From the category archives:

cleaning/organizing

Mindful Monday: Get ready for summer

May 14, 2012

Wait. It’s May 14 – really? The end of the school year seems to have caught me off-guard this year, and between getting ready for summer break and making sure my kids get all those library books back to school, I’m feeling a little flustered. So for this week’s Mindful Monday intention, I’m looking forward [...]

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Mindful Monday: clean. organize. rinse. repeat.

April 9, 2012

Hmm, I feel like this has been a Mindful Monday topic here before. Maybe even three or four times before. But that’s OK. As I’ve written repeatedly, I believe that getting your house clean and organized is a process – and a practice – not a project. What’s the difference? Well, projects have specific end [...]

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Why do I hire help? Because I want to, that’s why.

March 23, 2012

My every-other-week house cleaner, Lynda, came today. After she left I walked through my clean house, looking slowly around, inhaling the scent and savoring the shine…with the knowledge that, with five kids, it won’t last long. Then I went into the kitchen to make myself a cup of tea, and found myself staring at a [...]

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Mindful Monday: ask for help (and get really specific)

February 27, 2012

While I was away, I worked steadily on some projects that had gotten a little backed up. Sprawled out on a hotel bed in the quiet, just my laptop and me – no kids’ schedules to consider or  worries about a napping toddler waking up at just the wrong moment – I got a lot [...]

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Getting kids to clean up: how to motivate and direct your pint-sized help

February 16, 2012

We all know kids make a lot of mess. But if yours are old enough to hold a broom or put a toy in a basket, they’re old enough to take some of the work off your plate. Of course, that doesn’t mean it’s always easy to get them to clean up after themselves or [...]

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mini-resolution: clean up my desk

February 2, 2012

Where do you do the majority of your work? Is it typing at a desk? Stirring over the stove? Mixing in a test tube? Creating in a studio? Chasing kids around the living room? For me, the answer should be “typing at a desk”, but right now I’m sitting in the living room pounding away [...]

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Sunday Reads: fall decor, finishing home projects, cleaning checklists, Halloween fun

October 23, 2011

With the end of our kitchen reno finally in sight – and a house littered with half-assembled cabinets, tools, and drywall dust – this week I’ll be concentrating on getting our house back in order and decorated for fall and Halloween. (Did I mention we’re having a party on Saturday night? And that right now [...]

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