Slobs Anonymous: The personal recovery mission of a slob in denial.

I have a confession. My house is CLEAN probably 75% of the time or less. (You see, I’m unable to confess to a larger percentage yet, because it is embarrassing, and because I truly am still in denial.) Its not like I have allowed my house to get this way out of laziness. I would like to say that I actually try very hard to clean up my home every day. But things get in the way all the time, and all my progress landslides back to ‘messy’ once again.

In the beginning, I was very tidy. As a teenager, once I finally had my own bedroom, it was always the cleanest in the house. Organizing and re-organizing was a fun hobby of mine. My goal was always to find the most efficient way to maximize a space ,no matter the size. Years later, I have been married 5 years and we have 3 children. I still have the same goal and find enjoyment in tidying and organizing, but it has changed. It was so much easier to take care of only one person and one bedroom as opposed to 5 people and a whole house!

So here is my goal: As long as it takes for me to succeed, I will make a focus on reclaiming and beautifying my home. You’ll get to see my humiliations and my successes as I do. Maybe by making myself accountable to so many more people than just myself and my sweet family, I will feel a bigger push to succeed. (“Hi, I’m Heather, and I’m a slob…”)

Feel free to comment with any tips or positive reinforcement at any time. I’m going to need it.

Goals, Week 1:

1- Define my strengths and weaknesses. This shouldn’t be too difficult. I’m a pro when it comes to pointing out my own flaws and weaknesses. The hard part will be learning to change and not beat myself down all the time.

2- Define my most productive windows throughout the day. I have trouble with that one still. My youngest is still less than a year old, and depends on me a lot. I have no doubt, everything will revolve around all my family’s needs.

3- Develop a rewards program for myself. Yes, its true, bribery does work. I LOVE having some sort of incentive to work toward. (“But shouldn’t your personal triumphs be their own reward?” Blah! Well yes, of course they are, but I like rewards. “Show me the money!”)

4- Identify, Isolate, and Attack! My biggest problem is that I always try to take on too much at once. If I discipline myself to focus on one task at a time until it is completed, I might actually make real progress.

Wish me luck!

Heather