.

Now to get it to STAY this way!