Starting From Scratch

The holidays are over, traveling is done and I'm starting to feel healthy again. In short - I've run out of excuses. It's time to get my booty in gear and get my house, habits and well everything back in order. I was overwhelmed at all there was to do when getting back home and ignored the suitcases and boxes for a few days. I finally got that all put away but it only made me realize how much there was to do and I can't blame it all on the holidays or vacation. So I've got a list of tasks for each room in the house - every room or at least some part of it will be purged and reorganized. On top of that I want to really do some decorating - area rugs, curtains or valances and wall decor. My goal is to create a welcoming home that is pleasing to the eye. I want it to be fun and functional for my family as well as relaxing and productive for myself. Relaxing & productive may sound like opposites but if I can be productive without constantly searching for things or stuffing drawers or seeing piles and clutter then I will be much more relaxed and more productive. Part of me wants to jump in head on and try to tackle it all at once, but that would be short lived. I get overwhelmed and tasks seem daunting so I end up doing very little or nothing at all. This week my goal will be to start back at the beginning - a clean kitchen. With little hungry kids first thing in the morning and needing my coffee fix the kitchen is the first place I'm in. Lately I've wanted to run back to bed because of the mess in there. Dishes left on the drying rack, dishes still in the sink and clutter EVERYWHERE. I have a good amount of counter space which is great for cooking and storing small appliances but it's also dangerous. It's like a magnet to clutter {much like every other flat surface in my home}. So this week each night I am going to have a dish free sink, clean counters and a swept floor. At the same time I will be decluttering and removing the catch all that has invaded my space. Throughout this month I would like to get the kitchen tasks completed and checked off of my list. This includes:

• Putting shelves in the pantry {every other cabinet has shelves, yet this one only has the holes for little brackets}
• Put up valances {which also means deciding on some kind of color scheme}
• Getting a rug or runner {again - color choices}
• Purge and reorganize all cabinets & drawers.

This time around some people are doing one habit a month vs. one a week so I'll see how this week goes. But this month I will be focusing on accomplishing my kitchen tasks. I don't enjoy cooking so maybe having a clean, functional and pretty kitchen will help me enjoy it more. Thanks for stopping by! To see more SMARTies or get SMART yourself click the button above.