Name: Spreading the Feast Gathering
Start: 2025-07-11T00:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-07-12T23:59:59-05:00
Location: LaGrange, KY

This topic has 28 replies, 16 voices, and was last updated 13 years, 3 months ago by Nayln.

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March 2, 2012 at 12:52 pm
Misty
Participant
YEPPIE I am not alone I am a type A I am a perfectionist I can not function in the slightest mess I don’t function if I feel other pressing matters I don’t function if the stove fan is is/dishwasher running and the kids are all yelling at the same time I don’t do good when I have a lot to do oh.. and I get hurt very easy if I am trying hard and dh says something about what I am doing.
We have a couple who is wonderful and he saw that I was feelign stressed (yes saw not asked) and yesterday took all 7 of my kids so I could just do what I wanted for a morning. That was wonderful, a miracle and a breath of fresh air.
So you know what we did Wed. we cleaned the house so that on Thurs (yesterday) I could just go the the coffee shop, have a cup of hot coffee, do what I wanted and go shop at the used book store without having to say dont touch, no you can’t lets just go. And that was so good for me!
I hope you all get one of those days!
March 2, 2012 at 12:56 pm
Misty
Participant
Did I mention that this “man” took our kids, has 5 of his own (well 6 but one is away in college) and his wife he sent for an extra 5 day vacation in Vegas after spending 3 with friends. He knows how hard it can be for my dh to take the kids for a day, and how stressed he is after working all week. So don’t get me wrong about my dh he’s wonderful husband and will take the kids but he also has a weekend to do list and me getting away just doesn’t seem to happen.
March 2, 2012 at 1:01 pm
Ladyofthehouse
Member
Tons of good advice above so I won’t get into much, just share two minor tweaks I implemented this past week that helped me.
1. For some reason I always thought that my big weekly housecleaning should be Saturday, after being in tears several Saturdays in a row I finally realized this doesn’t fit our lifestyle. When daddy is around on the weekend is time for fun and maybe tackling some specific projects/outings not a good time for me to be focused on a major clean. But I didn’t want to take another day out to clean the whole house or that would equal a day of no school. So I tried something I’ve heard about before, a zone a day. For me it was:
Monday-bathroom
Tueasday-change sheets & vacuum boys room & my room
Wednesday-change sheets & vacuum girls room & hallway
Thursday-organize living room, vacuum living room & kitchen & dining area
So here we are Friday morning and I feel great knowing that the whole house has been cleaned this week :o) Fridays tend to be a busy day for us so I didn’t want to schedule a zone on Fridays. I usually grocery shop Friday or Saturday.
2. I have been playing around with time blocks to find a good flow for our days. One block I’m really loving is one of the late afternoon ones. For the second hour of my youngest one’s nap I sit down with my two girls and we work on our current handicraft (embroidery) and watch a cooking show together. My 4 year old son hangs out with us playing a game or something. It is really such a relaxing end to the afternoon before jumping into the evening routine :o)
March 2, 2012 at 1:59 pm
Tia
Participant
Britney!! That is EXACTLY what I am doing this Saturday! I think…if I can manage it (I am quite sentimental myself and have trouble getting rid of stuff…) But I’m tired of the stuff…tired of the putting it on a shelf, in a basket, in a box…it’s going AWAY!
Let me know how you get along on Saturday…maybe you’ll give me some motivation to REALLY purge…not just mini-purge like I’ve been known to do in the past…
And thanks to everyone else for the suggestions! I used to do Motivated Moms and I guess I kind of forgot about it? I think I may download it again…
And I ordered that book…Keep a Quiet Heart (or Keeping?) I am excited to get it! Thanks ladies… 🙂
Off I go to school, clean, cook and fold…all for Jesus! Amen?
March 2, 2012 at 3:32 pm
4myboys
Participant
I haven’t yet managed to read all of these, but I know exactly how the original poster (and many others here) feel! It is soo hard trying to get it all done. I have not done nearly as much school this term as I had hoped, and I am trying to plan out next term to be more organized so that we can better accomplish something truly productive.
Getting it all done — school, housework, fun time, time for my dh and I, and the adding in the fact that I work part time — three hours every weekday morning, makes things extra tough for me. I know I need to get better at making and sticking with a schedule. I really like the “zone” cleaning. But for me it’s easier to plan it than stick with it. It only takes one little thing to mess up my schedule and I am toast. I really need to get my act together and get the boys more involved. I also need to purge big time. But that’s so much easier to do when the boys aren’t around, and they are ALWAYS around. I have no family near by that I can send them off with for the day, and I really need my husband or a friend to go through everything with me to keep me on track…hmmm. Just had a possible thought, but not sure it would work out. Have to think more on that….
Anyway, ya. I completely agree. And then some.
March 2, 2012 at 4:30 pm
Janell
Participant
3littlegirls: Elisabeth Elliot’s “just do the next thing” is found in the short section titled Homeschooling. Keep a Quiet Heart is filled with little messages that remind me that God is our peace.
Last night I finally downloaded the kindle app to add some of my previous kindle downloads to my ipad, and I rediscovered this ebook: 31 days to clean: how to have a Martha house the Mary way. It is a decluttering/cleaning guide intended to spark a heart revivial too. The first week focuses on the kitchen, then the living room, then the bedrooms, etc. The author writes in the introduction, “The heart of our homes is not the ability to keep it perfect at all cost; the heart of our homes is love…We are forgoing perfection; we are choosing life.” And one quote in the title page is, “It’s not so much how busy you are, but why you are busy. The bee is praised. The mosquito is swatted. Mary O’Connor”
March 2, 2012 at 4:46 pm
Britney
Member
Janell, I am looking for that book, 31 Days to Clean, now. It sounds like a wonderful book. 3littlegirls, I’ll let you know how it goes. I’m a little nervous myself but just like you said, I’m tired of putting things in boxes, baskets and shelves. Alot of it has to go!
March 2, 2012 at 7:26 pm
art
Participant
I just skimmed through the other posts, but I didn’t notice anyone saying to have the kids clean the house too. I think my kids are older than yours, but I got them working pretty young. Unfortunately I (they) had to learn it the hard way–when I had mono several years ago. But oh, how they can work.
I prefer to do the toilet, but they know how to do everything else. My kidsare 9, 10, 13 and 18. They always help me cook meals, fold laundry, sweep, mop, clear away clutter, etc. That’s not to say they always LOVE cleaning, but I couldn’t possibly do it all, could I? Should I????
I hope you all aren’t doing it all. If my kids are old enough to be homeschooled, they are old enough to clean the house. And not just their rooms either-everything.
Something my kids like is 10 minute chores. We work hard for 10 minutes each day, and it is amazing what can be done. With 5 or 6 of us, that’s an hours worth of cleaning in 10 minutes!
March 2, 2012 at 7:56 pm
Carolyn
Participant
I was blessed today with this blog and wanted to pass it on
Blessings for this coming week!
Carolyn

March 2, 2012 at 11:14 pm
Sara B.
Participant
art,
My kids by the time my oldest is 10 (she’s about to turn 9) will know how to do every chore that comes with a house & home. They help immensely right now! I only vacuum (which I am actually starting to teach the oldest), do the fish and frog tanks, and do the laundry (which I will also be teaching her as she gets tall enough to actually get stuff out of the bottom of the washer – she’s a shortie LOL). I also cook, but I am thinking it’s time to teach her that, too, since she loves helping cook, anyway. So really, the kids do nearly all the cleaning, while I direct and make sure they are doing it quickly and with a (mostly) happy heart, and I can focus on training those heart issues with all 4 instead of trying to clean the house.
Gee, I feel like I don’t really do anything around here at all! Not that I’m not busy, kwim?
March 2, 2012 at 11:19 pm
Bookworm
Participant
I’m a recovering perfectionist who’s been stressed for twelve years now over the condition of my house while homeschooling and trying to do everything else. I’ve Flyladied, I’ve tried a zillion organizational systems, I’ve consoled myself and told myself I “had” to have things a certain way . . . and just couldn’t understand why I had this constant struggle to do it all and IT NEVER HAPPENED. I’m intelligent, organized, motivated and committed–and my house is a disaster.
By all means, do your best. Enlist your kids. Try organizational systems. Work.
And then realize that sooner or later, you are going to hit a wall and realize you have to prioritize and make some hard choices, and that, for many of us “perfectionists” this is one thing that we may have to lay on the altar. THERE IS JUST TOO MUCH THAT IS GOOD TO DO. Something has to give. And I don’t want it to be my relationships! I like to have an organized lovely home full of hospitality and peaceful string music and scented candles and . . . what I have is loud boys, lots of shoes, three snakes, and constant effort just to keep them all fed and clothed and healthy. And I only have three! But this is what I was given. It’s my job to learn to love it and pour what I have into my life and give up having House Beautiful because the opportunity cost is too high. I don’t want my sons, who begin leaving home next year, to remember me as a housework driven nag who never had time to laugh and play and talk and hang out with them. And that was a real possibility before I got broken. 🙂 There are just times I’ve been forced to choose between vacuuming and dusting, or sitting around with my family and discussing the last presidential debate. You’d instantly discover if you walked into my home that I chose the discussion.
So this isn’t to discourage any effort we make. Making a lovely home is a good thing, too. And a worthy one to spend time on. BUT sometimes, something else is better and more worthy. Make sure you know how to recognize that. You’ll have fewer gray hairs than I do since this took me a while.
March 3, 2012 at 12:57 pm
jeaninpa
Participant
Every time I read the title of this post — “Anyone else overwhelmed?” — I want to retort, “Is there any homeschooling mom out there who isn’t?” Because if you aren’t, if you have it all together, if your house is perfectly clean and the laundry basket is empty, if you have enough meals in the freezer for the next month, your children all have haircuts and clean nails and matching socks, all the schoolwork is accomplished by 2 p.m. every day, you have your hair combed and your teeth brushed by 7 every morning, if your oven is clean and there are no scraps of paper on your schoolroom floor, there is no dust on the top of your refrigerator and your lesson plans are made for the next half year — then you are not normal. Overwhelmed is the new normal. Get used to it.

Since the computer screen conceals the teasing note in my voice, I will make sure I say that I am only joking. You’ve received lots of good advice and I only want to add that I’m with ‘ya. This is overwhelming — and good. Let’s all renew our commitment to rely only on God’s grace and to pray for each other.
March 5, 2012 at 3:53 am
Tia
Participant
Bookworm-
Wow. Your words are convicting and wise. I experienced the Lord speaking these very truths to me as I set about to de-clutter after my confession here. Your response brought tears to my eyes as I know, yes, you are right and I have so much to learn. And I am so thankful the Lord isn’t done with me yet…
March 5, 2012 at 5:28 am
Nayln
Member
Chocodog,
Tyvm for the sample schedule. I’ve made several schedules over the last couple of years & I never seem to be able to stick with it. I really like how you’ve incororated chores all throughout the day. I have previously just scheduled blocks of time. I am going to try a change & see if it helps or not. As for the original topic. 🙂 This so describes my entier life since I’ve had kids. 🙂