Spring cleaning

Anyone else on this simplifying train?

Maybe you watched Tyding Up with Marie Kondo?

Maybe you saw a modern Scandinavian inspired living room on  Pinterest?

Whatever the inspiration, I feel you.  I have this overwhelming urge to purge.  I want to have less "weighing me down" in my every day life.  I want to experience more.  I want to stress less.  I want to be present.  Who doesn't??  I mean really.  What person goes around thinking, "you know what I'd love right now.... more stress.  I love clutter!! Bring it on world!!!"  Why is it so hard to just get rid of all my worldly possessions and live my best life?!?!?!?

But seriously.  I'm a slightly sentimental person.  Somewhere between throwing away greeting cards immediately so I don't develop an attachment and saving an Alice in Wonderland tea set that my mom got me so that I can give to my daughter one day.  I don't have a daughter... yet ;).

I desire to live simply and be content with all that I NEED and to want less.  It's a goal.  I'm not quite there yet, but I'm on this ride for the long haul. Setting priorities and goals that align with those priorities has been a huge help.  If something doesn't fall into the NEED category in order to meet a specific goal, it is not worth it.  It is not worth the money invested or the time taken.

I read somewhere that you can only be really focused on 3 major things in life at a time.  Us women especially have many plates to spin.  Eventually one of them is bound to fall. My relationship with God is #1, if I fail there I fail everywhere.  No. Thank. You.

I have a 2 year old at home that needs more attention than anyone I've ever met.

I'm in college and have to focus on my studies and make sure that I succeed at this.  It's been 10 years at least in the making and it's about darn time I graduate and start my career.

That leaves my husband, my home, friends, and work.  The upside to being in quarantine is having more quality family time that includes my husband.  Now if we can get our son to sleep in his own bed we'll be cooking with gas.  I've been able to Facetime with friends and have quality conversations.  Everyone is home at the same time finally.  I bartend and serve tables part-time.  I'm there when I'm there.  I work hard and try to do my best to be a good co-worker and employee.  But when I'm not there, I don't even think about it.  I can almost never cover someone else's shift.  It's not the busiest restaurant in the world or even the busiest one that I've worked at, however the owners are the greatest people that actually care about their employees, my coworkers rock and my boss is so good with my schedule.

Now back to the home.  My home is nowhere near where I'd like it to be.  I don't have time to clean it how I want it cleaned, also toddler.  I feel like it's never clean anymore.  My furniture isn't the color that I'd like it to be.  There is no cohesive style.  Every major piece of furniture that we have is a hand-me-down.  Some I like and some I hate, but they are all functional and free.  Even the house that we live in a hand-me-down!  We had to move in with my mom and stepdad because of financial difficulty after the baby and then they bought a new house and we now rent this one from them.  The walls are colors I don't love, the layout is a nightmare, and I don't even have a bathtub.  But I put up artwork and have an abundance of blankets and I make it work to call it home.  Today I even cleaned all the baseboards, ugh.

One day we will paint.  One day we'll buy couches.  One day I will be able post a picture of my bedroom and someone might mistake it for an ad.  But for now I will be content.  I will focus my energy on my top priorities.  When those shift my focus will shift and it will all be ok.

Today's success: Clean baseboards!