Sinking to new highs

In my serious quest to have a tidier house, I have had to have a really serious chat with my inner feminist.  I have worked my whole adult life.  Since my systemic lupus became unstable due to high amounts of stress, we decided that I would not work full time anymore.  Instead, I am a part-time genealogist, which brings much needed extra income in, but we still live on a whole lot less.  Half the money to be exact.  This means we went from having a full-time live in domestic, to not being able to afford one.

The challenge for me is not the same as for others.  Having a debilitating chronic disease means I do not have the energy or strength that other people take for granted.  Throw in a total lack of motivation, and it's a recipe for chaos.  I've decided that instead of beating myself up about the state of my house, and by now you understand this topic worries me a lot, I've decided to take a balanced approach and do some research on how best to go about this.  I read up on various sites on the internet and found a few handy tips.  I already have some handy tips of my own from my days as a full-time working single mother with no maid.  For example, if you are so tired in the evening that you just want to plop down in front of the TV, then do small chores during the ads.  You'll be amazed how much you can get done in the time the ads are on.  Unpack the dishwasher, or load up the washing machine, or just tidy up, etc.  Small chunks with long breaks in between.  I find this works.

But the problem is bigger, so I needed to call on outside help.  I found this website www.flylady.net.  This was where my feminist wasn't too thrilled.  By signing up to a site like this that offers advice on house cleaning, would I be admitting to being...*gag* ...a housewife?  The one thing I never wanted to be was a housewife.  There is nothing wrong with it, but I always saw myself as shattering these glass ceilings as I sped my way up the corporate ladder, and that is precisely what I was doing until the SLE chose a different course for my life and things got turned a bit on their head.

Anyway, back to FlyLady.  You start off with these baby steps.  The very first thing you do is scrub your sink until it shines.  That's it for day one.  The only thing you really have to do.  So, smiling wryly to myself, I though "what's the harm?" and scrubbed my sink.  You won't belive me, but it felt empowering.  I felt like I'd taken a step towards making life more ordered, less chaotic.  So what if I'm a part-time housewife.  At least I have a clean sink!