Five steps to make your day run smoother.

Constantly feel like you're running behind?

Never enough hours in the day?

Hiding in the bathtub from your family?  (Is that one just me?)

I hear ya!

Being a grown up is hard sometimes.  Ronnie and I have an ongoing joke that the housekeeper didn't show up again - that makes 15 years in a row.  We may have to fire her soon.

Sadly for most of us, no one is showing up to cook or clean or run errands or pay our bills for us.  (Although I won't say no to any of these if you want to stop by). 

These are five things that I try to do each day to help our home run a little smoother:

1.  Get up before everyone else.

       I need a little bit of alone time for me before I start this race each day. 
       This alone time usually involves me, my Bible and copious amounts of coffee
       with coconut creamer.  Just a little bit of time to get myself on track so I don't
       feel like I'm waking up in the middle of a madhouse.

2.  One load a day.
       I do at least one load of laundry a day.  Now listen closely - I wash and dry
       one load of laundry a day.  Folding and putting away may or may not happen. 
       It's awesome when it does, but sometimes I just can't be awesome.  Sometimes
       we wear clothes out of the laundry basket.  And somehow we all survive. 
       I do get everything into drawers at least twice a week so that's a win.

3.  Set a timer.
        I use our Amazon Echo all the live long day.  I use the timer feature to keep me
        on track with my social media time.  I have reminders set on my phone for when
        I need to wake Ronnie up for work, to get up the boys in the morning, and for any
        appointments I have or anything important I need to get done.  That may seem a
        little crazy to you, but I'm easily distracted - especially by all things online. 
        (No one can fill up an online buggy and then not buy any of it better than me).
        All these little timers keep me on track.

4.  Afternoon cleanup.
      Pretty much what it sounds like.  I don't make all the mess in the house.  I shouldn't
      have to clean up all the mess in the house.  We take about 10-15 minutes in the
      afternoon to put things where they go - laundry to the laundry room, dishes to the
      sink - and run the sweeper.  With three boys, two dogs and a husband who comes
      home dirty each day, daily vacuuming is a must. 

5.  Family dinner.
        This one is so hard, but oh so important.  It's too easy to be pulled in 10,000 directions. 
        If I don't make an effort, it ends up being the boys and I at some event or class and
        Ronnie working.  We need this time - even if it's just 20-30 minutes - to connect as
        a family.  It would be a lot easier and quieter to let the boys eat upstairs in front of
        the XBox (and we have on occasion) but we  need that time on a regular basis to
        connect as a family. 

Please don't read this and think if you come over to my house you'll be walking into perfection.  My goals are set much lower than that.  The sweeper will probably be sitting in the dining room, a clothes basket in the living room that needs folded and a coffee cup by the computer if you stop by.  That's OK because this is real life, not Pinterest.  But by trying my best to keep with these five steps I feel less crazy. 

And that works for me.