Challenge for Sure!

The past week or so has been a struggle.  My grandfather passed away, my husband has been working massively long hours, I'm not even close to being well rested, and all of this is sucking away energy and motivation.

The hardest part of simplifying everything so far has been the financial side of it.  It's hard to feel like we're making any difference whatsoever and finding nothing else that we're able (or willing) to cut out.  Some days I feel like we've hit a wall, but don't you worry - I'm going to keep plugging along.  I know deep down that there are always ways to improve and save and I just have to figure out what works for us.

Household wise, I continue to see a difference.  Basic straightening is taking less and less time and we've been able to welcome people into our home at little notice without it giving me a panic attack.  That itself is an amazing feeling.  Over at TidyMom, the Countdown to Clean Series was completed, and I printed out everything (twice).  One set is up on my fridge and the other set is by my desk upstairs.  It really has helped me decrease the feeling of being overwhelmed when I need to clean, plus when I do get a little behind in housework, the house only looks slightly cluttered instead of suddenly looking like a drug house.  I'd highly recommend her series to anyone.  Things are by no means perfect yet - I still have lots of purging left to do - but seeing a difference here is encouraging.

Speaking of purging, I do not even want to talk into my garage right now.  As I'm purging the house, stuff is getting put into the garage into various piles (keep, organize, sell, give away).  The garage needs help so badly (we never really organized it when we moved in over a year ago), but I don't really feel like I can attack it until I finish purging the house.  I'm hoping that I can at least get through some of the items to sell in order to set that money aside for Christmas gifts.  I don't expect to cover our entire Christmas budget by selling our unwanted items, but hopefully I can at least make a small dent.

So that's where I sit mentally.  I'm hoping to pop my energy and motivation up a couple notches this week.  Since I feel ready to attack a few more things, I think I can do it - provided I can stick to my bedtime this week and get the sleep that I desperately need.