LESS STRESS IN 2016

HAPPY NEW YEAR! 

I still can't believe that it's already 2016! I feel like my husband and I just celebrated  our anniversary last May and now were coming up on two years. My goodness does time fly.

I am not one to usually make a "new year resolution"but this year I decided to hop on the bandwagon and set a realistic goal for myself. 

LESS STRESS!

I am not one to get stressed out easily. I get annoyed easily haha but I don't usually get stressed out too quickly UNLESS it has to do with our home. My husband and I both work full time but our schedules are very different. When I'm at work he is usually home, and when I am home he is usually at work (unless our days off fall on the same day). When he has off the last thing that he wants to do it house stuff and I don't blame him. His job is very taxing and he needs his rest whenever he can get it. This usually means that the house work falls on me. Don't get me wrong he will wash the laundry and sometimes do the dishes but realistically the majority of the house work is my job and I am ok with it because I like things done a certain way and it is USUALLY therapeutic for me.

HOWEVER (back to the stress part) I become quickly stressed out when I see baskets and baskets of laundry in our room waiting to be folded, a dirty bathroom, and unmade bed, a cluttered countertop, a messing stove top, the list could probably go on and on. When I see that our apartment isn't in order I get stressed, annoyed, mad, short tempered, UGHHHH, I just go a bit crazy! 

So starting this year I wanted to make slight changes in my home life that will help not only keep our home in order but keep the stress at bay!

SPREAD OUT THE COMFORTER

Sometimes we don't want to make the bed. We may be running out and don't have time to flatten out the sheets, tuck the sheets in, AND spread out the comforter to look nice and throw on all the extra pillows. For days like that; we just spread out our comforter/pull it up to our pillows. You don't see the wrinkled sheets underneath and the spread out comforter gives the appearance of a neat/in order room. We do this when we are running out the door and I must say it does feel good to come home and see a "made" bed.

IF YOU HAVEN'T USED IT IN THE PAST MONTH TOSS IT

I can't tell you how many things I have had sitting in our spare room that I haven't used in a month and I probably won't use them any time soon. This showed me that those items were not valuable to me and could be donated or tossed. So many times we hold on to something because we "may need it some day" but truth is if you didn't use it lately you probably won't use it. I have a whole cabinet of mugs and plates that I have never used and I'm throwing them in a box and bringing them to Goodwill. That is cabinet space I could be using and those are dishes that someone else could get use out of!

DO A LOAD OF LAUNDRY EVERY MORNING

Before you make breakfast throw a load of laundry in the wash. Before you leave for work, toss that load into the dryer. Once you get home the clothes will be dried and ready to fold. This will keep the dirty clothes pile small and less stinky ;)

WIPE DOWN THE STOVETOP AFTER USING IT

This is something my mom has always done. When I lived at home I used to laugh because I would finishing cooking and in comes my mom with sponge in hand and she would wipe down the stove top EVERY TIME! For years I thought that she was OCD but now that I have my own home to keep clean I see why she did that. I cringe when I see a dirty stovetop. The worse is when you are cooking with oil and it splatters all over ahhhhh just the thought is making me want to scream. Now I wipe down the stovetop after every use and I can't explain the peace I feel seeing a clean cooking space.

RUN THE DISHWASHER AT NIGHT

I do this and I am so happy this has become a habit for me. Obviously throughout the day you collect dishes in the sink so why not end your day by loading all of those dishes into the dishwasher and running it at night so the next day when you wake up you are greeted by an empty and clean kitchen/sink?! After breakfast, I unload the dishwasher and it is ready to do all over again that night. It's horrible when the sink is always filled with dirty dishes because you never feel like the kitchen is clean. 

THROW OUT MAIL

This is something I am learning to do. I usually get the mail and throw it on the counter. I HATE IT because after a week the countertop is cluttered with mail! And it really makes no sense because all of our bills are accessible online. The only reason they send bills in the mail is to remind you that you have something due soon. We ended up making a board that has a list of our bills and their due dates and that reminds us when we need to go online to pay them. So now I take all mail that isn't important and throw it out immediately. 

HAVE A SHOE BASKET

This has changed our lives! SERIOUSLY!  My husband struggles with this topic. He will put his shoes by the front door after wearing them. Well that is a problem because that shoe pile starts to get bigger and bigger as the week goes on. Soon enough the front door looks like a shoe store. So I bought a basket and placed it by the front door. This way he can leave what ever shoes he wants by the door, the difference is they will be contained and won't be laying all over the place.

SWEEP EVERY OTHER DAY

I have been doing this ever since we got our dog! We have hardwood floors in our main living space and his blonde hair shows up A LOT and I can't stand seeing hairy/dusty floors and I don't like having to vacuum all the time either. So I sweep every other day. This obviously helps keep our pups shedding controllable but also helps me wait until vacuum day. I usually only like to break the vacuum out when I know I need to do our carpets, so the sweeping helps keep our apartment manageable until then!

These are easy changes to make and I KNOW that in doing so it will keep the stress level down and our apartment will be a place I enjoy to live in not just a place that needs constant cleaning! Do you get stressed out with what feels to be constant house work? What changes can you make in your home life to eliminate stress and keep cleaning manageable?