Stress Management: The Yankee Way to Simplify Your Life

Part of my stress management class has been to get a project on myself. I initially wanted to clean my main rooms. Unfortunately, with nine children, I need SPACE. A $30,000 hour addition would be the best option (and get a new bathroom and some bedrooms with storage space) would be the best option, but I don't have the money. I tried paring it down. Space in the garage would be the next best thing but my husband travels quite a bit and he is trying to refinish the floors-- he is replacing carpet with wood which is very nice, but he lacks the energy when he is home to clean the garage. I could clean the garage but we need someone to deal with the younger children when I am out there and that just isn't possible right now. Alas, the closets are crowded and I tried just picking things up-- weeding out things that I do not need and straightening the house up: I got the 12 year old daughter and her brothers out and had the babies take a nap. A whole ninety minute's worth of cleaning later I felt like I was making headway when BOOM! the kids came in and the babies woke up and everything that I'd done in that time was undone. Four school aged kids dragged in dirt and a grasshopper that the seven year old wanted to show me (the new cat pounced on it and earned her stay here.) My three year old son who is getting potty trained took off his soiled diaper and slid his messy bottom on to the toilet (and off) leaving behind a gross mess for me in the freshly cleaned bathroom with his slightly older four year old sister screaming that she needed to use the toilet but couldn't. They wanted lunch. They needed a snack to take to a neighbor's house. . .

I did what I needed for the kids and got the older kids outside again and dealt with the younger three crying as they wanted to go out but I had to clean. I went to my bedroom and started on a pile of books by my bed. One of the books that I picked up is one that I have often flipped through and genuinely like and have tried before but never managed to finish. It's finally working. Heinrichs' plain language is to easy to keep in your head. This isn't rocket science or some psychological breakthrough-- it's plain English. What doesn't apply to your goals or happiness, throw out or sell. What does-- make room for it.

More later. this is kinda cool.