The Kitchen Sink Article Thursday, May 9, 2024

Hello there Friends! Or, should I say Welcome Back?! Has it already been 3 years? Time sure flies when you’re busy with day-to-day life. Let’s get reacquainted, I am an Oklahoma Mom of two children 16 and 10. With that age gap, they constantly keep me on my toes. The Kitchen Sink is my way of sharing cleaning and organization tips, while encouraging everyone to be a little kinder to themselves. Life is messy and it’s ok to be a mess.

I'd like to talk about the school year ending. I don't know what it is about May, but it is the busiest month of the school year. Sports, concerts, field trips, graduations, and end-of-the-year parties. It can be overwhelming even for the most organized of us. Here is what I like to do, I collect all the notes and invitations as we get them, then make a list of what needs to be done for each event on sticky notes. I have a whiteboard on my fridge where I normally put meal planning, but in May it's my command center. I write the event on the day and put the sticky note with it. That way when I look at the week I see what needs to be done and I can write more on the sticky note or take it shopping with me or even hand it off to my husband to handle.

Being a Mom, whether stay-at-home or working outside the home, is hard. So many expectations put on us by society with so much to juggle. Then there is the guilt of not living up to our version of a perfect mother. Recently I read that Marie Kondo, (Author of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up and Netflix's Tidying Up with Marie Kondo). Let me paraphrase that after the birth of her children, she struggled with the guilt of not being able to manage her home like she had before. She had to let go of her need for perfection altogether. Living a busy life with 3 children, her home is messy but she values spending time with her family over tidying at this stage in her life. When even the world's most organized woman says she can't keep up, then I think we can all go a little easier on ourselves.

One of my favorite ways to whip our messy house back into shape is what we call a "Reset Clean" and it can be done in a matter of hours. The whole family helps out and we tackle each room together. I like to play music, usually whatever the kids are into that day. I also put something in the crockpot for a yummy reward later. While my kids hate having to clean, they sure enjoy having a fresh start to the week. The great thing about this quick reset is it can be done without Mom. *Wink, Wink*

Happy Mother's Day, do something nice for yourself this weekend.

"Happy Cleaning"

See the Kitchen Sink article in the May 9th edition of the Oklahoma's Choice Weekly!  www.oklahomaschoiceweekly.com/the-kitchen-sink

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