A Farewell To Perfection

"My house doe NOT have to be clean in order for me to be happy"....a phrase I repeat to myself often. But let's be honest, my dirty house drives me NUTS most days. And with this sentiment you'd think my home would be cleaned to perfection; but it's far from that which also drives me NUTS! After months and months of driving myself nuts seeking levels of perfection I'll never reach, I decided to say farewell to perfection and just embrace reality.

If My Kitchen Is Clean, I Can Survive...the first stop in my farewell to perfection in the clean home department. Every other room in my home could be a wreck, but as long as the kitchen is clean, I'm winning. One way I've been able to consistently keep my kitchen clean and stay on top of the dishes (in spite of how many pile up with the kids home ALL DAY, EVERY DAY) is running my dishwasher, especially now that I know it helps to save water. I switched from hand washing my dishes to running my dishwasher daily using Cascade Platinum. It was crazy to realize I was using 4 gallons of water, every 2 minutes when hand washing the dishes with a running sink. How much water does a dishwasher use? Turns out, a dishwasher uses less than 4 gallons of water in an ENTIRE cycle!

And lucky for the roomies, their chores now include loading the dishwasher instead of hand washing dishes; as a family we’re saving over 100 gallons of water a week by running the dishwasher nightly with Cascade Platinum. Cascade is partnering to give away a dishwasher and a year’s supply of Cascade Platinum to 100 lucky families for the holidays! Enter to win and help save water HERE.

Kids Are Messy.....the next stop in my farewell to perfection. After 8 years of motherhood this should be something I'm ok with by now, but the constant mess my kids carry with them through every crevice of the house is frustrating. It's like cleaning up little land mines of mess all day. A few things that I've found helpful to combat their constant clutter:

1. Donating/decluttering toys: Less toys means less mess and clutter so purging excess toys monthly has made clean up SO MUCH easier.

2. Clean Before You Leave: This is a rule I've been much better at enforcing lately. Before moving on to another room or activity, tidying your space is a must.

3. The 20 minute clean/pick up post bedtime. This short period of cleaning, nightly has been a game changer in managing clutter. After getting the kids to bed, I set a timer for 20 minutes (never more than that because mama is tired) and quickly tidy the house. Load the dishwasher, gather toys left in random places, wipe surfaces etc.

The last stop in my farewell to perfection is the realization that I can continue to stress about the cleanliness of my house to reach a pinnacle of excellence, OR I could chill out and spend time with my kids and actually enjoy my home without stressing. I've chosen the latter and saying farewell to perfection feels GOOD.

*This post is in partnership with Cascade Platinum but all thoughts and opinions are mine.