I used to think I could out-clean clutter.

I tried everything.

Downloaded all the pretty printable cleaning schedules from pinterest…

Tried zone cleaning…

Heck, I even hired a cleaning service to come every other week…

But my house was still a hot mess, 90% of the time.

The mountain of laundry still dominated the hallway.

...

I walked in through the back door of our house.

My oldest was crying because we had to leave the park, because my youngest was losing her mind at the park.

She was still mostly colicky, I don’t know what I was thinking trying to actually leave the house with both girls.

I was already overwhelmed, but walking in to our house and...

All that stuff...

The piles on the kitchen counters, the dining table, your bedside table.

The cords and DVD’s and books overflowing the basket in the family room.

The gadgets that fall out every time you open that one kitchen cabinet.

The boxes of stuff in your kids closet.

All of that stuff that you bought or received with good...

I mean...right?

Prior to ruthlessly decluttering, I remember marathon cleaning sessions on the weekend. I'm talking HOURS.

I would scrub away while I fumed inside about how our house was in terrible shape.

I would rage vacuum while I thought about all of the other things I WISHED I was doing.

+taking a nap

+hiking with my kids

+day date...

I don’t need to tell you that clutter adds stress into our lives.

…that it builds up slowly, and before we know it - has taken over our homes.

But did you know that clutter literally stresses you out? Like physiologically stresses you out?

According to a 2009 UCLA study, women who perceive clutter in their home have raised levels...

I saw a meme the other day that said something along the lines of “I have a messy house because I’m busy enjoying my kids”….

Wait.

What?

My first thought was…”so with that line of thinking…if I have a tidy and uncluttered home, I must not have time to enjoy my kids?”

When that is the complete...

When I was a stay-at-home mom with my oldest, I was drowning.

Barely keeping my head above water.

Every single morning, I’d lay on the playroom floor while she played around me. Unable to motivate myself enough to get up and DO something. Then by afternoon, the reality of our house would hit and I would plop her in front of the tv and...

Have you ever stopped to think that maybe, just maybe, the reason you don’t have time to declutter - is because you have so much clutter taking up all your time?

Maybe we have it all backwards....

“I just don’t have enough time to declutter”.

I hear this all. the. time.

And I get it. Because I used to think and feel the...

I see you, Mama. 

I see you tirelessly (and thanklessly) working from sun-up to waaay past sun-down. I see you wiping butts, kissing owie's, cutting grapes, and trying to go to the bathroom (unsuccessfully) alone. I see you trying to manage your household all while meeting the hundreds (or thousands?) demands of your daily life. I see...

As I sat on the ground last week waiting for the fireworks to begin, I told my 4 year old how July 3rd is a special day to me because it’s the day I arrived to Colorado after my cross county road trip from Michigan. I had been dating my now husband long distance for a year and a half, and we decided one of us was gonna have to move to...