Help! This House is Driving Me Mad!

No one wants to read a post complaining about real life stuff, but I need help. HOW do busy moms of multiple children (and dogs) keep their flippin' houses clean? If you knew me before Bean came, you know that if there was a spec of dust in my house, either I was extremely sick or it was just too high for me to reach. Now, I struggle to put the clean clothes away (hey, at least they get clean, right?). I have written about cleaning and organization before, but I'm totally in over my head.

Yes, I KNOW I'm supposed to focus 100% of my energy on my children. I'm a stay at home MOM, not a stay at home MAID. But, I'm also a wife and part of this deal is Husband works at work and I work at home. But I can't find the time to get more done than a counter wipe down. And even then, I feel lucky! 

The worst part of all is that when it gets to be too much, that's when I don't know where to start and I have anxiety. Truthfully. And then, I shut down and can't begin the process, so it just gets worse. For instance, right now, I have about 15 piles of clean, folded clothes between the bedrooms. I just can't get there... I do like 3-4 loads of laundry a day (including diapers), but cannot for the life of me get them put away. Here's a regular day for me right now:

7:00-8:30 - Get S up for school, make her breakfast, nurse Bean, pump, get myself ready, eat breakfast

8:30-9:00 - Get S to school

9:20-11:40 - Nurse Bean, do 1 load of clothes and 1 load of diapers, fold clothes, hang diapers on the line, wipe down dining room and kitchen from breakfast, nurse Bean

11:40-12:15 - Get S from school

12:15-1:30 - Lunch for S and me, nurse Bean, put Bean down for a nap, do another load of laundry

1:30-2:30 - Playtime with S (usually dress up, reading, chalkboard ABCs, play-doh, arts and crafts)

2:30-3:30 - Nurse Bean, playtime with Bean and S, take dogs for a walk with kids

3:30-4:30 - Fold clothes, prep for dinner, clean up prep

4:30-5:30 - Nurse Bean, cook dinner, clean up from cooking

5:30-6:30 - Serve and eat dinner, clean up

6:30-7:30 - Bathe the girls, get them ready for bed

7:30-8:00 - Nurse Bean, read to S

8:00-8:30 - Prayers and songs with S, night-night at 8:30

8:30-9:00 - Feed Husband when he gets home from work, try to spend a few minutes with Husband

9:00-9:30 - Nurse Bean, swaddle, rock, put her to bed

9:30-10:30 - Finish miscellaneous laundry, pick up random toys that made it into our bedroom throughout the day, get ready for bed

10:30 - BED

So, there it is. That's a breakdown of my regular day, which doesn't include two bible studies (one starts tonight and one starts next week), any time I want to get out of the house, Saturdays (which are the only days Husband is home) and Sundays when we're at church from 10:30-12:00. So, busy moms, please tell me, HOW is your house clean and your laundry put away? And if you have a maid, please fess up so I can show my husband that it's necessary to have a bit of help!

Lackluster Motivation

While other moms are asking for massages, mani/pedis, or shopping sprees for Mother's Day, all I want is for my house to be clean without my having to lift a finger. So far this week, I've failed. I could just leave it all for Husband to do on Saturday, but 1) I can't stand the mess, 2) I feel like that's super mean, even though it would be my "gift," and 3) I love my husband, but the odds of his cleaning the house to my specifications are slim. Yes, we're thankful when they help. But you other Type-As out there know the truth. Mix my desire to keep the house clean with my burgeoning belly and back pain and I just can't find the motivation to do it all. I know that now is the time to rely on loved ones, ask for help, not care about the house being perfect, etc. But I'm that woman who has panic attacks when the house gets too out of hand. It's not there, yet, but I don't want it to get there because I can't handle it. Needless to say, I had this awesome list (similar to the one below) when I first started staying home and I kept up with it really well. These days, I'm lucky to get laundry done one day and the kitchen cleaned another. And let's be real... who can get ALL of those things done in 30 minutes each day? This house must be a shoebox... or the list-writer is extremely efficient and I need to take a class.

image via Pinterest

In a very perfect world, I could keep up with a list like that. But as a SAHM who has 7.5 weeks of pregnancy left to go, I need something more realistic. Does anyone else who has an insanely busy life have a chore list that works for them? If so, please feel free to email it to me!