Day: 2 September 2021

This saying often refers to if your house is clean and tidy then it will help you in being able to think more clearly too. However, what I’m wondering is, if your house is not tidy, how much do you mind and how does this impact you?

Let me be honest. My house is not tidy, it rarely is. Having a toddler and a dog plus my hubby and I working full time, keeping things sorted is an ongoing challenge. We’re lucky that we have weekends altogether; not everyone has that luxury.

What that means is at weekends we tend to be out doing activities and spending time together as a family. I choose to prioritise that over making my house tidy. In the week there are times when I prioritise something else too, that some of you may find truly shocking…myself.

I do my best to sit down and have lunch everyday. It doesn’t have to be a long lunch, but my little one is at nursery and it’s rare to have that quiet times. At weekends I try to have a few minutes when he’s asleep to prioritise me too. I choose to do this, rather than use this time to tidy my house because for me I feel it’s a better use of my time. You can’t pour from an empty cup so they say!

Choosing to accept that my house won’t be totally tidy, is for me, ok. Recognising and accepting this reduces the pressure I feel from the mounting to do list I can so easily create.

I practice gratitude. Those crumbs on the floor under the highchair? That’s ok, they can be sorted later, in this moment they don’t matter. I’m just grateful that I have a family to feed and food to feed them with. The lawn that needs mowing? Well I’m grateful that I have the privilege of outside space that’s my very own to maintain.

This weekend I was catching up with a friend. My house was untidy, my little boy had gotten his toys out everywhere and my dog was shedding hair too! I could have chosen not to have invited my friend over to prevent any fear of judgement. However I chose to invite her over and we enjoyed some time catching up, it didn’t matter about everything else, only reinforcing to me what my personal priorities are.

There is always a lot of pressure from external sources, the phrase ‘house embarrassment’ springs to mind and ‘Insta-worthy’ photo’s of rooms or perfect storage solutions can easily be found. However the best thing I can recommend to help you as a busy mum is just to consider for a moment what your priorities are.

Of course, a happy balance is always likely the best answer. I’d love to hear from you where you feel you sit? Does having a tidy house give you a tidy mind? Or does having a tidy house mean you’ve been under more pressure and missed out on other things?

If you feel that you are struggling with your ‘to do list’ and are getting overwhelmed, perhaps it’s time to consider ways in which you can look after yourself and keep your composure.

To find out how I can help do get in touch.