Hollen Home: cleaning

It's the Weekend | Number Five

25 March 2017

Phew. This week has been a whirlwind of late nights at work for events. I'm ready to just chill at my house for the day with the kiddo. Nothing too crazy. Come tomorrow, the craziness will begin up again like it always tends to do.

Lately, I've have started to gather links of all of the places I have been perusing in the great, grand internet. There are plenty of people out there doing big things and small things. Some of these are practical, some are inspiring. Some just make me hungry. This week, we have an article on rage cleaning, eating healthier, and not waking up with regret. I also have been reading about podcasts and ways to become a better morning person.

I tend to clean my house a lot. I thought this rage-cleaning mother article was pretty accurate.

I saw these cheat sheets floating around Facebook this past week. I always need ideas for how to eat healthier.

I never want to wake up someday with regret. These things are important.

Do you listen to podcasts? I do. Here's a primer on how to get started.

I am normally a morning person because of the kiddo. Here's 8 things every person should do before 8am.

I always have a thing for tortellini. Getting my family to eat more broccoli is always a win as well. This Lemon Broccoli Tortellini looks delicious.

Commonwealth and Do the Work: Overcome Resistance and Get Out of Your Own Way just became available for me at the library for my Kindle. Time to get my read on.

Have a great weekend!

This post may contain affiliate links. When you make a purchase through those links, I am paid a small amount in advertising fees. Thanks for your support.

An Update: No Spend July

24 July 2014

This lovely little exercise of not spending any money, aside from necessities, has been eye opening for me. Probably the thing that has surprised me the most in all of this process is that I feel like we are poorer than ever. No money. Our bank account is constantly making me nervous and I am always waiting for payday.

How did that happen? I mean, what the heck? I haven't spent any money!

Granted, I haven't spent any money on credit cards either this month. That is where the real, true, heartbreaking realization lives: we tend to use our credit cards too often, too much, and for stuff we don't really need. Don't get me wrong, we manage our finances decently well. I was brought up that way. We even have paid off a TON of stuff this year which is super nice. We pay our bills on time. We pay more than the minimum amount due.

But, life happens. Amazon happens, which I know is not a legitimate excuse at all. I know. I know. I know!

In the past few months we have also added on some other expenses even though we have paid off some others. For example, I am going to be paying the hospital for the birth of my child for a while. It would have been nice to not be making the amount of money that we do and qualify for some aid in that area. That is a rant for a whole other day. I do believe the middle class though gets the short end of that stick. It's super unfair. We work hard, pay our bills, and want to have a family. Simple as that. End rant. For now.

We also have had someone come and clean our home and mow our lawn in the last two months or so. It was kind of an experiment for both of us because having a baby changes every single thing and since we both work and I have a billion side businesses going on, it was hard to keep up with stuff. I like cleaning my house. I still think I do it better than the people we have come clean. But, on a weekend, the last thing I am able to do with a crying baby in tow is scrub the crap out of the grout in my bathroom. It's a constant struggle. I don't know why I am trying to justify this but I feel like I need to. I am thinking of going to a once a month cleaning instead of bi-weekly and mowing will cease once we hit the fall. I am constantly hit by the fact that I want to spend time with my kid and not be remembered as the mom with the clean kitchen and the neglected child. No way.

I've managed to not go to Starbucks since June 10th. I am usually a regular at a few coffee houses and the baristas are all probably wondering if I'm dead or moved. The only few times I've had coffee is for work meetings and I don't have to pay for it. I don't think I've ever looked so forward to work meetings in my life. An iced caramel macchiato helps any crappy day get at least a little better. We had quite a few crappy work days lately too. I'll take what I can get.

I have received things from Amazon but they were diapers, wipes, diaper pail bags, and some keurig cups. We have those shipped to us monthly and I see those as necessities.

This has been a good experiment and I only have 6 more days to go. I need to get my eyebrows waxed. I would love a pedicure. I need a hair cut. Maybe I don't need any of these things, but I sure do want them. They help me feel human again.

I feel the need to still overhaul our budget and really hunker down for the next few months. I also feel the need to go through everything we own and just get rid of half of it. Too much stuff.

6 more days.

A Busy, Working Mom's Cleaning Schedule

02 April 2014

I feel the need to add a bit of disclaimer to this post....I am a new mom. I don't know what I'm doing. I am also a bit OCD by nature and like a good list. They keep me line. They help me know what the end goal is. I don't want to portray that I am perfect, especially as a mom. I mess up. A lot. I also don't want to portray that my house is perfect at all times of the day, no matter what. There's spit up in places I don't care to think about. There's a couch that probably has a small colony living underneath it by now. Our laundry piles might eventually be the death of me or our cat, Geoff. Most of my time is occupied by a newborn that sleeps, eats, and poops. This will all change at some point, as it should.

There will be plenty of times that I don't complete this list every week. There will be times where I will choose to hang out with my family instead of scrubbing my kitchen. There are times where I know I will fall short. These are just guidelines. I work better when I have a list. I might go a week and only get my living room cleaned because we had some spare time on Monday. I am fine with that. I like knowing how other people manage their busy lives, this is just a peek at mine. It will bend and sway and change over and over again.

I am not naive. I am not perfect. I mess up lots. I'm learning as I go in this thing called parenthood and I have only just begun.

Those are just my thoughts....Now continue on to the cleaning schedule...

I am a bit of a neat freak. Parenting has forced me to back off of that title a bit, but I still take some pride in having a nice, organized, clean house. When my house is messy, my brain lives in chaos. When I wake up to a semi-clean home, I feel like I have a better grasp on my sanity.

We lead busy lives. With a newborn, I can't devout 3 hours on a Saturday to deep cleaning my house anymore. At this point in our lives, that just doesn't work for us.

When I was pregnant, I created these two lists. I was too exhausted then to take a day to clean, so I split it up into daily tasks that were still obtainable. I have been using this system now that I'm on maternity leave as well. Once I go back to work, I think I can keep this up, but it might need to be altered here and there. One room only takes me about 20 minutes if I have been keeping up with my cleaning schedule. That is doable. I can do that.

I have normal daily tasks that I already do. When I wake up or before I go to bed (or both), I just do a quick pick up and sweep of the house. This makes getting up the next day easier and my cleaning task for that day doesn't seem too cumbersome.

I also have a deep cleaning list. On Sundays, I try to do one of these items. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. Sometimes my husband actually has a Sunday off and I won't clean then. That's family time. Sometimes it's good to rest and my oven can wait to be deep cleaned one more week. It's ok to rest, people. Remember that.

There you have it. The secret to my sanity. I have also started using these cleaning products. Any glass cleaner that smells like mint works for me. (I am not getting paid to say that, I just love the product. But, hey, if they want to give me free goods, I wouldn't say no.)

Happy Cleaning.

Current Chaos

25 May 2012

This is where I am at right now. Chaos. Garage sale chaos. At least the craft room/office is starting to actually resemble a craft room/office once more. But, this room? DRIVING ME NUTS. Some of it's staying. Some of it's going. Some of it, I don't know what to do with some of it.

Progress. Slow progress. Beach House and the new John Mayer record are keeping me company and keeping me sane.

If I don't post on here for a few days, my hoarder piles might have gotten the best of me. I'm buried somewhere. Send rescue. And ice cream.

PS. Did you see the new layout? Nice and clean. Chaos free. Now if only my house would feel that way.

The Art of Letting Go

08 May 2012

I've been starting to sift through room by room in our little home. The piles have become mounds and I have picked them down to just lint in the carpet. Neat piles surround me every where I look and I can't help but wonder why we have all of this stuff in the first place. What significance does it hold? Where along our journey did we gain this item or that item and why must it still reside in our lives? Does it have meaning or is it just gathering dust?

I've been spring cleaning for what seems like forever. I've also been thinking about what that means in my own life. What spider webs have I allowed to wreak havoc upon my heart's own closets and what blocks have I left in my own pathway to the door?

I don't feel much of a need for most of the items in our home. Much of my past is very much the same. I have my decisions, my dreams, my dreams lost, and those moments that I hold on to far too tightly at times. In my quest for a clean home, I also desire a clear mind and spirit. How often do we walk through life with too many piles at our side? How many oversized bags have I drug behind me in hope of finding a new fork in the road?

I think of these piles today. I think of my college days. I think of the friends I lost and the friends I gained. I think of moving home and meeting my husband in a whirlwind of an entirely unexpected moment. I hold onto things and moments for far too long. I must let many of them go. Maybe those songs aren't meant to be sung anymore. Maybe the rain will never fall upon my life like it once did. This process is an art form, a picking away at the piles and a sorting through of feelings and mistakes. Letting go is tough. But, in the long run, a clean slate is so much better.

I desire a clean slate today, one I can fill up with new experiences and new moments.