<p>I suck at it. It's been my goal for oh, 7 years now (the age of my first and the number of years as a SAHM) to be good at it.</p>
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<p>I find I am getting better and I make progress, but then something happens (holidays, illness, travel, new baby) and my progress takes a step back. I am not hard on myself about it though. I know that what is most important is happy kids and a happy mom so that takes priority. I have no problem leaving a mess to go take advantage of a fine day at the park or to go to the zoo or aquarium. I have also seen a pattern, when a child reaches the magic age of 3 it suddenly becomes easier to make a progress. I guess I am able to move some of my energy from the intense early years of parenting onto other things like cleaning and organizing.</p>
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<p>I am finding the key to hanging onto progress is less stuff and living a simpler life. It is sometimes painful to let go of clutter and make room for everything to have a designated place, but it is the solution for me. I find that the feeling of freedom I get from the taking big step of letting go of "stuff" to be well worth the pain of the process.</p>
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<p>I'm also finding that I need to be very honest and practical about my own hangups and way of being. That means that the vacuum needs to live close to the living room so it will be used regularly and put away when I'm done, keeping it down the hall, in another room's closet just doesn't work. I need to keep a trash can in the living room to quickly pick up all of the paper and trash that seems to breed there. I can't stack things, somehow the extra step of lifting to get to something makes putting the thing away when I'm done too much. I have to have lots of shelves in my linen closet so I don't have to stack piles of linens and towels. I can just stack one set together or only have a stack of 4 towels, rather than tall stacks that are easily disheveled when you reach for something in the middle. Same for the kitchen. Only there buckets or bins work in the cabnets rather than stacks. (Sounds crazy, but it's true for me.) I have to minimize surfaces, because shelves and tables collect clutter. Strangely, cabinets or shelving with doors does not. I started arranging all of my clothes in my closet by color rather than by type and it made it easier to put clothing away and find it again (this works for books and DVDs too). I have hooks by the front door to hang up diaper bags, purses, jackets, etc... We recently rearranged the furniture in our living room and put all 3 of the kids toy strange units together, in a line, like it's one piece of furniture. I can't even begin to tell you how much better/easier it is than having the 3 toy storage units even slightly apart. Little simple changes in how I do things, changes that would not seem to be that big of a deal, have made all the difference. I don't really know why this is, but it is.</p>
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<p>Hang in there mama. It will bet better/easier. You have your hands very full with a new baby and a child with special needs. Your kids need you to be focused on them right now, the house will still be there when they are older and are less intense about there needs. (FWIW I do understand. I have a 7 year old that is very spirited, enough so that I often wonder if she has mild SPD, and a 3 year old with Ds that was just diagnosed with leukemia. Homemaking is not at the top of my list for where to focus my energy everyday.)</p>
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<p>PS It helps to have everyone, especially DH, on board with your goal to make the house more organized and clean. Nothing makes me feel more defeated than trying to implement a change to make thing easier than to have others, *ahem, DH, ahem*, not follow through with the change.</p>
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