Aha Moments

Over the past few years I've been given a lot of (asked for) advice about keeping my house tidy. I know how to clean, I don't know how to KEEP it clean! I've scoured the internet and asked friends and family searching for this magical advice, but none of it helped. I felt like there was something wrong with me, like I was just born without the "tidy gene." I was able to keep my house clean with schedules and such, but it never lasted more that a week or two. It was always back to stuff everywhere EXCEPT where it belonged. Then... I had an "aha moment" where all of the advice fell into place and clicked, it all made sense FINALLY! Well, it was actually more like a bunch of aha moments all spread out, with a final aha that all that advice HAD worked! All of those little tid bits of advice I had read or heard were able to be used in my house and how our home runs, I just had to twirk it a little bit!

Aha Moment #1
My mom told me once that she picked out the things that bugged her husband the most and made those priorities. That way if you had a rough day and get nothing else done, at least those things get done and the hubster is happy.

At first, I thought well sheesh, this isn't going to work. My husband wants the whole house clean! But I started paying attention to what my husband would complain about and realized there really wasn't a whole lot he required to be happy.

-Toilet paper in the bathroom
-A clean towel
-Clean clothes where they're supposed to be
-Food for his belly
-A clean dish to eat off of

Sure enough, not only did he not complain about anything, I actually got compliments and thank you's! Something I really didn't expect was that it actually made me feel good to be able to do these small things for him. It's a way to make his evening a little more relaxing and show him that I appreciate all he does. Not to mention it honestly takes 5 minutes to do! Even if I have a bad day and I don't do dishes, I just make sure before dinner I wash everything he will need to eat. Or if I didn't fold his clothes and they're still in the dryer, I just lay them out for him while he's in the shower.

Now, this aha moment doesn't keep my house clean, but it keep my hubby happy, which makes me happy, which means that I'm not guilting myself to death and can actually think about getting something done!

Do you think this would work in your household? If so, what would your hubby's gotta have done list be?