Keeping Consistent

I have previously disproven the theory that I am lazy. I have not yet been able to be consistent about things over a long period of time. Take, for instance, brushing the kids' teeth in the mornings. I have done wonderfully with achieving an earlier bed time. I haven't been asleep past 12:30 for the last several weeks. This seems late for some but trust me, it is earlier than when I was going to bed over the summer. Running on some nights has pushed the bedtime even earlier.

Waking up is still a tough thing. I have shared our bedtime struggles and we are still finding people in bed with us. This means less restorative sleep (after several hours of struggling to get them to go to sleep) for me. When the alarm goes off, I do not spring to my feet. In fact, I've been waking up at 6:45 even though my first alarm doesn't sound off until 7:00. I'm not sure why, but I refuse to let my feet hit the floor that early. It just seems wrong.

I have worked hard to get the morning routine compressed so that everyone is ready to hit the door no later than 8:20. It takes us about 5 minutes to walk Jeremy to school, 5 minutes back and then we're in the van headed to Bekah's preschool.

Teeth brushing is important and essential. Jeremy has awful teeth and needs extra attention paid to the process. Neither child is brushing independently yet. I make them brush (I use the term lightly as mostly it consists of them sucking on the toothbrush and moving it around minimally) first and then I rinse them. Really, I give all four quadrants a good brush and then make them rinse and spit.

It seems pretty straightforward, but the entire process is fraught with pitfalls. First, it seems that no 4- or 5-year-old can come into the bathroom and stand still on command. I am usually calling them 2 or 3 times. Upon arriving in the bathroom, wackiness ensues. There is a rule that "poop," "peepee," and other bodily-function related words can only be uttered in the bathroom. For good measure, Jeremy exercises his right to use these words liberally while waiting to start brushing his teeth. Neither can stand still--it's rather like trying to manage two Mexican jumping beans. I honestly don't know how kindergarten and preschool teachers aren't chronic drinkers.

It's these kinds of tasks, like brushing teeth, where I struggle to be consistent. I have talked previously about my attempts to de-clutter. I was, for a period of time, working with an organizer. That process ended abruptly and without the whole job being finished. There are various reasons why this happened, but ultimately I was left holding the bag. If I were consistently spending 15 minutes a day decluttering, my office wouldn't be the pit of doom it currently is. Alas, 15 minutes gathered together in an uninterrupted bundle is difficult to find with three small children around. I can't even manage to get 5 minutes together to take a shower without interruptions.

It's the inconsistency that drives me nuts. The paper clutter started in earnest when school started. It is a non-stop flurry of artwork, homework, permission slips, calendars, newsletters and junk. I cannot find a system that works for me to get a handle on it. I am finding myself going a bit crazy with it.

I just brought a pile of it up to the office because I was having people over on Thursday night. It joins several other piles of paper already living in the office. Artwork is the worst, for me, because Bekah scribbles two colors on a piece of paper and considers it art. She does that approximately 10 times a week and it's a crazy amount of random pieces of paper with swipes of paint on them. I am sentimental but 10 pieces of paper a week over 9 months of school...well, you do the math. It's unmanageable.

I think the biggest frustration I had with the organization process is I was required to buy more "stuff" to organize my "stuff." I have very little money and I was paying an organizer most of it. I didn't have extra money to be buying bins and other stuff like that. I needed her to go through the "stuff" with me to eliminate the extra and therefore the need to have organizational "stuff." Part of it too is that I don't have extra time to work on projects. I had hoped that working on it with an organizer an hour and a half a week would cut it but it never did. Now my house seems to be in worse shape and I am even more lost. My kitchen, the laundry room and the kids' closet are all still in relatively good shape. Other than that, I'm losing my mind again.

I need to just commit to 15 minutes a day. Flylady talks about it all the time. I have her timer and my commitment is to spend 15 minutes a day for the next week decluttering my office. I will have to report back (with pictures) to see how it goes. I have decided I can do anything for 15-minute periods for one week.