Prioritizing

I have been brought back to reality this week. I have struggled a bit with juggling my job and my home. Luckily I have a wonderful husband who gets home 2 hours before me. He likes to help me out and get as much done around the house as possible. But inevitably, I get home in the evening and look around in a daze... I'm so tired but there's so much to get done!
It can be so discouraging to fall asleep every night and wake up every morning looking at a list of chores I don't have the time or energy to get done.

We have decided that I will work until we have children. This is mostly to help us dig out of the lovely pile of student loan debt that my 20 year old self got us into. While I may be helping out the bottom line, I feel like a failure when my house is not cared for. Again, my husband helps so much but I still feel like it is my responsibility to care for my home.

So I have finally had enough. I have decided to reorganize my day so that I have enough energy and time to get our home back into the shape I want it to be in.

So today, I woke up a half hour earlier than usual. I actually woke up 2.5 hours before I needed to be at work! Then I had Bible time and got ready like I usually do. By the time 7:45 hit, I was ready for work. I still had 45 minutes before I actually needed to leave the house. So I cleaned the bathroom. Something about a clean bathroom to me is like paradise. I have a certain routine for bathroom cleaning that results in my version of bathroom heaven.

So I cleaned up the clutter, scrubbed the counters, whiped down the mirrors, cleaned out the shower, and dusted/whiped everything down.

VOILA! That extra bit of time left me with one gleaming room. If I can manage to tackle one room every morning, I may finally have the home I have been craving. The best part is, when I get home in the evening exhausted, I will not feel overwhelmed with things to do.

This is a big change for someone like me, who loves her sleep and late mornings! But I am already seeing, on my first day, that the results will be worth it.